Colts Can Be A Good Football Team In 2012 And Beyond

[likm]

I believe our Colts are in need of around 10 players to be competive and build for our the future. I also believe it is possible for the Colts to obtain 8-10 of those players this year. The Colts need a good draft this year that will produce 5 contributors now or in the near future. We also need to find 1 or 2 UDFA to contribute. Finally we need to sign 2 or 3 or free agents.

I will start with the O and the linemen which I believe are the most important. We may have 3 of the 5 linemen we need in place to be solid in the near furure. The book ends are young and capable I believe (Castonzo,Iguana, lol). Reitz has potentia at guard. I believe we need 2 good offensive linemen and we can be solid up front. Thats 2 players we need.

We need a wide receiver.............a young,fast,big,solid wide receiver. We have talent with Reggie, Garcon, Collie and Gozalez but we need a new #1 Wide receiver. Thats 3 players we need.

Running back is questionable........I would love to have a Edge in our back field but we have the talent needed to be solid at RB.

Tight End as RB could be upgraded to a bigger stronger guy but we have Dallas, Tamme n Brode............could be worse.

QB............we need a QB to start or back up.

Thats 4 players we need.

Defensive line..............we need another DT to go along with Nevis, Johnson etc. We also need another Frathis like DE. The D-Line has talent and I am not sure what direction we r going but 2 new beasts on the d-line should solidify weather we go 3-4 or 4-3.

Thats 6 players we need.

The secondary is questionable. We have to get a safety and probably another corner but who knows we have young guys who may step up.

Thats 8 players at the most we need.

I like the lbs but we could use a game changer inserted there.

I just do not think the Colts are far from being a good football team.

Please elaborate.

[Warhorse]

Plausible, but you have taken out the all effecting factor of injuries. All of those players would have to develop and contribute while staying healthy all season. No, I am not trying to rain on your hairdo...in fact, I like optimism. However. if we just fix two things well, be it the oline and the QB position, or the oline and the secondary, or the QB and the special teams....I would be happy. Shoot for the sky, but be aware that the likelihood of all new (the 5 or 6 you mentioned), staying healthy all season would truly be hitting the lottery. I seriously hope you are correct.

I see the team hitting its stride in three years. Look out AFC South!

[ruf]

I don't think we need that many to be back in the playoffs

first we need PM back but if he is not able to play then we would need a qb (that would be Luck)

2nd we need at least 1 OL "G" i feel with the 2 young T's we're good there and with Reitz and even if Saturday is gone i think Pollack will be a better C than G

3rd on the D we need only a true NT and CB --so with PM we only need 3 (1 OL) and (2 on D)

I think one of our young cb's will show up this year to go along with Powers and SS I think we can make do

[JTcardscolts]

Yea I believe the same thing, I said a while ago in the draft section, if we could get a NT, ILB, lock down CB, and a big physical safety, that would change our defense big time, not to mention the play makers we already have...NFL is a pass happy league, and it just so happens that we have 2 (if resigned) of the best pass happy rushers on our team....

Now for the offense if Peyton returns and is back to 100%....itll be top 3 in the league. If lucks our guy we are going to need a big TE for a security blanket like the one he had at stanford, and a beast at RB, the ones we have now simply won't take the pressure off of luck, and maybe a big OL(G) to focus on run protection...our running game is gonna have to be a lot better if lucks our QB, take all the pressure off of him so he can develop in to a NFL QB.

The kicker is special teams play.... This is were grigs comes in, anybody (pretty much) can look at a star and tell you he's a star. But it takes skill and experience to pick up your "2nd hand" role players, or the dirty work guys. If grigs can sure up our ST then we sould be a pretty well rounder solid football team...

[GoColts8818]

Yea I believe the same thing, I said a while ago in the draft section, if we could get a NT, ILB, lock down CB, and a big physical safety, that would change our defense big time, not to mention the play makers we already have...NFL is a pass happy league, and it just so happens that we have 2 (if resigned) of the best pass happy rushers on our team....

Now for the offense if Peyton returns and is back to 100%....itll be top 3 in the league. If lucks our guy we are going to need a big TE for a security blanket like the one he had at stanford, and a beast at RB, the ones we have now simply won't take the pressure off of luck, and maybe a big OL(G) to focus on run protection...our running game is gonna have to be a lot better if lucks our QB, take all the pressure off of him so he can develop in to a NFL QB.

The kicker is special teams play.... This is were grigs comes in, anybody (pretty much) can look at a star and tell you he's a star. But it takes skill and experience to pick up your "2nd hand" role players, or the dirty work guys. If grigs can sure up our ST then we sould be a pretty well rounder solid football team...

