An interesting debate - Face of the Colts

[BProland85]

With Luck no longer with the team, who do you consider the face of this franchise? Who do you think the nation views as the face of this franchise?

 

I would say the nation considers TY Hilton the face of this franchise considering he is the most known player and has spent more time on this team than Nelson and Leonard obviously. 

 

I would argue that Quenton Nelson is the current face of the franchise based on that Indy's OL is now considered the best in the NFL and Nelson has a HUGE part in that. Nelson is also talked about so much, more so than any other OL-man in the league, because of his impact blocking. Darius Leonard is a close 2nd, with Hilton as 3rd for me. 

[1959Colts]

Brissett

[Four2itus]

For now?

 

 

Seriously...Brissett.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Brissett or Hilton. I could see Nelson. 

[Devildog]

Irsay

 

[NorthernBlue]

Vinatieri

[MPStack]

T.Y. Hilton and it shouldn’t even be close. Vinny is a kicker or he’d be the face, being longest tenured Colt on roster.

[Flash7]

It's still Andrew Luck.

 

I now always hear the Colts referred to as the "Luck-less" Colts. Even when he's gone, he's dominating the discussion about the Colts.

 

But...I think it's T.Y. Hilton.

[2006Coltsbestever]

I think the face of this team is Chris Ballard. We are still getting respect around the league after losing Andrew because of him. The media really respects him. Player wise it would be TY Hilton or Nelson. 

[Jay Kirk]

I think you have to see who steps up and earns it as a player . If you go that route don't count out Marlon Mack before its all said and done.

[Nickster]

Q should be.  He’s our best player by a fairly wide margin IMO.

[Jackie Daytona]

Not real sure about having the best line in the NFL on offense.... I hope so, but we'll see .... And an OG has never been the franchise player so to speak, in the media....

[Dogg63]

QB, no question. Brissett is the face of the Colts.

[HOZER]

Blue, hands down.......

 

 

 

Or maybe this guy?

 

[LuckyHorseShoe§]

I think Ballard, Reich, Irsay, Luck, Hilton, Leonard, Mack, Vinny, Nelson are all reasonable, some for better reasons than others

[Jay Kirk]

6 minutes ago, Dogg63 said:

QB, no question. Brissett is the face of the Colts.

I think he could earn it .

[LockeDown]

Ballard all the way. Most people don’t even know who the GM is on most teams but people know Ballard.

[jvan1973]

3 minutes ago, LockeDown said:

Ballard all the way. Most people don’t even know who the GM is on most teams but people know Ballard.

We know Ballard.   I doubt fans of other teams know him

[jvan1973]

It has to be TY at this point.   But it doesn't really matter

[Fisticuffs111]

17 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

We know Ballard.   I doubt fans of other teams know him

With casual fans you're probably right. But for fans that follow a little more closely, like on the NFL subreddit, Ballard is very well known/respected by fans throughout.

But as for the thread question, in terms of face of the team to casual/hardcore fans alike, who knows. It's probably different for each fan. Hilton (although I feel like he's always been under the radar to the masses), Big Q, and Leonard are the obvious ones.

[Douzer]

TY Hilton

[shakedownstreet]

C'mon it's Luke Rhodes. He's the most accurate long snapper to ever play the game

[Defjamz26]

It’s easily TY. He’s always an early pick in fantasy leagues and all fans of opposing teams know that’s the guy they have to worry about offensively. And he’s always ranked fairly on the NFL top 100, which is voted on by other players.

 

In a few years it will be Darius Leonard though. Superstar player with a big personality.

[ColtStrong2013]

2 hours ago, MPStack said:

T.Y. Hilton and it shouldn’t even be close. Vinny is a kicker or he’d be the face, being longest tenured Colt on roster.

 

This. It isn't even close. 

 

Jim Irsay has long talked about "pillars" of the organization. The only pillars of this organization left are T.Y., Viniateri, and Castonzo, IMO. They are long standing, pillars of this franchise.

 

T.Y. is the epitome of the Indianapolis Colts. And he's by far the best player on the team. 

 

When he's in the H.O.F. there will be two statistics. T.Y. during Luck era and T.Y. after Luck era. So far the latter is looking damn good, and it's because T.Y. Hilton is a superstar and the face of this franchise. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

5 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

This. It isn't even close. 

 

Jim Irsay has long talked about "pillars" of the organization. The only pillars of this organization left are T.Y., Viniateri, and Castonzo, IMO. They are long standing, pillars of this franchise.

 

T.Y. is the epitome of the Indianapolis Colts. And he's by far the best player on the team. 

