Colts' Undrafted Free Agents Thread

[Scott Pennock]

Several things come to mind when I think about the Washington Redskins. One is that of Sammy Baugh. "Slingin'" Sammy Baugh accomplished something that will most likely never be repeated.

The same year he lead the league in TD passes, he lead the league in interceptions. Not ones he threw but ones he picked. He played on both sides of the ball.

For years, college QB's were looked at as favorable talent for the Safety position.

It's not that far of a stretch that a 6'2" 220 QB with a high degree of athleticism could make for a good safety given the skill of tackling.

That came to mind when they took Mr. Irrelevant.

Nolan Cromwell comes to mind............

[Montana]

Back 'in the day', the Colts had Rex Kern, Ohio State qb play safety for them as well a Jack Mildren a qb from Okla. Didn't the Jets have the Neb qb play safety for them a few years back?

[Malakai432]

Good Luck to him

Do you find yourself doing the same thing I do and always end up capitalizing Luck now????

[esmort]

you could be right but i kind of doubt any of them will make the final roster. perhaps practice squad.

I bet at least 2-3 make the final roster not counting the practice squad ... LB Chris Glippo, and CB Micah Pellerin I can easily see making the final roster; they were actually even draft worthy. There are a couple other guys who graded out decently as well.

[coltsguy510]

UNC Saftey Matt Merletti to Colts

He did 31 reps at his Pro Day and probably would have been rated higher but was hurt during his Senior year.

[coltsguy510]

We signed Buddy Jackson, A 6-1 180 lb. CB from Pittsburgh, and he is ATHLETIC! He started once in 4 years but at his Pro Day he ran a 4.33 and had a Broad Jump of 11-9".

[ColtJ82]

Just saw a Tweet that Harnish had a deal with the Chargers before the Colts drafted him. I didn't realize that negotiations for UDFAs took place during the draft.

[bavanlan]

Just saw a Tweet that Harnish had a deal with the Chargers before the Colts drafted him. I didn't realize that negotiations for UDFAs took place during the draft.

Towards the end I think agents start putting feelers out. Don't think they're supposed to until the draft is officially over, but that's a poorly kept secret like the first day of free agency.

[coltsguy510]

He did 31 reps at his Pro Day and probably would have been rated higher but was hurt during his Senior year.

31 bench press reps, sorry.

[ReMeDy]

http://www.nfl.com/n..._headline_stack

^ It looks like they typed it in a hurry, since I noticed some typo mistakes I corrected, so this may not be fully accurate.

Offense:

Rhode Island OL - Jason Foster

Iowa State OL - Hayworth Hicks

East Carolina OT - Steve Baker

Stanford WR - Griff Whalen

Montana WR - Jabin Sambrano

Defense:

USC LB - Chris Galippo

Hampton CB - Micah Pellerin

Wisconsin CB - Antonio Fenelus

Maryland CB - Cameron Chism

Pittsburgh DB - Buddy Jackson

Endicott DE - Kevin Eagan

Special Teams:

North Carolina S - Matt Merletti

San Diego State P - Brian Stahovich

[king general 317]

My first post here.... glad I found a good colts forums. But my first I would like to say that when I played football for pike high school Adam mOorehead is was one of our coaches and he even used to stand on the sidielines with us..... He was a very cool guy

[Coach_Clancy]

i'll never understand how polian and now grigson expect to build a more physical, championship OL thru free agency and castoffs. luck will need more than some (gifted) receivers, his head had better be on a swivel and be wearing a life-alert button.yeah, go ahead and tell this OL will be good enough to keep him healthy and maybe run the ball. right.

[MSColtsFan]

i'll never understand how polian and now grigson expect to build a more physical, championship OL thru free agency and castoffs. luck will need more than some (gifted) receivers, his head had better be on a swivel and be wearing a life-alert button.yeah, go ahead and tell this OL will be good enough to keep him healthy and maybe run the ball. right.

Uh, the first two picks last year were OL, and the third pick was DL. That's investing in the lines. If you do it right, you should only have to draft your tackles once every 5-10 years? I mean, tackles are usually viewed as a skill position, and go much, much higher than guards or centers, like the Colts did with Castonzo last year. If a team is using a top 3 pick on their next LT or RT every year, they stink at evaluating OL talent and the draft process in general. Tackles should be like QB, WR, other skill positions - draft it right, and you don't need to draft it again for a long time (excpet for depth, which can't be a pick which needs to start).

Interior lineman are almost always later round guys - they tend to be college tackles who aren't good enough to transition to that position at the pro level and are moved to guard. Those guys are castoffs, UDFAs, late round guys. Go back and look at how many interior OL went, and where in the first few rounds of this draft, any draft. With few exceptions those guys always go much later, which makes it appear like a team is ignoring it, but in fact that's what their value is to nearly every NFL team.

