The Colts spent more on defense than any team in the NFL last year.

[Dustin]

Taken from reddit. 

 

[12isthenew18]

and we still only have two future players on it lol. Our roster needs so much

[Superman]

Source data? Because the chart is not accurate, per Spotrac. Not by cash or cap. http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/2015/defense/

 

Colts spent ~$52m in cash (#11), ~$56m in cap (#5). The Texans were #1 in both categories.

 

Edit: The totals I posted from Spotrac are probably off by a couple million. It looks like they're not including some bottom of the roster players, not sure why. But I still don't get how you come up with nearly $80m.

 

Edit: Ignore the above. Spotrac isn't including players on IR on their chart. Art Jones is a big one that's missing. OTC evidently is. 

Edited February 21, 2016 by Superman

[Gabriel Alexander Morillo]

Wew Lad

 

[Superman]

OTC says $77m. Not sure if that's cap or cash. Now it's time to reconcile, because both can't be right (obviously).

 

http://overthecap.com/positional-spending

 

Edit: OTC is mostly right, Spotrac is leaving out players on IR.

[SteelDragon]

77 million for a 26th rated defense

[COLTS449]

And it needs an overhaul. An infusion of top tier young talent. We best hit big with at least 3-4 defensive picks in this draft. It'd be nice if we could get 2 or 3 week 1 starters.

[MacDee1975]

Wasted is more like it.

 

[JPFolks]

2 hours ago, Dustin said:

Taken from reddit. 

 

yet one more piece of PROOF we should have dumped Grigson and moved on.

 

This shows you can't take short cuts or buy a winning team.  Where's the development of young UDFA's like we see elsewhere?  It also damns the coaches a bit, but still more fault rests with the guy buying the groceries and with Luck, Hilton and Castonzo and others now lined (or already) to get paid big bucks, Grigson no longer has that cash to waste.  What will he do when he can't write big checks to draw mediocre, ancient talent?  

[Carlos Danger]

15 minutes ago, JPFolks said:

yet one more piece of PROOF we should have dumped Grigson and moved on.

 

This shows you can't take short cuts or buy a winning team.  Where's the development of young UDFA's like we see elsewhere?  It also damns the coaches a bit, but still more fault rests with the guy buying the groceries and with Luck, Hilton and Castonzo and others now lined (or already) to get paid big bucks, Grigson no longer has that cash to waste.  What will he do when he can't write big checks to draw mediocre, ancient talent?  

 

I definitely see your point, but I look at it slightly differently. 

 

I am appalled by the insane wasting of dollars on players that haven't earned their contracts since coming here. The fact that we spent so much last year and our best players on D were almost all cheap like Freeman or rookies like Anderson, is alarming to be sure, but your last question made me think...

 

Grigson (in my opinion) actually did a really good job with roster building in that first year, when we had all the dead money and he couldn't splurge on veteran FA's...

We had a very strong draft and got some bargain talent that brought the team to at least a respectable level that could win more than 10 games with a rookie QB. I tend to think it was masterful, especially considering it was his first year as a GM. 

 

in the next years he showed that he might be better when he doesn't have as much wiggle room in FA and with trade value as he made some big blunders.

 

I think that Irsay hired Grigson because of the qualities that he ended up showing that first year, like the tenacity to scout overseas and undrafted unconventional guys and relentlessly churn the bottom of the roster. I also think that he has gotten slightly better each year with regard to his weaknesses, but his failings have been detrimental to the roster, which is why I understand the belief by many that he shouldn't have been brought back. 

 

It might be, though, that Grigson is the perfect kind of GM to have when you have a team with established stars and a big money QB. His big moves have often failed, but he has had some good drafts and has had luck with smaller/medium contract FAs... His issues have been with putting expensive veteran band-aids at positions on defense and missing with so many O-Linemen in the draft and FA... I think that a good off-season this year (especially in the draft) puts the team in a position to take advantage of Grigson's strengths in the future while minimizing those aforementioned weaknesses.

 

It gets sticky when you realize that Grison will have to excell in multiple areas that's he's been weak in (finding young FA difference makers on D and evaluating O-Line talent, for starters) in order to have the successful off-season I'm referring to, but it's not out of the question... There is always the chance that the (relatively young) GM has learned his lesson about old guys on defense and has given a better analyst control over his OL scouting operations...