 

When he's in the H.O.F. there will be two statistics. T.Y. during Luck era and T.Y. after Luck era. So far the latter is looking damn good, and it's because T.Y. Hilton is a superstar and the face of this franchise. 

You make such a good point here. If TY puts up 1200 to 1300 yards with JB it shows how good he is and not a product of Luck. He said he wants one more contact then he is going to hang it up.

[Dogg63]

I tried to think of any NFL team that has a single 'face of the franchise' and I couldn't come up with one where it isn't the starting QB, at least the way I think of 'face of the franchise'. I think it could be argued that the Colts currently don't have a single FotF.

 

I also think QB is the most important job on an NFL team, is the highest paid, gets the most media attention (both good and bad, depending), and by default is the Face most seen by the majority of NFL consumers.

 

That's why I think it's JB, hands down. Or nobody at the moment. Depending on the definition.

[coltsfeva]

  It is interesting that when Luck retired, the Colts app changed from Luck to TY.

  Most non-Colts fans would probably agree his our best player. Can’t disagree.

 

[Imgrandojji]

At the moment the team is between "faces."  They're trying to rebuild their identity on the fly an they've done OK so far but there's a lot of work yet to do.

[southwest1]

2 hours ago, jvan1973 said:

We know Ballard.   I doubt fans of other teams know him

I must admit Jvan. You do make a darn good point. Outside of us, Kansas City, & maybe Barry Alvarez from UW-Madison...Chris Ballard's name doesn't roll of the tongue of most NFL fanbases. 

 

I mean INDY fell in love with Ballard after he ended that press conference with "the rivalry is back on" after Josh McDaniels ran back to Foxboro, but yes, GM's seldom become faces of franchises even exceptional ones like Chris. Well said Jvan. 

[indyagent17]

I've been very tired of hearing it number 12 brought up. It's not Luck's team,  he quit!

[southwest1]

Most posters in this thread believe TY Hilton is now the face of our franchise & given how this league is so pass centric now, it makes perfect sense I guess. Or they go with Jacoby Brissett since he touches the ball the most. Neither one of those answers is wrong. 

 

I also understand that LB's like Darius Leonard or secondary studs like Malik Hooker seldom get any love because gambling is based on touchdowns & offensive players for fantasy football stats. 

 

However, when your team is down & needs to come from behind & get the ball back for your offense, you need dogs on defense & in the secondary. I know I'm in the minority here & that fine. For me, it's a tie between Leonard & Hooker. Not a sexy or popular pick but a vital one. 

 

Okay, if you force me to only pick 1 name it's Hooker because he proved his value week one already. 

 

[WoolMagnet]

4 hours ago, Devildog said:

Irsay

 

They should make a "Being Jim Irsay" movie.

(like John Malcovick)

[DerekDiggler]

Who is a poossibke HOF player on the team

 

TY.  maybe 

Leonard maybe

Nelson probably

AV.  ABSOLUTELY  

 

Brissett.  Nope 

 

for those that said Jb   COME ON ALREADY!!!!!

 

 

[LockeDown]

Who is the face of the Cowboys?  Jerry Jones is.  It’s not always a player but usually the biggest personality and sports shows all say now that Ballard is taking the Colts on a very long successful run. They don’t say that about other GMs.  Ballard will be our face for the.m next decade because he is building a complete team that people think will succeed Tom Brady and Pats dominance when he retires. Hilton is just too passive and he doesn’t do commercials  etc....plus he had the stigma that he couldn’t be a red zone threat. I love the guy but he’s not the face.

[southwest1]

7 minutes ago, WoolMagnet said:

They should make a "Being Jim Irsay" movie.

(like John Malcovick)

I'd definitely buy a ticket to see that flick WM. He's a fascinating guy. He's had substance abuse issues, he's generous with his money & efforts to improve Indianapolis as a community, he's driven to win as an owner, he's been thru lean yrs when our franchise wasn't relevant, he collects famous guitars like kids accumulate baseball cards, & finally the man is honest about his faults, mistakes, & he is extremely relatable to his fans as an owner. 

[southwest1]

5 minutes ago, LockeDown said:

Who is the face of the Cowboys?  Jerry Jones is.  It’s not always a player but usually the biggest personality and sports shows all say now that Ballard is taking the Colts on a very long successful run. They don’t say that about other GMs.  Ballard will be our face for the.m next decade because he is building a complete team that people think will succeed Tom Brady and Pats dominance when he retires. Hilton is just too passive and he doesn’t do commercials  etc....

