Stop Going For The Big Names!

[Andy]

This has been frustrating to see people say that they want to get Marques Colston or Ben Grubbs. The Colts don't have the most amount of cap space in the world and with Andrew Luck coming to town along with 8 other draft picks, the cap space will get even smaller.

What would you rather have, 2 very good players, or one great player. That's what's going on around here. Everyone wants to go for the big name free agents. When you think about it, if you get Marques Colston and he goes up against Darelle Revis or Champ Bailey, then Marques Colston has little to no impact. When you have 2 good receivers, not only do you have more options, but you don't have to worry about being completely shut down as only one of those 2 will be shut down. Target many quality players, not the superstar. This is a rebuilding stage, and you can't rebuild a franchise by signing one superstar, you start off with many quality players, then build up from there. That's what the late 90's Colts did. They keep building on their previous team, not losing players (except Marshall), but only adding. They added James, Peterson and Scioli. They built from there adding Freeney to take over Scioli and got June, Brackett and Whitesdale after losing Peterson. They kept getting better at almost each position. That's what this team should do, build on each other. What do you do with a house? You start with a foundation, then build on that foundation. It's what Bill Polian did so well. Now, if we go and get a superstar player, only one of our positions are filled, instead of having 2 or 3 positions filled with quality players. Go small then get bigger and bigger.

Now, have you ever thought and said, what if that superstar player doesn't pan out. What if his style of play doesn't match this offense? What if he doesn't transition well from a spread offense to our offense? There are so many variables involved in signing a superstar player, which makes signing him so risky. Now if you sign 3 players for the same price as the one superstar player and one of those players doesn't pan out, it's not the end of the world because you have 2 other players.

The only time I would be for getting a superstar player is if the Colts are on the verge of being SB contenders, and they need that extra push that a normal good player wouldn't give you; that's the only time. The Colts are coming off one of their worst years in franchise history, and are nowhere near SB contenders, so this is not an exception to get a superstar player.

I hope some of you guys could just reconsider some of your stances on getting big name players as the Colts are not in the right state to start going after them. Start low and get bigger, and you'll see that they'll be back in contention soon. Look at what the Falcons in 2008. They draft their franchise QB and build a team filled with quality players and sign no superstars. They signed Michael Turner, who at the time was a backup with a lot of potential playing behind LT. He went over and panned out. They drafted some defensive players like Curtis Lofton and Thomas Decoud, both have been big parts of that defense and both still have tons of potential. They signed Grady Jackson for a short-term impact at DT. They didn't do anything big and built through the draft and signed some quality players through free agency, and one of those players, panned out big. Now, look at the Falcons, 5 years removed from that offseason, and their contenders. They were the #1 seed in the NFC last year (4 years removed) and made the playoffs. The big thing is, they actually made the playoffs in Ryan's rookie year. They built it properly and got rewarded with great success and playoff berths. The Colts can do that too, and even though it seems unlikely, they could make the playoffs if the spend smartly in the offseason.

Thanks for reading, and if there are mistakes, I'm sorry, I'm just too lazy to read this all over.

[Balzer40]

I don't understand why people want Colston anyway. The guy has had something like 74 knee surguries and thats not something I want the Colts to waste money on because we all know with the Colts luck it would be almost inevitable he would tear an ACL again or something. No thanks to Colston.

[ColtJ82]

I vote to fill out the roster with solid, but relatively inexpensive talent. Let our draft picks become the big names of the future (assuming we draft well).

[unitas-we-stand]

very well said andy

[chad72]

What you said makes sense for positions that can easily be filled with the draft. But yes, draft first, free agency next. The next year will be the year to go after free agents when we have more than $30 mil. in cap space in 2013. Positions like OG and DT/3-4 DE, positions that take a longer transition time to the NFL, if not this year, at least next year, we have to get free agent quality there.

The Falcons got Roddy White prior to Matt Ryan getting there, much like Marvin got here before Peyton. Unless we re-sign Garcon, there is not a speed wideout on the roster for Andrew Luck. Falcons also got Tony Gonzalez via a trade with the Chiefs to help out Matt Ryan. Michael Turner, the Falcons were not the only team who pursued him since he played one whole year on a 1st and 3rd tender, and he did not come cheap whatsoever for the Falcons. In 2008, he signed a 6 year $35 mil. contract for an RB with $15 mil. guaranteed, not a pittance by any means (http://sportsillustr...cons/index.html).

So, you have to sometimes pay for quality, and not expect mid-tier free agents to come cheap if that is who you want to go after. Donte Whitner, a classic mid tier free agent example, did not come cheap for the 49ers last season but did make an impact once signed. Just saying that when you have the cap room, you work it and dont go bonkers with free agents but at the same time, dont be cheap and expect quality players to come and play for you for cheap.

[b_etchison]

Big names mean big money...maybe take some chances with some smaller school guys in the draft or rookie free agency...it worked with Garcon.