Who are our ten best players?

[Superman]

Since we've been talking about the state of our roster and how close we are, I'm curious what people think about what we have right now. I think we need 10-12 very good to great players before we can say we're ready to be a true contender. 

 

So, assuming everyone is 100% healthy, and assume the young players who have flashed in preseason are as good as they've shown so far, who would you put in the Colts top 10?

[BPindy]

Offense:

 

Luck, Hilton, AC, Kelly (probably will include Nelson very soon)

 

Defense: 

 

Sheard, Simon, Autry (from what I’ve seen/heard so far), Hooker

 

Don’t forget: 

 

Vinny

 

I have trouble with the last couple. Mack? Geathers? Wilson? Hard to say, but you’re right about needing a more defined “top 12.” 

[Btown_Colt]

8 minutes ago, Superman said:

Since we've been talking about the state of our roster and how close we are, I'm curious what people think about what we have right now. I think we need 10-12 very good to great players before we can say we're ready to be a true contender. 

 

So, assuming everyone is 100% healthy, and assume the young players who have flashed in preseason are as good as they've shown so far, who would you put in the Colts top 10?

Luck, Hilton, Doyle, Castonzo, Nelson

Hooker, Geathers, Simon, Sheard 

 

Kelly or Autry take #10

 

 

really not that impressive and outside of Luck, Hilton and Nelson, it’s kind of a crap shoot.

[Btown_Colt]

Just now, Btown_Colt said:

Luck, Hilton, Doyle, Castonzo, Nelson

Hooker, Geathers, Simon, Sheard 

 

Kelly or Autry take #10

 

 

really not that impressive and outside of Luck, Hilton and Nelson, it’s kind of a crap shoot.

I forgot Vinny. He probably is one of the top ten 

[Grind Hard]

Luck and Hilton #1&#2 respectively

Castonzo and Nelson

Geathers and Hooker (when healthy)

Darius Leonard/Sheard

Vinatieri and maybe Ryan Kelly

[Franklin County]

Luck, Hilton, Castonzo, Doyle, Nelson, Kelly, Ebron, Brissett

 

Hooker, Geathers, Wilson, Hairston, Autry, Sheard, Simon, Woods, Farley, Moore

 

Vinny, Rigoberto

 

Ridgeway???  

Basham???

 

I think these are our best players on this team. Not all great but serviceable.

 

Short list, Luck, Hilton, Doyle,Nelson, Hooker, Geathers, Wilson, Autry, Vinny

   

[ztboiler]

43 minutes ago, Superman said:

Since we've been talking about the state of our roster and how close we are, I'm curious what people think about what we have right now. I think we need 10-12 very good to great players before we can say we're ready to be a true contender. 

 

So, assuming everyone is 100% healthy, and assume the young players who have flashed in preseason are as good as they've shown so far, who would you put in the Colts top 10?

It does take some assumptions to do this exercise for this roster, as you suggest....

 

Top 13 since I don’t follow directions 

 

Luck

Hilton

Geathers 

Castonzo

Nelson

Kelly

Sheard

Hooker

Doyle

Simon

Ebron

Leonard

Autry

 

[Smoke317]

Luck, Hilton, Hooker, Nelson, AC, Sheard, Geathers, Simon, Leonard, Kelly, Doyle, & Autry. Vinny as an honorable mention only since he’s a kicker.  But he’s most certainly top 5 if we’re going based on position rank throughout the league.  

[NorthernBlue]

No rookies quite yet but I'm confident Nelson and Leonard will crack this list soon. Would be nice of Quincy could as well

 

Top 10 current Colts

1. Luck

2. Hilton

3. Castonzo

4. Kelly/Doyle

5. Doyle/Kelly

6. Sheard

7. Geathers

8. Hooker

9. Simon

10. Autry

All are good players but not quite the top 10 you'd want to compete for superbowls. In terms of guys of that calibre, it's really only Luck and Hilton and MAYBE AC. I think Kelly, Nelson, Hooker, Geathers, Leonard can all crack be of that calibre, and if that happens, we'll have something. Till then, still lots of work to do. Gotta stack good drafts, and whilst it looks promising, the jury is still out on Chris Ballard's first two drafts. 