Intriguing post above LKD. That is true. Jerry Jones is the figure head of the Cowboys. I consider him more of a marketing genius than a top tier GM though. His son Stephen is making the draft picks calls now not Jerry. Okay sure, Jerry has a lot of cache & sway in Dallas but that was because of Jimmy Johnson in the 90's not necessarily the 2000's & beyond. 

 

Look at Bill Polian. A HOF GM who had success in Buffalo & Carolina before he came to INDY & finally won that elusive ring. GM's just aren't household names unless they have success in multiple cities first & faces of franchises are almost always athletes on the field not front office executives usually. 

 

Ballard is tremendous sure, but the face of our franchise right now? I would disagree with that. I'm not doubting Ballard's leadership & steady hand at all. 

 

Nice write up though buddy. You always make me think & create fresh vantage points & I respect that. 

[Imgrandojji]

28 minutes ago, DerekDiggler said:

 

Brissett.  Nope 

 

for those that said Jb   COME ON ALREADY!!!!!

 

 

There's a good argument for Brissett.  Dude's our starting QB and the eyes of the entire league are on him right now.  We go as he goes.  If he sticks this, gets us into the playoffs, he IS the face of the team.  If he doesn't, we're probably going to  be staring another rebuild in the face.  In that sense, Brissett is the face of the team right now.  Our fate is linked inextricably to his, at least for the next 2 years

 

I know some fans want a shiny flashy top draft pick QB like Manning and Luck was, and for those people Brissett is never going to be good enough because that's not what he's about but that's no excuse to pretend he's not right at the heart of this franchise right now

[ColtStrong2013]

42 minutes ago, southwest1 said:

Most posters in this thread believe TY Hilton is now the face of our franchise & given how this league is so pass centric now, it makes perfect sense I guess. Or they go with Jacoby Brissett since he touches the ball the most. Neither one of those answers is wrong. 

 

I also understand that LB's like Darius Leonard or secondary studs like Malik Hooker seldom get any love because gambling is based on touchdowns & offensive players for fantasy football stats. 

 

However, when your team is down & needs to come from behind & get the ball back for your offense, you need dogs on defense & in the secondary. I know I'm in the minority here & that fine. For me, it's a tie between Leonard & Hooker. Not a sexy or popular pick but a vital one. 

 

Okay, if you force me to only pick 1 name it's Hooker because he proved his value week one already. 

 

 

I don't disagree with an emphasis on defense, but in today's era, it just isn't reality. Leonard and Hooker will be pillars of this franchise for, hopefully, many years... but they are 2nd and 3rd year players, on rookie contracts. They aren't pillars until they at least prove they WANT to be here by signing a 2nd contract. The pillars of this franchise are guys that signed 3rd and 4th contracts. Robert Mathis, Reggie Wayne....guys that are still involved in this organization. T.Y. is that kind of guy. We don't know if Leonard and Hooker are yet. 

[ColtStrong2013]

28 minutes ago, LockeDown said:

Hilton is just too passive and he doesn’t do commercials  etc....plus he had the stigma that he couldn’t be a red zone threat.

 

Why does one have to do commercials to be a face of a franchise. Every single person in Lucas Oil any given Sunday know who T.Y. Hilton is, and most across the country that play fantasy football know him well... 

 

Had is a big emphasis on that... as Frank Reich said he will be a priority in the red zone, and considering he had 2 redzone touchdowns in week 1... 

[southwest1]

17 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

 

I don't disagree with an emphasis on defense, but in today's era, it just isn't reality. Leonard and Hooker will be pillars of this franchise for, hopefully, many years... but they are 2nd and 3rd year players, on rookie contracts. They aren't pillars until they at least prove they WANT to be here by signing a 2nd contract. The pillars of this franchise are guys that signed 3rd and 4th contracts. Robert Mathis, Reggie Wayne....guys that are still involved in this organization. T.Y. is that kind of guy. We don't know if Leonard and Hooker are yet. 

Well written post with sound reasoning throughout CS2013. Like I said in my previous post, I understand that today's game is offensive based which means WR's, QB's, & TE's tend to all the mainstream press. However, I think it's safe to say if Leonard & Hooker remain healthy, they definitely make their presences known. 

 

People can think I'm nuts & roll their eyes at me as a gush or wax poetically about Leonard or Hooker--I'm cool with that. When you need a momentum swing, the DBs & LBs gotta stop an opposing team's WR's, RB, & QB with a fumble, turnover, or pick. It's as simple as that. 

 

Again, there are no real wrong answers here. Just where individual fans place the most emphasis that's all. I get it. Offensive guys get all the praise. It's where the league is now, not me, but life goes on. Appreciate your response.