That is a lot to get in one draft and probably near impossible when the first pick is spoken for in terms of a qb.

[JTcardscolts]

That is a lot to get in one draft and probably near impossible when the first pick is spoken for in terms of a qb.

That's why grigs is gonna have do a good job in finding hat happy medium between the draft and FA

[GoColts8818]

That's why grigs is gonna have do a good job in finding hat happy medium between the draft and FA

Frankly I don't think we are going to have the cash to be big players in free agency like some are banking on.

[JTcardscolts]

Frankly I don't think we are going to have the cash to be big players in free agency like some are banking on.

yea I didn't have that in mind either...MO tho you don't have to be a big name to be good, there is talent out there, you just gotta have the right people in place work with it...

[GoColts8818]

yea I didn't have that in mind either...MO tho you don't have to be a big name to be good, there is talent out there, you just gotta have the right people in place work with it...

that's true as well and I do think if we draft right you can get a good chunk in the draft. I think they have to find away to get the dt in the second round. You can get a safety or guard in later rounds as well. As for Ilb we have one in angerer and I would look for brackett or Conner to take that roll for the other. That does leave the corner spot up in tbe air a bit.

[JTcardscolts]

that's true as well and I do think if we draft right you can get a good chunk in the draft. I think they have to find away to get the dt in the second round. You can get a safety or guard in later rounds as well. As for Ilb we have one in angerer and I would look for brackett or Conner to take that roll for the other. That does leave the corner spot up in tbe air a bit.

Yep completely agree DT/NT in second, guards are always found in the late rounds, so are corners. This draft is very weak at safety, it's sad. I heard talk about the ravens backup safety??? And thats the thing about our ILB, while angerer is a solid player I still think he's a bit under sized (IMO), he's def our guy tho....bracket is gonna have to be a package LB. I'd like to see a big run stopper back there...

[LightninMax]

I agree. That's been my assessment. Which needs rank higher than others probably depends on evaluation of current roster by those that see the performance daily and which of our own FA's are kept.

[USAFHoosier]

If we go to a 3-4 Angerer has one spot and I believe Conner can play the other. The D really needs a NT, Corner, and Safety. The O needs a Guard and a WR. Other than that we look good on paper as long as the special teams gets some help. This draft and off season will make or break the colts for the next few years.

[atapcl]

Colts coaching staff has to step up and do a good job of teaching. If that happens we are about 8 players away from the SB.

[Kirie89]

I think it will take 2-3 years before the team is back on top, regardless of whether PM comes back or not. In addition, I doubt that all the older stars will come back and then the team will need a few more players and a little more time.

[Thewholefnshow28]

If Manning is back fully healthy then of course in 2012 this team will probably be a playoff contender, but without him I think we are a good two to three seasons away from being a ligetimate threat to the playoffs.

It also really depends on what they want to do with the defense. If they are wanting to convert it over to a 3-4 you are going to need to draft new DEs, a NT, upgrade the inside linebacker spot, probably get some more physical corners, and get a safety.

Offensively we have 1.5 WRs on the roster in Collie and White. Garcon is not the most consistent WR out there and we probably will be letting our best receiving threat go in the offseason.

To me this season showed this team was carried by Manning and without him the team is a disaster. It is going to take more then one offseason to rebuild the team and actuall make it a team and not Manning and a bunch of guys he drags to the playoffs.

[schwamm]

Frankly I don't think we are going to have the cash to be big players in free agency like some are banking on.

I'm no cap expert, and have to rely on posters here with far more time, energy and smarts than I, but this was the OP in a thread a couple weeks ago...

My numbers are very early but even with Peyton and Freeney on the roster, we are about 20 million under the cap.

If we restructure (extend) Freeney and cut Peyton (God that still hurts thinking about) then we would be somewhere around 30 million under the cap for 2012.

I have us right now around $100,000,000 spent towards the 120,000,000 2012 CAP.

My Raw Number is $98,429,913

[likm]

Plausible, but you have taken out the all effecting factor of injuries. All of those players would have to develop and contribute while staying healthy all season. No, I am not trying to rain on your hairdo...in fact, I like optimism. However. if we just fix two things well, be it the oline and the QB position, or the oline and the secondary, or the QB and the special teams....I would be happy. Shoot for the sky, but be aware that the likelihood of all new (the 5 or 6 you mentioned), staying healthy all season would truly be hitting the lottery. I seriously hope you are correct.

I see the team hitting its stride in three years. Look out AFC South!

