Superstars Only ?

[Thorolf]

I have been watching the roster, and I guess that Blair White just hit a nerve.

Is anyone and everyone who is not a bonafide Superstar going to be cut from the COLTS?

I will be the first to admit that some who have been cut have not been on a par with Jerry Rice. But every single one that is cut means that we have to start From Scratch to turn a new player into a COLT! Is this Really the best path? Is it better to have a team bulging with newby rookies, or have a team with a few newbies and a majority who are at least familiar with the COLTS way of doing things?

Players like White have only been with the COLTS for a couple of years. In case it has been forgotten by others, even Peyton Manning was not very impressive after just 2 years!!!! You have to give a player sufficient time to develope and perfect his skills. Cutting White seems like a very foolish act, since he is the very type who could have been groomed into a better player.

How many players are Superstars after just 2 years????

I just wonder how we are going to have a team that is able to compeat when it is comprised of 90% rookies ?

The COLTS are my team, and I will always back them. But that does not mean that Irsay MUST be right ! If I am wrong( and I will be Very happy if I am wrong!) then I guess that will show why I am not an NFL owner or General Manager. But if I am right, then we COLTS fans will have to look forward to roughly a DECADE before we have a team that can honestly compeat in the NFL!

I really hope that I am wrong!

[bahhummbug]

White was a below average receiver who played his heart out.Will miss him but no great loss IMO

[Gavin]

I have been watching the roster, and I guess that Blair White just hit a nerve.

Is anyone and everyone who is not a bonafide Superstar going to be cut from the COLTS?

I will be the first to admit that some who have been cut have not been on a par with Jerry Rice. But every single one that is cut means that we have to start From Scratch to turn a new player into a COLT! Is this Really the best path? Is it better to have a team bulging with newby rookies, or have a team with a few newbies and a majority who are at least familiar with the COLTS way of doing things?

Players like White have only been with the COLTS for a couple of years. In case it has been forgotten by others, even Peyton Manning was not very impressive after just 2 years!!!! You have to give a player sufficient time to develope and perfect his skills. Cutting White seems like a very foolish act, since he is the very type who could have been groomed into a better player.

How many players are Superstars after just 2 years????

I just wonder how we are going to have a team that is able to compeat when it is comprised of 90% rookies ?

The COLTS are my team, and I will always back them. But that does not mean that Irsay MUST be right ! If I am wrong( and I will be Very happy if I am wrong!) then I guess that will show why I am not an NFL owner or General Manager. But if I am right, then we COLTS fans will have to look forward to roughly a DECADE before we have a team that can honestly compeat in the NFL!

I really hope that I am wrong!

I wonder what the reason was for his release thats what I want to know,

[deedub75]

We are cutting players that either don't fit the new scheme or are not part of the near or long term vision of the team.

[Captain Americolt]

Is all this necessary over an average player getting cut? Players get cut from EVERY team all the time. I wonder if theres one poster on every teams fan boards that makes a big deal about a player getting cut after two years

[MAC]

But every single one that is cut means that we have to start From Scratch to turn a new player into a COLT!

Is it better to have a team bulging with newby rookies, or have a team with a few newbies and a majority who are at least familiar with the COLTS way of doing things?

In case it has been forgotten by others, even Peyton Manning was not very impressive after just 2 years!!!! You have to give a player sufficient time to develope and perfect his skills. Cutting White seems like a very foolish act, since he is the very type who could have been groomed into a better player.

But if I am right, then we COLTS fans will have to look forward to roughly a DECADE before we have a team that can honestly compeat in the NFL!

So what is a Colt now? What is the Colt's way of doing things? The entire management structure has been replaced, and they are in the process of reinventing what a Colt is. If they didn't want White it is best to assume that it was for a good reason. The team is rebuilding. Frankly I'm astonished that they've kept as many players as they have. What exactly did you think was going to happen?

Comparing an undrafted free agent with limited skills to a number one overall pick isn't a fantastic idea. Better to compare him to someone like Garcon, who regularly looked like Superman, but was inconsistent. There was reason to hope that he could be a significant piece with experience. White never did anything remotely impressive. I see little room for development myself, and would rather that the roster space be used on someone with more potential - even if it's ANOTHER flawed UFA. We know what White can do, and it isn't much.