 

 

 

[Carlos Danger]

Oh, and I will add that, as bad as this statistic is (most money for 26th best defense) it does rely a lot on circumstantial things like specific contract terms, injuries, and the offense's trouble staying in the field...

 

There is NO excuse for such a big discrepancy between pay and performance, but I do believe that the defense showed more than their overall ranking indicates.

[crazycolt1]

24 minutes ago, Carlos Danger said:

Oh, and I will add that, as bad as this statistic is (most money for 26th best defense) it does rely a lot on circumstantial things like specific contract terms, injuries, and the offense's trouble staying in the field...

 

There is NO excuse for such a big discrepancy between pay and performance, but I do believe that the defense showed more than their overall ranking indicates.

Stats don't tell or explain the whole picture. The lack of offense put the defense at a disadvantage. We went from the #1 offense way down over last season. The defense were much better against the run IMO but the defense gave up 5-10 yards passes up like we had no linebackers. We had a few good sacks but no constant pressure as needed. It also seemed this team killed themselves with penalties at crucial times of games too.

[BOTT]

6 hours ago, JPFolks said:

yet one more piece of PROOF we should have dumped Grigson and moved on.

 

This shows you can't take short cuts or buy a winning team.  Where's the development of young UDFA's like we see elsewhere?  It also damns the coaches a bit, but still more fault rests with the guy buying the groceries and with Luck, Hilton and Castonzo and others now lined (or already) to get paid big bucks, Grigson no longer has that cash to waste.  What will he do when he can't write big checks to draw mediocre, ancient talent?  

I agree that Grigson should have been dumped, but see Elway and the Broncos when it comes to utilizing FA.

[LockeDown]

1 hour ago, BOTT said:

I agree that Grigson should have been dumped, but see Elway and the Broncos when it comes to utilizing FA.

That's what I was going to say.  The Pats do it.  I remember the old Redskins.  The over the hill gang and they were good, but they utilized lots of older veterans.  The problem seems to be Grigson seems to follow the path used by his old Eagles teams.   Throw a bunch of FAs in a bowl, mix it up and hope it comes out well.  You have to plan it a bit better.

[aaron11]

Its because our d is made up of mostly free agents, and our best players on o are on rookie contracts

[throwing BBZ]

We stand here today having Built nothing so far after 4 years.
Full of holes and at best modest to weak talent at all levels.
 Can/will Grigson-Irsay get it done this FA draft cycle? 

[buccolts]

And Rob Ryan still wonders why he was canned.

[MTC]

 

Grigson: Hey Jim and Chuck, I was thinking we should spend over half our salary cap on both Chris Long and James Laurinaitis. Even though they both lacked production the past two seasons, they have the potential to produce more sacks than Trent Cole combine.

 

Pagano: Great idea. They both have grit. Horseshoe guys.

 

Irsay: BUILD THE MONSTER. RAWR

[RealityIsLuck]

Scary, really scary.

[Nesjan3]

ouch thats brutal, and the guy that did this just got signed to a new deal?

[indyagent17]

17 hours ago, Dustin said:

Taken from reddit. 

 

Thathe is just sad

[Douzer]

Shows LB & CB drawing very big paychecks. 3-4 defenses would by default carry more LB's than a 4-3, perhaps that may account for some of the LB bubble. The bubble at CB is much more difficult to justify. What did they get for all CB cash?

[NewColtsFan]

4 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

We stand here today having Built nothing so far after 4 years.
Full of holes and at best modest to weak talent at all levels.
 Can/will Grigson-Irsay get it done this FA draft cycle? 

 

Right.

 

Let's all forget that 2012, 2013 and 2014 just didn't happen, because after all,  we have built nothing.

 

We went to the playoffs all 3 years and went further each year and yet,  we have built nothing.

 

Nothing like being a fan.........         

[crazycolt1]

11 hours ago, LockeDown said:

That's what I was going to say.  The Pats do it.  I remember the old Redskins.  The over the hill gang and they were good, but they utilized lots of older veterans.  The problem seems to be Grigson seems to follow the path used by his old Eagles teams.   Throw a bunch of FAs in a bowl, mix it up and hope it comes out well.  You have to plan it a bit better.

Using an old team like the Redskins is a bad example IMO. Most of their team got to be older veterans while being on the Redskins.

[crazycolt1]

5 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

We stand here today having Built nothing so far after 4 years.
Full of holes and at best modest to weak talent at all levels.
 Can/will Grigson-Irsay get it done this FA draft cycle? 