Injuries are always a variabe. I did say 2012 and beyond so if we can stay healthy next year.... hopefully by the following year we can have some depth built up. I know the Colts in the past rarely gave rookies much playing time in year 1 but with the new staff maybe that changes and maybe we may have no choice but to play them early. I say coach em up and maybe late in the season we can peak and make a run. I am optimistic about our future with this new management and coaching staff. Thanks and Go Colts.

[oldunclemark]

I believe our Colts are in need of around 10 players to be competive and build for our the future. I also believe it is possible for the Colts to obtain 8-10 of those players this year. The Colts need a good draft this year that will produce 5 contributors now or in the near future. We also need to find 1 or 2 UDFA to contribute. Finally we need to sign 2 or 3 or free agents.

I will start with the O and the linemen which I believe are the most important. We may have 3 of the 5 linemen we need in place to be solid in the near furure. The book ends are young and capable I believe (Castonzo,Iguana, lol). Reitz has potentia at guard. I believe we need 2 good offensive linemen and we can be solid up front. Thats 2 players we need.

We need a wide receiver.............a young,fast,big,solid wide receiver. We have talent with Reggie, Garcon, Collie and Gozalez but we need a new #1 Wide receiver. Thats 3 players we need.

Running back is questionable........I would love to have a Edge in our back field but we have the talent needed to be solid at RB.

Tight End as RB could be upgraded to a bigger stronger guy but we have Dallas, Tamme n Brode............could be worse.

QB............we need a QB to start or back up.

Thats 4 players we need.

Defensive line..............we need another DT to go along with Nevis, Johnson etc. We also need another Frathis like DE. The D-Line has talent and I am not sure what direction we r going but 2 new beasts on the d-line should solidify weather we go 3-4 or 4-3.

Thats 6 players we need.

The secondary is questionable. We have to get a safety and probably another corner but who knows we have young guys who may step up.

Thats 8 players at the most we need.

I like the lbs but we could use a game changer inserted there.

I just do not think the Colts are far from being a good football team.

Please elaborate.

I think we are OK at running back and at wide receiver.

We will almost certainly resign either Wayne or Garcon...and we have Austin Collie, a quality player plus Blair White, a capable backup.. I dont think its hard to find wide receivers who can work with either Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning..

We need an offensive tackle either to move Costanzo to the right side or bookend with him...

Defensively..we also need a tackle....,maybe a nose tackle in a 3-4 mode..A. Johnson may not return

I think we're set depth-wise at linebacker..especially if we go 3-4 which would get Jerry Hughes on the field..

Our biggest concern once the QB situation is resolved is our defensive secondary..

We need speed, size and depth......we are overmatched on both corners physically..

But I dont know how much of our problem there is our defensive scheme...which is sure to change now

..Once the QB situation is resolved..we dont need that much..

[Coffeedrinker]

I believe our Colts are in need of around 10 players to be competive and build for our the future. I also believe it is possible for the Colts to obtain 8-10 of those players this year. The Colts need a good draft this year that will produce 5 contributors now or in the near future. We also need to find 1 or 2 UDFA to contribute. Finally we need to sign 2 or 3 or free agents.

I will start with the O and the linemen which I believe are the most important. We may have 3 of the 5 linemen we need in place to be solid in the near furure. The book ends are young and capable I believe (Castonzo,Iguana, lol). Reitz has potentia at guard. I believe we need 2 good offensive linemen and we can be solid up front. Thats 2 players we need.

We need a wide receiver.............a young,fast,big,solid wide receiver. We have talent with Reggie, Garcon, Collie and Gozalez but we need a new #1 Wide receiver. Thats 3 players we need.

Running back is questionable........I would love to have a Edge in our back field but we have the talent needed to be solid at RB.

Tight End as RB could be upgraded to a bigger stronger guy but we have Dallas, Tamme n Brode............could be worse.

QB............we need a QB to start or back up.

Thats 4 players we need.

Defensive line..............we need another DT to go along with Nevis, Johnson etc. We also need another Frathis like DE. The D-Line has talent and I am not sure what direction we r going but 2 new beasts on the d-line should solidify weather we go 3-4 or 4-3.

Thats 6 players we need.

The secondary is questionable. We have to get a safety and probably another corner but who knows we have young guys who may step up.

Thats 8 players at the most we need.

I like the lbs but we could use a game changer inserted there.

I just do not think the Colts are far from being a good football team.

Please elaborate.

You think it's easy to replace almost half of the starters in one offseason and still field a winning team?

[likm]

You think it's easy to replace almost half of the starters in one offseason and still field a winning team?

Not easy but I believe its possible. Some of our starters are not that talented.