[boo2202]

This list shows why we're still two years away. When hooker which was a rookie and only played six games last year, is on most people's list. Then a kicker ( a very good one) is on everyone's list. Then Nelson and Leonard which have never played a meaningful down. Add in geathers that has a problem with staying healthy. Just shows our team is a few years away from truly competing. 

[zibby43]

My "top" 10-12:

 

Luck

Hilton

Nelson

Kelly

Doyle

Ebron

Geathers

Hooker

Leonard (qualifies on talent alone; has impressed me already)

Castonzo

Simon (maybe a surprise inclusion, but the guy makes plays when healthy)

Mack

 

Honorable mention:

 

Autry

Woods

Hairston

Farley (particularly considering his ST play)

Vinatieri (a kicker of his caliber definitely counts)

Turbin (guy is a bit underrated - can catch, pass protect, and run)

 

Missed the honorable mention cut:

 

Sheard (not consistent enough, in my opinion)

 

[Surge89]

Sure I'll play.  I won't be including special teams.

 

1. Luck

2. Hilton

3. Costanzo

4. Sheard

5. Doyle

6. Brissett

7. Ridgeway

8. Nelson

9. Simon

10. Geathers

 

While I do think Hooker has a case for top 10 we just haven't seen enough nor have seen him post surgery. (Same for Ebron)

 

Leonard also has a case but as of now I don't see him to have the impact as the other 10.

 

I think Marlon has a legitimate case to be top 5 but we haven't seen him with primary workload and based on his existing work we need to see more given that he was hurt as soon as he came in.

 

Autry is an honorable mention as is Basham.

 

I don't think Kelly has been anywhere close to top 10 on this team which is highly disappointing. Not saying he sucks but he's not showing to be a first round talent imo.

 

What's worrying to me is how our backup QB is no question one of our top 10 players. While yes that's great to have a quality backup I think it's more telling of the lack of depth we have. 

[indyagent17]

1. Luck

2. Doyle

3. Sheard

4. Hooker

5. Leonard (1st year beast)

6. Castonzo

7. Nelson (soon to rise)

8. Hilton

9. Geathers

10. Kelly

 

 

[#12.]

2 hours ago, NorthernBlue said:

All are good players but not quite the top 10 you'd want to compete for superbowls.

Of course, if you were looking to compete in or win the Understatement Super Bowl, that might do it.  

[2006Coltsbestever]

5 hours ago, Superman said:

Since we've been talking about the state of our roster and how close we are, I'm curious what people think about what we have right now. I think we need 10-12 very good to great players before we can say we're ready to be a true contender. 

 

So, assuming everyone is 100% healthy, and assume the young players who have flashed in preseason are as good as they've shown so far, who would you put in the Colts top 10?

10-12 Very Good to Great players is too of a high number IMO. Would I love to add that many though, of course. I would say more like 4-6 and we can contend (6 is alot). With a QB like Luck, assuming he stays healthy we will probably finish no worse than 8-8 with the Roster we have. I have us going 9-7 but I can see 8-8 being unbiased. We aren't as bad as most people think. With last years Roster and no Luck we lost 6 games by 7 points or less. If we can add 4-6 Very Good to Great players over the next 2 years, by 2020 we can be a SB contender. Just adding these 4 would make us dangerous = a Very Good to Great Pass Rusher, Very Good to Great CB, another Very Good to Great WR to pair with Hilton, and another Very Good to Great O.Lineman.

 

My Top 10 current players on the team now IMO are,

1. Luck

2. Hilton 

3. Hooker (3rd when he's 100%, his injury last year hurt the team)

4. Doyle

5. Sheard

6. AC

7. Kelly

8. Simon

9. Nelson (hasn't played a Reg Season down but I have him here)

10. Vinatieri  (a Kicker but an important one) 

 

[MarquisJ]

Luck

Ty

Adam V

AC

Hooker

Doyel

Sheard

Geathers

Kelly

Nelson

[stitches]

1. Andrew Luck

2. TY Hilton

3. Quenton Nelson

4. Anthony Castonzo

5. Malik Hooker

6. Darius Leonard

7. Ryan Kelly

8. Jabaal Sheard

9. Clayton Gaethers

10. Hassan Ridgeway(I might be his biggest fan around here)

[BOTT]

 If that was a question designed to make a colts fan sad, it worked.

[Fisticuffs111]

Probably just me but I'd put Vinny at #1. He's the GOAT.