A decade? Only if the new QB gets injured or bombs, or if Grigson proves to be totally incompetent. This entire exercise has been about the fact that you can't win many games in the NFL without a franchise QB. If that's what the Colts are now signing, they will very likely be "honestly competing" by 2014-15 at the latest. Perhaps much sooner considering how "NFL ready" Luck is supposed to be. I don't see his upside as being anywhere near Peyton's, but he may well take a lot less time to reach his potential. If he is the next Art Schichter than all bets are off. Vince Lombardi and Bill Belichick combined couldn't save a team with him as the center piece.

[MAC]

I wonder what the reason was for his release thats what I want to know,

Because he wasn't very good, and injuries may well have limited him further. I don't get why this is such a big deal to people. I think this thread number three for a guy that never would have played a regular season down if not for a ridiculous string of injuries.

[ColtJ82]

Because he wasn't very good, and injuries may well have limited him further. I don't get why this is such a big deal to people. I think this thread number three for a guy that never would have played a regular season down if not for a ridiculous string of injuries.

And then getting a string of injuries himself. He wasn't going to make the team anyway if we draft a couple of WR. He was the 4th string WR for crying out loud. Yeah, he may have been a likeable guy. You have seen how everyone else in the league values who we let go. IMO, they probably did Blair a favor by cutting him prior to the draft. That may give him the best opportunity to get a training camp opportunity. Agree with everything you said above.

[Gavin]

The release tells me we will be going wide receiver early at least thats my guess seeing as how we arent sure we can rely on Avery or Collie being healthy but we will see, if they go wide receiver early I hope its no earlier then round 3

[Andy]

Blair White who with Peyton Manning was a mediocre receiver at best. He isn't athletic, and he's not that big. He just worked his butt off and had some good games. If our receiving core is healthy, he will never see the field.

I like Blair, so I was a tad sad to see him go, but it doesn't make a difference to the team, because he literally had to no impact.

Also, I can't believe you put Jerry Rice and Blair White in the same paragraph.

[Smonroe]

I have been watching the roster, and I guess that Blair White just hit a nerve.

Is anyone and everyone who is not a bonafide Superstar going to be cut from the COLTS?

.....

I sure hope not, that would leave us with 3 players.

Seriously though, I understand your concern. We don't want the franchise to turn into the Browns. None of us can say with 100% certainty that we're headed in the right directions, but I like the way it's shaping up.

Wait until the roster is set, then come back with this discussion.

[LUVTHESHOE]

Is all this necessary over an average player getting cut? Players get cut from EVERY team all the time. I wonder if theres one poster on every teams fan boards that makes a big deal about a player getting cut after two years

lol, no doubt. I had to go back to the top and make sure this was just Blair White.

[jskinnz]

The release tells me we will be going wide receiver early at least thats my guess seeing as how we arent sure we can rely on Avery or Collie being healthy but we will see, if they go wide receiver early I hope its no earlier then round 3

Dear God.

Seriously? You really think that cutting White changes anything about their draft plans?

[Gavin]

Dear God.

Seriously? You really think that cutting White changes anything about their draft plans?

well he was depth

[John Dee]

Colts have cut a lot of oft injured players. Yet they sign Avery? With only Wayne, Collie, (another injury risk) and Avery (another injury risk) on the roster at wide receiver I totally expect Indy to draft a couple WR's.... And probably sign several more veteran and UDFA WR's.

Let em all battle it out in camp. I kinda hope Luck's team mate at Stanford C Owusu could be drafted late or brought in as a free agent.

[GoDeep]

The premise that the next level above Blair White is "Superstar" is flawed.

[JCPatriot]

In case it has been forgotten by others, even Peyton Manning was not very impressive after just 2 years!!!!

The Colts went 13-3 and won the AFC East in Manning's second year. I would consider that impressive considering that they had just come off of back-to-back 3-13 seasons (one with Manning and one pre-Manning).

[Phil J]

well he was depth

#5 depth. hope the door didn't hit him on the way out. but good luck to him, seriously! l o l

[Gavin]

#5 depth. hope the door didn't hit him on the way out. but good luck to him, seriously! l o l

true

[dgambill]

I can tell you one thing. As this team is currently constructed it is going to take way more than 2 years for it to go 13-3. This team has a HUGE lack of talent and no one draft will make up for that. Even if we had the first 9 picks in the draft we wouldn't make the playoffs this year...let alone 9 picks spread out.