[Moose Of Woe]

More like 2014 and beyond if we're lucky. And that's hoping we don't whiff on our draft picks while installing a new style of D. As in, one that doesn't SUCK. One that is built to WIN, not hang on and go for the ride._

Not to mention the O-line and special teams need substantial overhauls. Both pass and run blocking are pitiful. If we somehow address all or most of these needs within a year, that would be nothing short of incredible. Realistically, it will take 2-3 years minimum most likely.

Only when most of these needs are met will we be a good TEAM instead of watching a great QB do 75% of the work. (And a few other good players.)

If Manning comes back and we go 12-4 or 10-6 we're not going to suddenly be a good team. (Or if we get Luck, and he hits the ground running.)

[likm]

Frankly I don't think we are going to have the cash to be big players in free agency like some are banking on.

I dont think we will be big players but we will be signing a few. The Colts will have money to spend....

[Coffeedrinker]

Not easy but I believe its possible. Some of our starters are not that talented.

Please give one example where a team has replaced 8-10 starters in a single off season, added hole new front office and been any good that year.

The 2011 49ers are about as close as you will get with 5 new D starters(although 2 of them had been with the team prior) and 1 new O starter

[Coffeedrinker]

I dont think we will be big players but we will be signing a few. The Colts will have money to spend....

I see Pagano signing his two Ravens' players Johnson and Grubbs. But that's about it for the immediate impact free agents.

[likm]

Please give one example where a team has replaced 8-10 starters in a single off season, added hole new front office and been any good that year.

The 2011 49ers are about as close as you will get with 5 new D starters(although 2 of them had been with the team prior) and 1 new O starter

I cant give an example but I am confident the Colts will be competitive next year. We have talent in some areas and we have guys that are easily replaced in other areas. I am optimistic.

[Coffeedrinker]

I cant give an example but I am confident the Colts will be competitive next year. We have talent in some areas and we have guys that are easily replaced in other areas. I am optimistic.

I am confident the Colts will be competitive in 2012 as well. I don't think they will be if they add 10 new starters.

[Malakai432]

What you talkin bout Willis??

[JoKeR]

I like the optimism but IF the defense ends up being more 3-4 than 4-3 , it will take another draft. Next year, while showing that the defense is heading in the right direction, it will show some holes. That will be understandable to me. Hopefully we atleast make the playoffs.

[TennEngr]

I believe our Colts are in need of around 10 players to be competive and build for our the future. I also believe it is possible for the Colts to obtain 8-10 of those players this year. The Colts need a good draft this year that will produce 5 contributors now or in the near future. We also need to find 1 or 2 UDFA to contribute. Finally we need to sign 2 or 3 or free agents.

I will start with the O and the linemen which I believe are the most important. We may have 3 of the 5 linemen we need in place to be solid in the near furure. The book ends are young and capable I believe (Castonzo,Iguana, lol). Reitz has potentia at guard. I believe we need 2 good offensive linemen and we can be solid up front. Thats 2 players we need.

We need a wide receiver.............a young,fast,big,solid wide receiver. We have talent with Reggie, Garcon, Collie and Gozalez but we need a new #1 Wide receiver. Thats 3 players we need.

Running back is questionable........I would love to have a Edge in our back field but we have the talent needed to be solid at RB.

Tight End as RB could be upgraded to a bigger stronger guy but we have Dallas, Tamme n Brode............could be worse.

QB............we need a QB to start or back up.

Thats 4 players we need.

Defensive line..............we need another DT to go along with Nevis, Johnson etc. We also need another Frathis like DE. The D-Line has talent and I am not sure what direction we r going but 2 new beasts on the d-line should solidify weather we go 3-4 or 4-3.

Thats 6 players we need.

The secondary is questionable. We have to get a safety and probably another corner but who knows we have young guys who may step up.

Thats 8 players at the most we need.

I like the lbs but we could use a game changer inserted there.

I just do not think the Colts are far from being a good football team.

Please elaborate.

I believe that we are much farther away from being a good football team than you think. Peyton won't be back (hope I'm wrong) so we have to get a QB for the future. Perhaps 2012 is the year that we finally "coach" defense. We play in a Division that usually runs all over us 6 games out of the year so shoring up our run defense is what we need. We have been trying to find that big DT and if we are going to a 3 - 4 then it is imperative that we get one quickly. You are quite optimistic and I can always dream. I suspect that we are 4 or 5 years away from being a perrenial post season team again. I just don't want another 2011 season ever again. GO COLTS!