1. Vinny
2. Luck
3. TY
4. Doyle
5. Castonzo
6. Sheard
7. Kelly
8. Simon
9. Nelson

10. This one's hard. Probably between Geathers, Autry, or Woods...I dunno.

I wanted to include Leonard, he's already one of my favorite players and I very much believe he'll be in that top 10 next year, but I'll try not to get ahead of myself.

[Lawrence Owen]

I can't honestly make this list yet. Obviously Luck, T.Y. , and A.C. . I'd put Hooker there, but i'm not 100% sure on that yet either.  But I personally don't think Sheard is that 'great'.  I'm not even sure he's top 10 on the Colts.

We have SOOOOOOOO many new faces on this team, and with new coaching, i honestly can't break down our top 10 yet. 

Get back to me in week 4.  Then i should be able to give a more accurate picture of whom our best players are.  And whom i believe are good/great.  We'll see our players truly play in extended looks. They'll have the proper time (IMO) to learn/execute the new schemes vrs real opponents. 

I do have high hopes for newer guys like Leonard, Nelson, (i'll put Geathers as 'good' now, but he seems to get hurt a lot).  Maybe even Wilson, Simon, and or a few more on the D-line.  I just need more time to see them in action.  especially over entire games.  not just a quarter or two.

[Lawrence Owen]

1 hour ago, stitches said:

1. Andrew Luck

2. TY Hilton

3. Quenton Nelson

4. Anthony Castonzo

5. Malik Hooker

6. Darius Leonard

7. Ryan Kelly

8. Jabaal Sheard

9. Clayton Gaethers

10. Hassan Ridgeway(I might be his biggest fan around here)

He keeps playing like he has in the first 2 preseason games...I'll put $$ you'll have to pay triple for a jersey next year cause he'll lead the NFL in sacks.  (maybe even break the record)  

But not getting ahead of my self.  He has definitely shown promise.  I hope his performance so far to date  has not been an anomaly.

[Lawrence Owen]

9 hours ago, Superman said:

Since we've been talking about the state of our roster and how close we are, I'm curious what people think about what we have right now. I think we need 10-12 very good to great players before we can say we're ready to be a true contender. 

 

So, assuming everyone is 100% healthy, and assume the young players who have flashed in preseason are as good as they've shown so far, who would you put in the Colts top 10?

Ok. somehow i just glassed right over your last statement.  So from what i've 'seen' so far? From last year and preseason only.

#1 Hassan Ridgeway

#2 T.Y.

#3 John Simon

#4 Malik Hooker

#5 Andrew Luck

#6 Wilkins

#7 Nelson

#8 A.C.

#9 Doyle

#10 Leonard

This is just the list of the best players i've seen THIS offseason. (and what little we saw of Hooker, and what we know of T.Y. and A.C. from last year)

[Fisticuffs111]

8 minutes ago, Lawrence Owen said:

Ok. somehow i just glassed right over your last statement.  So from what i've 'seen' so far? From last year and preseason only.

Ah man, I also missed that part.

Leonard's definitely at the 10 spot for me then, maybe higher considering the back half of the top 10 gets dicey.

[aaron11]

luck

hilton

kelly 

doyle

vinatieri

sheard

nelson

castanzo

hooker

leonard

 

actually not a bad list, but not great either

 

we have some untapped potential on the roster now too, if we can get big years out of ebron and mack then we are in business on offense.  the defense is probably a year away 

[stitches]

BTW I missed Doyle for some reason... he should be in there somewhere toward the end of the list.

[Manning->Luck]

I know he’s “just a kicker”, but I’m surprised to see Vinny absent from so many lists. In a game that comes down to points scored, this season we will have the all time NFL scorer on our roster. Yes, I’d say he’s top 10 on this team.

[Surge89]

5 hours ago, stitches said:

1. Andrew Luck

2. TY Hilton

3. Quenton Nelson

4. Anthony Castonzo

5. Malik Hooker

6. Darius Leonard

7. Ryan Kelly

8. Jabaal Sheard

9. Clayton Gaethers

10. Hassan Ridgeway(I might be his biggest fan around here)

 

Horns fan here. I strongly disagree that you are Ridgeway's biggest fan 

[rock8591]

 

Here's my updated version though as of now. I'm sure a lot of changes will be present after the first 3 games of the season.