[chad72]

Uh, the first two picks last year were OL, and the third pick was DL. That's investing in the lines. If you do it right, you should only have to draft your tackles once every 5-10 years? I mean, tackles are usually viewed as a skill position, and go much, much higher than guards or centers, like the Colts did with Castonzo last year. If a team is using a top 3 pick on their next LT or RT every year, they stink at evaluating OL talent and the draft process in general. Tackles should be like QB, WR, other skill positions - draft it right, and you don't need to draft it again for a long time (excpet for depth, which can't be a pick which needs to start).

Interior lineman are almost always later round guys - they tend to be college tackles who aren't good enough to transition to that position at the pro level and are moved to guard. Those guys are castoffs, UDFAs, late round guys. Go back and look at how many interior OL went, and where in the first few rounds of this draft, any draft. With few exceptions those guys always go much later, which makes it appear like a team is ignoring it, but in fact that's what their value is to nearly every NFL team.

Spot on. If you look at the Patriots' picks, their early OL picks were OTs - Matt Light (round 2), Nate Solder (round 1), Sebastian Vollmer (round 2). Their only OG selected in round 1 was Logan Mankins. Brian Waters, they got through free agency. So, OTs go early, OGs slightly later unless there is tremendous value. But you have to give any group a couple of years to build cohesion to see if they are good enough or not. Grigson will find out soon if the bodies he brought in and believes in can build cohesion and keep Luck upright or not. The draft is all about Luck, so if that were the case, I am sure he had Luck in mind all along while bringing the OL bodies in. Let us give them a chance this year to build cohesion and continuity. It is a new O-line coach too.

[BrentMc11]

Spot on. If you look at the Patriots' picks, their early OL picks were OTs - Matt Light (round 2), Nate Solder (round 1), Sebastian Vollmer (round 2). Their only OG selected in round 1 was Logan Mankins. Brian Waters, they got through free agency. So, OTs go early, OGs slightly later unless there is tremendous value. But you have to give any group a couple of years to build cohesion to see if they are good enough or not. Grigson will find out soon if the bodies he brought in and believes in can build cohesion and keep Luck upright or not. The draft is all about Luck, so if that were the case, I am sure he had Luck in mind all along while bringing the OL bodies in. Let us give them a chance this year to build cohesion and continuity. It is a new O-line coach too.

I ran out of likes, so I have to say you and NorCalColt are on the money. Great assessment by both of you!!!

[bavanlan]

Spot on. If you look at the Patriots' picks, their early OL picks were OTs - Matt Light (round 2), Nate Solder (round 1), Sebastian Vollmer (round 2). Their only OG selected in round 1 was Logan Mankins. Brian Waters, they got through free agency. So, OTs go early, OGs slightly later unless there is tremendous value. But you have to give any group a couple of years to build cohesion to see if they are good enough or not. Grigson will find out soon if the bodies he brought in and believes in can build cohesion and keep Luck upright or not. The draft is all about Luck, so if that were the case, I am sure he had Luck in mind all along while bringing the OL bodies in. Let us give them a chance this year to build cohesion and continuity. It is a new O-line coach too.

FWIW, Belichick was talking about Mankins on a pre draft show and basically said they wanted to trade down and get him but couldn't find anyone to trade with.

[MSColtsFan]

Spot on. If you look at the Patriots' picks, their early OL picks were OTs - Matt Light (round 2), Nate Solder (round 1), Sebastian Vollmer (round 2). Their only OG selected in round 1 was Logan Mankins. Brian Waters, they got through free agency. So, OTs go early, OGs slightly later unless there is tremendous value. But you have to give any group a couple of years to build cohesion to see if they are good enough or not. Grigson will find out soon if the bodies he brought in and believes in can build cohesion and keep Luck upright or not. The draft is all about Luck, so if that were the case, I am sure he had Luck in mind all along while bringing the OL bodies in. Let us give them a chance this year to build cohesion and continuity. It is a new O-line coach too.

Agreed - and since Glenn retired, Meadows wasn't re-signed, now Saturday gone, etc., rebuilding that takes time and lots of trial and error.

There is a difference between the opinion that the lines were ignored, or made up of UDFAs and castoffs, versus making bad picks. The Colts have drafted plenty of linemen since 97 (Glenn year, which allowed the Colts to not need a dynamic LT for many years, which is a great thing obviously).