Is it possible you cant see the good players we have or is it your sparkling way of thinking of things?

[Indianapolis-Colts-Fan]

Grigson should have focused on the oline the same year drafting luck, and then by year 3 started on dline, and I'm only speaking of draft. It seems he has gone the opposite route and gone skill players over the trenches. It's never too late to fix the trenches O_O

[csmopar]

Keep in mind folks, that how contracts are structured play a big part too.  That said, its time to let a lot of money hogs go.  JONES (cant stress this one enough) Cole, Toler, DQ etc

[Restored]

On 2/21/2016 at 7:55 AM, BOTT said:

I agree that Grigson should have been dumped, but see Elway and the Broncos when it comes to utilizing FA.

 

The Broncos also had a core of drafted players as well:

 

Derek Wolfe 

Malik Jackson 

Von Miller 

Danny Trevathan 

Chris Harris Jr 

Bradley Roby

Shane Ray

Shaquil Barrett

 

All of those players have contributed to the Broncos success and were drafted by the team. You can't really say the same for Grigson's defensive players he's drafted so far.

[chad72]

15 minutes ago, Restored said:

 

The Broncos also had a core of drafted players as well:

 

Derek Wolfe 

Malik Jackson 

Von Miller 

Danny Trevathan 

Chris Harris Jr 

Bradley Roby

Shane Ray

Shaquil Barrett

 

All of those players have contributed to the Broncos success and were drafted by the team. You can't really say the same for Grigson's defensive players he's drafted so far.

 

^This.

 

Sylvester Williams, you left him out. He contributed big time to that D-line run D as well. The drafting of Bradley Roby allowed them to play man coverage against 3 receiving options at any point in time with Wade Philips' D. Getting Ware, and giving breathers with Barrett and Ray helped pass rushers stay fresh towards the end of the season and made Dumervil expendable that they lost in faxgate.

 

I always felt that when the dust settled after the first 2 weeks of free agency is when you look for signing free agents. Grigson, I felt, jumped the gun a tad too fast, IMO. However, you do have to wonder about the coaching as well. Shipley, cast aside here, did more than fine in Arizona; Jerry Hughes, out of favor here, did more than fine in Buffalo etc.

 

Jack Del Rio had pretty much the same players with the Broncos' D but underachieved with his schemes while Wade Philips took them to another level. Hopefully, our new DC and OL coaches can help get our players to the next level.

[Restored]

5 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

^This.

 

Sylvester Williams, you left him out. He contributed big time to that D-line run D as well. The drafting of Bradley Roby allowed them to play man coverage against 3 receiving options at any point in time with Wade Philips' D. Getting Ware, and giving breathers with Barrett and Ray helped pass rushers stay fresh towards the end of the season and made Dumervil expendable that they lost in faxgate.

 

I always felt that when the dust settled after the first 2 weeks of free agency is when you look for signing free agents. Grigson, I felt, jumped the gun a tad too fast, IMO. However, you do have to wonder about the coaching as well. Shipley, cast aside here, did more than fine in Arizona; Jerry Hughes, out of favor here, did more than fine in Buffalo etc.

 

Jack Del Rio had pretty much the same players with the Broncos' D but underachieved with his schemes while Wade Philips took them to another level. Hopefully, our new DC and OL coaches can help get our players to the next level.

 

I do wonder about the coaching staff and am optimistic about the changes made. However, a lot of those players on the Broncos were already there in 14' when they still had a better defense than the Colts despite having a pretty vanilla scheme under Jack Del Rio. Their coaching staff changes propelled an already talented defense to another level. I just don't know if the Colts have the same level of talent to have a coaching staff take them to another level.

[lollygagger8]

Good job big sweaty! 

[RollerColt]

32 minutes ago, lollygagger8 said:

Good job big sweaty! 

Gotta love Emma Watson! 

[ColtsBTM12]

20 hours ago, MTC said:

 

Grigson: Hey Jim and Chuck, I was thinking we should spend over half our salary cap on both Chris Long and James Laurinaitis. Even though they both lacked production the past two seasons, they have the potential to produce more sacks than Trent Cole combine.

 

Pagano: Great idea. They both have grit. Horseshoe guys.

 

Irsay: BUILD THE MONSTER. RAWR

One of the best and most accurate posts I've seen.