Blair was cut because he wasn't good enough. He wasn't that good when he was playing let alone since he didn't last year. This team is already over the 51 man roster and we haven't even signed our draft picks. Hate to tell you but not everyone is hanging around.

[esmort]

White was not that talented and was most likely at his ceiling and was probably not going to see the field anyway... I would much rather see that roster spot used on a late round pick or udfa rookie who may actually be a hidden gem or at the very least has the potential for some upside.

[DG1]

Dear God.

Seriously? You really think that cutting White changes anything about their draft plans?

That's what I am saying. People act like we don't have 10 draft picks coming in less than 2 weeks. We will be OK...

[ColtsPRIDE11]

I for one am not crying that White was cut. I like the guy and all, but we need to be looking for the "new" Reggie or Marvin. Let's face it, White wasn't it, so IMO time to move on.

I like what Grigson and Pagano are doing so far, and can't wait to see the rest of the picture as far as the draft goes.

I agree that it is likely we won't make it to the playoffs this year, but we can't make any assumptions about next season until we see who we draft this year and see what the scheme/plan is from Pagano.

One things we know, the players we have are fired up and ready to get to work.

LET'S BUILD THE MONSTER!

[jskinnz]

well he was depth

You need to give up this line of thinking. Cutting a middle of the road talent who would be WR # 4 at best has no bearing on their draft plans. They would not have looked at Jeffrey in Round 2 and said "let's pass - we got Blair White."

This thread and the actual Blair White thread people have seriously gone overboard with the reaction tto this cut. It means nothing.

[Smonroe]

You need to give up this line of thinking. Cutting a middle of the road talent who would be WR # 4 at best has no bearing on their draft plans. They would not have looked at Jeffrey in Round 2 and said "let's pass - we got Blair White."

This thread and the actual Blair White thread people have seriously gone overboard with the reaction tto this cut. It means nothing.

How can you say that? After all, last season White caught.... oh, okay, so he had 0 receptions last year.

But the year before... oh yeah, he was cut at the start of the 2010 season too.

Nevermind...

[JCPatriot]

One things we know, the players we have are fired up and ready to get to work.

Statements like this baffle me. How do we know that?

[chad72]

All we need to do is temper expectations for year 1.

Will the defensive players from the draft plus the ones on the roster be good enough to play the 3-4/4-3 hybrid within a few games? Probably not.

Will Andrew Luck be able to march our offense up and down the field to put up close to 25-30 points every game to win enough games for us on the strength of our offense? Probably not.

Will we be able to sneak out a few wins more with better QB play than last year, better coaching, better schemes than last year? Probably yes.

That is why my best expectations are 6-10. Anything better than that is gravy to me .

It does not have to do singularly with one or two players, it has everything to do with the fact that Pagano and Grigson have a long term vision that may take 2 or 3 years to see fruition. Our average age will go down with this draft and we will have to play free agency next offseason to give a chance for the draft to catch up for the talent we have lost. Then the average age will go up again but our win probability will also go up. Then, in about 3 to 4 years, we can become draft dominant again.

[Gavin]

You need to give up this line of thinking. Cutting a middle of the road talent who would be WR # 4 at best has no bearing on their draft plans. They would not have looked at Jeffrey in Round 2 and said "let's pass - we got Blair White."

This thread and the actual Blair White thread people have seriously gone overboard with the reaction tto this cut. It means nothing.

yeah I just realized that because more then likely we will be drafting a wide receiver or two in the draft

[ColtsPRIDE11]

JCPatriot, I take our players at their word. If you'll read the articles on Colts.com and the quotes from the players you'll hear many of them state they are excited to get to work and get going. You can also hear them say it by watching the videos on Colts.com.

[John Dee]

Statements like this baffle me. How do we know that?

Local radio...

Some of us live in Central IN, and yes many of the players are ready to go.

[The Peytonator]

While I did like White in a Peyton Manning run offense, he really may have a hard time fitting in with a Bruce Arians run offense. Arians likes to run a lot of vertical routes from what I gather, so White and his significantly below average speed, would not be worth much in the new O. With P the offense was based on timing, so as long as the guy worked hard, and developed chemistry with P, the guy would produce.