97 – 2 OL, 2 DL in 8 picks

98 – 2 OL in 7 picks

99 – 1 OL, 1 DL in 7 picks

00 – 1 OL, 2 DL in 7 picks

01 – 2 OL in 7 picks

02 – 4 DL in 8 picks

03 – 2 OL, 1 DL in 8 picks

04 – 1 OL in 9 picks

05 – 2 DL in 10 picks

06 – 2 OL in 7 picks

07 – 1 OL, 1 DL in 9 picks

08 – 3 OL in 9 picks

09 – 1 OL, 2 DL in 8 picks

10 – 1 OL, 2 DL in 8 picks

11 – 2 OL in 5 picks

12 – 1 OL, 2 DL in 10 picks

I have no idea where that ranks on the NFL list in terms of frequency. And I could, but didn't, list where in the above drafts each went - I didn't do that because the issue at hand was the misconception that Polian and now Grigson were UDFA and castoff pickers. As the above shows, the Colts picked linemen every year, usually multiple linemen. The fact that Glenn retired before they hoped, Ugoh didn't pan out, and they didn't re-sign RTs doesn't mean they ignored the position.

My stance is Polian didn't have great success finding OL talent, not that he ignored it, minimized the value. And DT isn't very good either, but Freeney and Mathis were homeruns in my mind (based on the system the Colts ran, not for all teams, all situations obviously).

The point to me is, it wasn't for lack of drafting that the OL and DL are now suspect. Lastly, what I think is sometimes lost on fans is in a capped sport, teams can't throw the cash at QBs, DEs, WRs, S, etc., and keep RTs, Gs, etc. The Colts didn't keep RTs or LBs or CBs in Polian's tenure. They spent their money elsewhere.

[subvet]

Just a question here, I was reading another thread under the Colts Football heading that Maureen closed and directed me here. The topic was a UDFA that agreed to terms with the Colts, soooooo once he agreed doesn't that make him a Colts and would make the location of the posting correct?

Yeah, I'm being a little snarky here but I don't understand why the move was necessary.

[BrentMc11]

Just a question here, I was reading another thread under the Colts Football heading that Maureen closed and directed me here. The topic was a UDFA that agreed to terms with the Colts, soooooo once he agreed doesn't that make him a Colts and would make the location of the posting correct?

Yeah, I'm being a little snarky here but I don't understand why the move was necessary.

They tend to merge the threads that have the same meaning. That particular thread was Griff Whalen who is an UDFA. This thread is about UDFA.

I have gotten lost a couple of times on this but it makes sense. We are all talking about an UDFA! We just need to get used to it.

[Superman]

The point to me is, it wasn't for lack of drafting that the OL and DL are now suspect. Lastly, what I think is sometimes lost on fans is in a capped sport, teams can't throw the cash at QBs, DEs, WRs, S, etc., and keep RTs, Gs, etc. The Colts didn't keep RTs or LBs or CBs in Polian's tenure. They spent their money elsewhere.

And then you look at the linebackers and corners that we did give second contracts to, and most fans wish we hadn't. Of all the linebackers we let walk without second deals, we kept Gary Brackett, who didn't make it to Year 3. We resigned Hayden for $43 million, and he didn't make it to Year 3.

[MIColtsFan]

stacking up the CBs now

[oldunclemark]

According to a twitter message by KC WR Jonathan Baldwin Colts signed WR Michael Shanahan

http://www.pittsburg...han_mike00.html

Shanahan sounds like a good special teams guy..and a receieving project

[BrentMc11]

http://www.nfl.com/n..._headline_stack

^ It looks like they typed it in a hurry, since I noticed some typo mistakes I corrected, so this may not be fully accurate.

Offense:

Rhode Island OL - Jason Foster

Iowa State OL - Hayworth Hicks

East Carolina OT - Steve Baker

Stanford WR - Griff Whalen

Montana WR - Jabin Sambrano

Defense:

USC LB - Chris Galippo

Hampton CB - Micah Pellerin

Wisconsin CB - Antonio Fenelus

Maryland CB - Cameron Chism

Pittsburgh DB - Buddy Jackson

Endicott DE - Kevin Eagan

Special Teams:

North Carolina S - Matt Merletti

San Diego State P - Brian Stahovich

Someone smarter than me answer this: I counted 13 UDFAs on the above list plus the mention of Michael Shanahan by oldunclemark. Am I wrong or is 20 the limit on UDFAs?

[Jason_]

Someone smarter than me answer this: I counted 13 UDFAs on the above list plus the mention of Michael Shanahan by oldunclemark. Am I wrong or is 20 the limit on UDFAs?

I've never heard of there being a limit on the number of UDFA's. I mean they're just that, free agents, any team can sign them. The only limit would be the roster limit, but if a team wanted to release every player on their roster and turn around and re-fill it with UDFA's, I see no reason why they couldn't do it. Clearly they SHouldn't do it though. lol

[bavanlan]

I've never heard of there being a limit on the number of UDFA's. I mean they're just that, free agents, any team can sign them. The only limit would be the roster limit, but if a team wanted to release every player on their roster and turn around and re-fill it with UDFA's, I see no reason why they couldn't do it. Clearly they SHouldn't do it though. lol

Right. There's no limit aside from the roster limit which was just increased from 80 to 90.