[runthepost]

On February 21, 2016 at 3:08 AM, crazycolt1 said:

Stats don't tell or explain the whole picture. The lack of offense put the defense at a disadvantage. We went from the #1 offense way down over last season. The defense were much better against the run IMO but the defense gave up 5-10 yards passes up like we had no linebackers. We had a few good sacks but no constant pressure as needed. It also seemed this team killed themselves with penalties at crucial times of games too.

Broncos offense was worst than ours but their D was #1 still

[dgambill]

We are definitely showing our age on defense. That's a ton of money on free agents etc. Some have worked out well (Adams, Langford, Jackson) and some haven't (Jones, Toler, RJF). The real problem is a lack of talent and production in our young players. Some of this is who we drafted and some has to be placed on the coaching staff for not getting more out of our picks. If players aren't getting good coaching, good teaching, and put in a position to succeed even good players are going to suffer. I'm sure its not one or the other but Grigson and Pagano both are responsible for player development and we just aren't seeing enough of it...on either side of the ball I'm afraid. We need a good infusion of young talent on this team and that typically comes through the draft and maybe a lucky cast off here or there that we sign. I think we made some good steps last year...Anderson and Perry were nice and Good was a contributor...if Smith and Dorsett come along that will be huge for us. Throw together another nice draft and then we can start talking...but we do have a road to climb...and no longer the cheap salaries for our stars at qb and wr and lt.

[deedub75]

23 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

We stand here today having Built nothing so far after 4 years.
Full of holes and at best modest to weak talent at all levels.
 Can/will Grigson-Irsay get it done this FA draft cycle? 

 

I agree.  Really nothing to show over the last 4 years.  Grigson is given too much credit for his first year as GM.  He tried to win now and rebuild simultaneously.  I wish he would have just stocked up on future prospects instead of trying to surround Luck with receivers.  The cupboards are pretty bare and now were back trying to rebuild again and pay Luck his big contract.  I just don't know how he's going build a quality team on both sides of the ball given Luck's contract and the overall number of positions that need to be upgraded.  

[Defjamz26]

Once the Colts get a bunch of people on rookie contracts, the cap numbers will look very different. The Colts just have a lot of players 30+ who are making $6+ million a year.

[BOTT]

6 hours ago, Restored said:

 

The Broncos also had a core of drafted players as well:

 

Derek Wolfe 

Malik Jackson 

Von Miller 

Danny Trevathan 

Chris Harris Jr 

Bradley Roby

Shane Ray

Shaquil Barrett

 

All of those players have contributed to the Broncos success and were drafted by the team. You can't really say the same for Grigson's defensive players he's drafted so far.

Well, yeah, I didn't think that needed pointing out.  That still doesn't take away from Elway, and other teams, using free agency effectively.......which is what I was responding to.

[Superman]

6 hours ago, chad72 said:

 

^This.

 

Sylvester Williams, you left him out. He contributed big time to that D-line run D as well. The drafting of Bradley Roby allowed them to play man coverage against 3 receiving options at any point in time with Wade Philips' D. Getting Ware, and giving breathers with Barrett and Ray helped pass rushers stay fresh towards the end of the season and made Dumervil expendable that they lost in faxgate.

 

I always felt that when the dust settled after the first 2 weeks of free agency is when you look for signing free agents. Grigson, I felt, jumped the gun a tad too fast, IMO. However, you do have to wonder about the coaching as well. Shipley, cast aside here, did more than fine in Arizona; Jerry Hughes, out of favor here, did more than fine in Buffalo etc.

 

Jack Del Rio had pretty much the same players with the Broncos' D but underachieved with his schemes while Wade Philips took them to another level. Hopefully, our new DC and OL coaches can help get our players to the next level.

 

AQ Shipley played in less than 14% of the Cards snaps last year. 

[crazycolt1]

2 hours ago, deedub75 said:

 

I agree.  Really nothing to show over the last 4 years.  Grigson is given too much credit for his first year as GM.  He tried to win now and rebuild simultaneously.  I wish he would have just stocked up on future prospects instead of trying to surround Luck with receivers.  The cupboards are pretty bare and now were back trying to rebuild again and pay Luck his big contract.  I just don't know how he's going build a quality team on both sides of the ball given Luck's contract and the overall number of positions that need to be upgraded.  

Nothing? The sky is falling mentality because the Colts had a bad season? This team has talented players that don't give up. Sorry you don't see that.