[doc108]

Meanwhile in Fantasyland. Guys be serious you aren't contenders for another 2-3 years. You have some glaring holes a lot of them. You were a one man team and are rebuilding with a rookie QB. I know it's the offseason where every teams fans believe they are Super Bowl contender but get real.

[GoColts8818]

I'm no cap expert, and have to rely on posters here with far more time, energy and smarts than I, but this was the OP in a thread a couple weeks ago...

I dont think we will be big players but we will be signing a few. The Colts will have money to spend....

I've seen it reported both ways. I've seen some posters say they think we will have money and I have seen other posters say that we wont. That's why I said I don't know because I honeslty don't.

Frankly it's probably going to depend on a few key moves.

1. What happens with Peyton.

2. What we do with Freeney's contract

3. How many of our free agents we bring back and how much that costs us.

[betheafan41]

Yea I believe the same thing, I said a while ago in the draft section, if we could get a NT, ILB, lock down CB, and a big physical safety, that would change our defense big time, not to mention the play makers we already have...NFL is a pass happy league, and it just so happens that we have 2 (if resigned) of the best pass happy rushers on our team....

Now for the offense if Peyton returns and is back to 100%....itll be top 3 in the league. If lucks our guy we are going to need a big TE for a security blanket like the one he had at stanford, and a beast at RB, the ones we have now simply won't take the pressure off of luck, and maybe a big OL(G) to focus on run protection...our running game is gonna have to be a lot better if lucks our QB, take all the pressure off of him so he can develop in to a NFL QB.

The kicker is special teams play.... This is were grigs comes in, anybody (pretty much) can look at a star and tell you he's a star. But it takes skill and experience to pick up your "2nd hand" role players, or the dirty work guys. If grigs can sure up our ST then we sould be a pretty well rounder solid football team...

I disagree, Brown almost ran for 1,000 yards between him and carter they ran over a 1,000 yards. the RB's are fine and if you give them a full season to play i believe the colts could end up with a smaller version of a Foster/Tate RB duo. but aslong as addai is in indy they wont get to start. and most of the runs came after getting hit and them bouncing off the defender. you get a better Oline in there both could come very close to being 1,000 yard rushers.

[likm]

That is a lot to get in one draft and probably near impossible when the first pick is spoken for in terms of a qb.

The players will not only come from the draft. We can sign free agents and hopefully find an undrafted free agent or 2.

[colts8718]

You think it's easy to replace almost half of the starters in one offseason and still field a winning team?

EXACTLY everything would have to fall into place i still think to many COLT fans don't realize how many areas Manning covered up

[likm]

Colts coaching staff has to step up and do a good job of teaching. If that happens we are about 8 players away from the SB.

Great point.....our coaching staff was horrible and we were at a huge disadvantage this past year. The Defensive philisophy was pathetic.............sit back in a zone every 3rd down. That was so frustrating.

This team is not that far away.

[likm]

I believe that we are much farther away from being a good football team than you think. Peyton won't be back (hope I'm wrong) so we have to get a QB for the future. Perhaps 2012 is the year that we finally "coach" defense. We play in a Division that usually runs all over us 6 games out of the year so shoring up our run defense is what we need. We have been trying to find that big DT and if we are going to a 3 - 4 then it is imperative that we get one quickly. You are quite optimistic and I can always dream. I suspect that we are 4 or 5 years away from being a perrenial post season team again. I just don't want another 2011 season ever again. GO COLTS!

4 or 5 years? I believe the Colts went from 3-13 to 13-3 in one off season when Peyton was drafted. If it takes 5 years then Grigson is not doing his job.

[Vance]

So basically you need good players at every playmaking position, and you'll be good to go. Amazing analysis.

[21isSuperman]

So basically you need good players at every playmaking position, and you'll be good to go. Amazing analysis.

Question for ya. Why are you here? You haven't put in valuable input into any thread I've seen you post. All you've done is mock Colts fans and the Colts organization. Why are you even here?

[Vance]

Question for ya. Why are you here? You haven't put in valuable input into any thread I've seen you post. All you've done is mock Colts fans and the Colts organization. Why are you even here?

Why are you lying? When have I ever mocked the Colts? And I'm here because this forum is alot more active than the Texans forum right now.

[21isSuperman]

Why are you lying? When have I ever mocked the Colts? And I'm here because this forum is alot more active than the Texans forum right now.

"All you have to do is have great players at all the playmaking positions and you'll be set. Amazing analysis". I interpret that as mocking a Colts fan

"Stop taking every little thing and running with it like its gold. I can see it now, '5 year old girl says Manning will be better than ever'". If you actually read the other posts, other people (including myself) were critical of the article.