[austriancolt]

I'm sorry Michael Shanahan is still in College, that was a mistake of me. Baldwin meant Buddy Jackson the CB from Pittsburgh. Nr. 14 should be DT James Aiono from utah

[Moncrief]

I don't know where you are getting that Matt Merletti being a kicker. He is a strong safety

[spoonfish]

Here’s the list of the 15 undrafted free agents the Colts have agreed to terms with:

• Defensive end James Aiono
  
• defensive tackle Chigbo Anunoby
  
• offensive tackle Steven Baker
  
• defensive back Cameron Chism
  
• defensive end Kevin Eagan
  
• defensive back Antonio Fenelus
  
• offensive guard Jason Foster
  
• linebacker Chris Galippo
  
• offensive guard Hayworth Hicks
  
• defensive back Buddy Jackson
  
• safety Matt Merletti
  
• safety Micah Pellerin
  
• wide receiver Jabin Sambrano
  
• punter Brian Stahovich
  
• wide receiver Griff Whalen
  

The team also agreed to terms with tight end Dominique Jones and claimed running back Deji Karim off waivers.

Source: http://t.co/3jHmOVSF

Glad to see Chigbo officially signed.

[Malakai432]

I ran out of likes, so I have to say you and NorCalColt are on the money. Great assessment by both of you!!!

I got it for you!!

[MTC]

Chigbo Anunoby is 6'4 around 314 pounds. Wow.

[Malakai432]

Here’s the list of the 15 undrafted free agents the Colts have agreed to terms with:

• Defensive end James Aiono
  
• defensive tackle Chigbo Anunoby
  
• offensive tackle Steven Baker
  
• defensive back Cameron Chism
  
• defensive end Kevin Eagan
  
• defensive back Antonio Fenelus
  
• offensive guard Jason Foster
  
• linebacker Chris Galippo
  
• offensive guard Hayworth Hicks
  
• defensive back Buddy Jackson
  
• safety Matt Merletti
  
• safety Micah Pellerin
  
• wide receiver Jabin Sambrano
  
• punter Brian Stahovich
  
• wide receiver Griff Whalen
  

The team also agreed to terms with tight end Dominique Jones and claimed running back Deji Karim off waivers.

Source: http://t.co/3jHmOVSF

Glad to see Chigbo officially signed.

Nice, I like the list in terms of potitions. Hopefully they can find some gems. Not that familiar most of the players but did check out Chigbo, he seems like a big body.

[LINDE]

James Aiono is a huge man, who will play DE in our 3-4 scheme, he was the #1 rated JUCO prospect in the country prior to signing with my Utes! Love the kid!

[spoonfish]

Chigbo Anunoby is 6'4 around 314 pounds. Wow.

Yeah, great signing.

"Impression: He's never going to be a "plus" pass rusher in the NFL. However, he's a strong, long kid with a really well proportioned frame who can anchor inside and certainly has the talent to get plenty of looks from both 34 and 43 teams as a developmental big body."

Full report: http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/college_player_scouting_report.html&player=100035

[LINDE]

Aiano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llkuzM_4IO8

[chad72]

OMG, the Colts signed Chigbo Anunoby!!! I had him in the list of my draft picks, woohoo!!!

[chad72]

Yeah, great signing.

"Impression: He's never going to be a "plus" pass rusher in the NFL. However, he's a strong, long kid with a really well proportioned frame who can anchor inside and certainly has the talent to get plenty of looks from both 34 and 43 teams as a developmental big body."

Full report: http://www.nationalf...l&player=100035

Excellent developmental pick up, he might even make the roster, IMO and surprise us.

[Fx Stryker]

Anyone know Whalen's birthday? I need it for his wiki page. I was bored.

[Dr. T]

OMG, the Colts signed Chigbo Anunoby!!! I had him in the list of my draft picks, woohoo!!!

Me too! I hope he sticks.

[Smonroe]

Back 'in the day', the Colts had Rex Kern, Ohio State qb play safety for them as well a Jack Mildren a qb from Okla. Didn't the Jets have the Neb qb play safety for them a few years back?

I bet there aren't too many of us that remember "Rex is King"! I was just a young pup but I remember him being a magician in the Rose Bowl beating the OJ Trojans. He couldn't throw but he ran that offense so well that USC never knew who was getting the ball.

[colts52761]

so it sounds like these have the best chance to make the team

1. chigbo anunoby - nt

2. steven baker - ot

3. cameron chism - cb

4. hayworth hicks - og

5. buddy jackson - cb

6. antonio fenelus - cb