 

10 best players -----

1. Andrew Luck (QB)

2. TY Hilton (WR)

3. Anthony Castonzo (OT)

4. Quenton Nelson (OG)

5. Ryan Kelly (C)

6. Malik Hooker (S)

7. Jack Doyle (TE)

8. Jabaal Sheard (DE)

9. Adam Vinatieri (K)

10. Jacoby Brissett (QB)

 

Offense -----

Star of the offense: Andrew Luck

Player who has to step up and become a star: Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith
Unsung star on the rise: Ryan Kelly

3 pro-bowl candidates: Andrew Luck, TY Hilton, Quenton Nelson

Strengths: QB, TE

Weaknesses: Unknowns at RB, WR, OL

 

Defense-----

Star of the defense: Malik Hooker

Player who has to step up and become a star: Tarell Basham, Kemoko Turray, and Tyquan Lewis
Unsung star on the rise: Mathias Farley

3 pro-bowl candidates: Malik Hooker, Jabaal Sheard, Mathias Farley

Strengths: Defensive line, Safety

Weaknesses: Proven pass rush, LBs

 

 

[Tsarquise]

Hilton, and Luck....

 

 

[Defjamz26]

I’ll be honest. I can’t even name 10 good players on the Colts. Excluding specialists, we’ve got Luck, Hilton, Doyle, and AC. Maybe Sheard. 

 

Nelson, Kelly, Leonard, Hooker, and Geathers aren’t really proven yet. Not enough history of consistent top tier production.  I’ll go a step further and say Luck and Hilton are currently the only proven elite players. Vinny too if you really want to put specialists in the debate.

[Smoke317]

23 hours ago, indyagent17 said:

1. Luck

2. Doyle

3. Sheard

4. Hooker

5. Leonard (1st year beast)

6. Castonzo

7. Nelson (soon to rise)

8. Hilton

9. Geathers

10. Kelly

 

 

If Doyle is our 2nd best player, we’re going nowhere fast...  He’s certainly top 10 based on his consistency but you got him WAY too high. 

[chrisfarley]

If I make a top-ten list they'll all get injured.  I'm avoiding this like the plague. 

[GoColts8818]

In no particular order:

 

Luck

TY

AV

Doyle

Castonzo

Simon

Nelson

Rigo

Geathers

Hooker

 

just missing my list are Shread, Farly, Kelly, Ebrahm, and Leonard.

[Superman]

Here's my 10, which isn't influenced by today's game because I haven't seen it yet. By the way, someone above used a qualifier that I think is fair, which is no special teamers. AV is great, but I don't view a kicker as a difference maker; he only matters if we can get him into range, which a bad team can't really do (like last year). But he's obviously great.

 

In no particular order:

Luck, Hilton, Doyle, AC, Ridgeway, Leonard, Geathers, Hooker, Brissett, Nelson.

 

I'll add Mack, Simon and Sheard, which is 13. Again, in no particular order. 

 

So here's my observation. We're reaching on young guys, like Leonard, Hooker, Nelson, Mack, Ridgeway, etc., who have a lot to prove still. Brissett isn't even a starter, he likely won't help us win a single game this year, and outside of Philly there are probably no contenders that would put a backup QB in their top 10+. 

 

Doyle is a great pro, but not a difference maker; he was a third or fourth replacement Pro Bowler last year. I'd say the same for Simon and Sheard. 

 

So we have maybe three legit Pro Bowl level players on our roster right now -- Luck, Hilton and maybe AC (who has never been in 7 seasons). The Jags had 4 players voted into the Pro Bowl last year; the Steelers had 8. 

 

None of our players has received any significant season long awards. Vinatieri is the only player on our roster to be named first team All Pro, ever. We have precious little on either side of the line. 

 

And just to clarify something, with Luck healthy and good coaching, I think the Colts can win 10 games this year and go to the playoffs, and I hope they do. But there's a difference between having a winning season every once in a while and being a perennial contender. The roster as a whole is still very much a work in progress. Because we have a proven QB we can make some noise right away, and who knows what happens ultimately, but I think we're still at least two draft classes away from being able to dominate. 

[Malakai432]

That's a tough question and I don't know the answer but I really like how people are putting Leonard on there.  I think this kid could be something special.  I feel like he's one of those pesky players who has been thus far and will continue to be all season, in the mix.  The sky is the limit for this kid.  