[GoColts8818]

Look I liked White and he did a good job filling in for Collie his rookie year but let's be real about this he blew us away because as an undrafted free agent expections for him were extremely low by most. He was an average at best WR playing WITH Peyton Manning. I am sure Peyton Manning might have had something to do with that and I don't care who we take in the draft they aren't going to be Peyton Manning day one. Add to that the injury White and if he was having some trouble coming back from that (Phil B.'s reasoning for the Colts releasing White) then you can understand this move. I am sorry I can see why people were ticked after Peyton Manning was released. I can see how people weren't happy when Clark, Brackett, and company were all released. I don't see how cutting Blair White pushes anyone over the edge. With all due respect to White other than Curtis Painter he's probably the least talented player we've cut this off-season that has played.

[Jules]

People are seriously freaking out over White being cut? Really?

Okay I guess, be my guest. Moving on.........

[subvet]

I have been watching the roster, and I guess that Blair White just hit a nerve.

Is anyone and everyone who is not a bonafide Superstar going to be cut from the COLTS?

I will be the first to admit that some who have been cut have not been on a par with Jerry Rice. But every single one that is cut means that we have to start From Scratch to turn a new player into a COLT! Is this Really the best path? Is it better to have a team bulging with newby rookies, or have a team with a few newbies and a majority who are at least familiar with the COLTS way of doing things?

Players like White have only been with the COLTS for a couple of years. In case it has been forgotten by others, even Peyton Manning was not very impressive after just 2 years!!!! You have to give a player sufficient time to develope and perfect his skills. Cutting White seems like a very foolish act, since he is the very type who could have been groomed into a better player.

How many players are Superstars after just 2 years????

I just wonder how we are going to have a team that is able to compeat when it is comprised of 90% rookies ?

The COLTS are my team, and I will always back them. But that does not mean that Irsay MUST be right ! If I am wrong( and I will be Very happy if I am wrong!) then I guess that will show why I am not an NFL owner or General Manager. But if I am right, then we COLTS fans will have to look forward to roughly a DECADE before we have a team that can honestly compeat in the NFL!

I really hope that I am wrong!

White didn't show that much but at least he knew the system. What bothers me is with the new coaches why are these decisions being made now? Are these more money saving moves or is there another reason.

[LUCKyday]

I wonder what the reason was for his release thats what I want to know,

he had a bad injury last year and they didn't know if he would come back all the way so he went to be a free agent and he was picked up by the broc... Oh wait wrong guy LOL

[DG1]

Local radio...

Some of us live in Central IN, and yes many of the players are ready to go.

Colts have had 100% turnout so far and John is right. Local radio has interviewed numerous players and all are very excited and have bought into the new system.

[amff]

I have been watching the roster, and I guess that Blair White just hit a nerve.

Is anyone and everyone who is not a bonafide Superstar going to be cut from the COLTS?

I will be the first to admit that some who have been cut have not been on a par with Jerry Rice. But every single one that is cut means that we have to start From Scratch to turn a new player into a COLT! Is this Really the best path? Is it better to have a team bulging with newby rookies, or have a team with a few newbies and a majority who are at least familiar with the COLTS way of doing things?

Players like White have only been with the COLTS for a couple of years. In case it has been forgotten by others, even Peyton Manning was not very impressive after just 2 years!!!! You have to give a player sufficient time to develope and perfect his skills. Cutting White seems like a very foolish act, since he is the very type who could have been groomed into a better player.

How many players are Superstars after just 2 years????

I just wonder how we are going to have a team that is able to compeat when it is comprised of 90% rookies ?

The COLTS are my team, and I will always back them. But that does not mean that Irsay MUST be right ! If I am wrong( and I will be Very happy if I am wrong!) then I guess that will show why I am not an NFL owner or General Manager. But if I am right, then we COLTS fans will have to look forward to roughly a DECADE before we have a team that can honestly compeat in the NFL!

I really hope that I am wrong!

As far as your superstar question goes, I am pretty sure the uperest of superstars was let go i.e Peyon Manning.

[jvan1973]

Local radio...

Some of us live in Central IN, and yes many of the players are ready to go.

Arent all NFL players? If they werent they wouldnt be in the NFL

[KarlKuffs]

The premise that the next level above Blair White is "Superstar" is flawed.

That was news to me too. Apparently there are only 2 classes of players in the NFL.

1) Marginally talented, athletically limited undrafted free agent average joe's like Blair White

and

2) Superstars

[Coltswarriors]

Suggesting Blair White was a super star? LOL.