 

He seems to be everywhere.  I think him, Hooker, and Clayton have potential to be anywhere on the field tracking down anyone at anytime.  Teams may gash the Colts but there's not going to be much escaping them hopefully once they get in the grove and get some regular season games under their belt.  That being said, praise the gods of Vahalla they stay healthy.  

[Architects08]

Luck

Hilton

Castanzo

Kelly

Nelson

Vinny

Sanchez

Doyle

Simon

Brissett

[2006Coltsbestever]

On 8/25/2018 at 2:52 AM, 2006Coltsbestever said:

10-12 Very Good to Great players is too of a high number IMO. Would I love to add that many though, of course. I would say more like 4-6 and we can contend (6 is alot). With a QB like Luck, assuming he stays healthy we will probably finish no worse than 8-8 with the Roster we have. I have us going 9-7 but I can see 8-8 being unbiased. We aren't as bad as most people think. With last years Roster and no Luck we lost 6 games by 7 points or less. If we can add 4-6 Very Good to Great players over the next 2 years, by 2020 we can be a SB contender. Just adding these 4 would make us dangerous = a Very Good to Great Pass Rusher, Very Good to Great CB, another Very Good to Great WR to pair with Hilton, and another Very Good to Great O.Lineman.

 

My Top 10 current players on the team now IMO are,

1. Luck

2. Hilton 

3. Hooker (3rd when he's 100%, his injury last year hurt the team)

4. Doyle

5. Sheard

6. AC

7. Kelly

8. Simon

9. Nelson (hasn't played a Reg Season down but I have him here)

10. Vinatieri  (a Kicker but an important one) 

 

If the Qualifier is no SP Teams, I'll take Vinny off and put Brissett at 10th.

[stitches]

@Superman I broadly agree with your assessment and I've been mentioning similar timeline for becoming a legitimate contender. You mentioned that we might need 2draft classes but because we are likely having inordinate amount of top100 picks this year and next year I would amend that to 1 more successful (if we assume the current one would be successful) draft class and one impactful free agency class(unlike what we had this year)

[Peterk2011]

On 8/25/2018 at 4:09 AM, Superman said:

Since we've been talking about the state of our roster and how close we are, I'm curious what people think about what we have right now. I think we need 10-12 very good to great players before we can say we're ready to be a true contender. 

 

So, assuming everyone is 100% healthy, and assume the young players who have flashed in preseason are as good as they've shown so far, who would you put in the Colts top 10?

 

At the moment, I don't see 10-12 players, who are THAT good that they could make a team contender. (Those 10-12 need to be not just very good, but half of them all-pro or at least regular - true, not popularity - pro-bowlers, and the rest have to be very-very good.)

 

At the moment our bests are: Luck, T.Y., Castonzo, Doyle, Sheard, Simon, Autry ..... plus Vina and Rigoberto Sanchez. No one else qualify in the "best" bracket for me at the moment. There are plenty, who are promising, who will or might be in there soon, but not just yet.

 

Those, who could get there soon: Ebron, Nelson, Kelly, Wilkins (yes, I am this high on him), Deion Cain (sadly, not sooner than 2019), maybe Chester on offense, and Ridgeway (I always liked him I think this new scheme is a blessing for him), Wilson (I still think he is our future #1 CB), and of course Hooker. Plus the two LB-s, Leonard and Sky Moore, I like both very much.

 

For this team to be contender, most of these HAVE to become pro bowlers, and 1 or 2 of them true all pro-s. Plus, Luck must regain his form, because right now, I think he is not a top10, maybe not a top15. He is still rusty. Which is understandable, but we will need him back where he was ... or even better than that (I believe, if his shoulder is fine, then his ceiling is much higher than what he reached so far).

[Mr.NotSoCreative]

On 8/25/2018 at 12:18 AM, boo2202 said:

This list shows why we're still two years away. When hooker which was a rookie and only played six games last year, is on most people's list. Then a kicker ( a very good one) is on everyone's list. Then Nelson and Leonard which have never played a meaningful down. Add in geathers that has a problem with staying healthy. Just shows our team is a few years away from truly competing. 

I personnaly believe CBall is going to have absolutely crush the next 2 drafts or we will be talking about a new gm. Building through drafts, i'm thinkin, 50-75% success rate on guys being starters.