Jason David is what hurts the worst.

by MasterRWayne on Jun 29, 2007 4:41 PM EDT in Colts Analysis

You know I have been hearing a lot lately about our off-sseason losses of Cato June and Nick Harper, but the lose of Jason David hurts us the worst. There are a lot of reasons for this the first being the Jason was amazing last year (does anyone recall him getting beat deep?) and he was still young unlike Nick Harper who is now 33. I loved Harper, but at 33 it's time to start letting your veterans go to teams that overpay for aging free agents such as the Redskins and the Titans.
The other reason the lose of Jason David hurts is because it screws up our depth in the secondary. The Colts pass defense was simply incredible last year and a big reason for that was the we had so many solid corners. If you want proof just look at what our dime package was last year...

Nick Haper
Jason David
Marlin Jackson
Kelvin Hayden

Those four guys made huge plays last year and when one got hurt there was always someone competent to step up. Now with Harper AND David gone things get a bit murky. This is our new starting dime package...

Marlin Jackson
Kelvin Hayden
Tim Jennings (second year player)
Daymeion Hughes (rookie)

That package has the potential to be a strong secondary, but I am just not sure how good Jennings and Hughes are going to be. If Jason David had signed the one year contract that would have allowed us to keep some much needed depth and allowed us to develop Hughes and Jennings for another season. I think that is important because I am a big believer in letting rookies develop for a year before giving them responsibilities.

I view the other free agent losses as really a case of addition by subtration. For instance, I think Freddie K will do a better job than Cato June. But losing Jason D. could really affect an area of the Colts D that was rock solid all of last year. Lets hope that Tim Jennings and Daymeion Hughes can get things done.

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No way

I liked scrappy just as much as the next guy, but I honestly don't see him as our biggest loss. I still say it's Montae Reagor. Having him in there would give us some nice depth at an extremely undervalued position in the Cover 2.

by BSanders37 on Jun 29, 2007 4:56 PM EDT reply actions

but...

I loved Reagor but the team did ok without him and who knows if he has any lingering affects from that auto accident last year.

by MasterRWayne on Jun 29, 2007 5:02 PM EDT reply actions

This Season's dime package

I remember Matt Giordano playing dime back in the Superbowl. The Colts seem to like having great tacklers/big hitters lined up over slot receivers. Marlin Jackson slid inside a lot when they brought Hayden in for Nickel packages.

by shake n bake on Jun 29, 2007 6:06 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, I see what you're saying, but...

I just always thought Reagor was really underrated for what he brought to the team. Think about it, what happened almost immediately after we lost him...Travis Henry and Vince Young, MJD, and Ron Dayne. Yeah, our run defense sucked before that, but without him it was even easier for running backs to get to the second level, and with our LBs that pretty much meant the safeties, who were backups by that point in the year.

I have a lot of faith in Marlin and Kelvin. Will there be a learning curve? Yeah. Will Hughes, Jennings and Coe need some time to adjust? For sure. But our two starting corners have already made huge plays in the biggest games imaginable and, as we learned last year, all that matters is that we bring it all together for the stretch run. I don't need to go 19-0 anymore. I'm more than happy with 12-4 seasons - as long as they end with a ring.

by BSanders37 on Jun 30, 2007 3:28 AM EDT reply actions

Watching some film from last year....

I was recently watching some film from the post-season last year and I have to say that I don't think either of the corners will be a substantial loss because I see both Marlin and Kelvin as better against the run. I can look at some plays where Nick and Jason looked either confused or unmotivated on plays they could have really influenced for the better. In comparison, it looks like Marlin knows where to be and to put a pretty good lick in on the rusher.

Maybe I'm reading too much into the film I watched, but I can see how just having our corners be able to step up a bit, and then Keiaho be able to make up for Cato's sometimes ineptness, that our run defense could be markedly better than the regular season last year, maybe a lot closer to what we saw in the playoffs. Or maybe this is just hopeful thinking.

That being said, I wish we could have kept David for the veteran presence for at least another year, or maybe signed up a value corner with some years under his belt. But after reading ESPN, it looks like the Colts only have a little over 3 million left in cap space to sign their rookies. I can't say if that is true, but we have to get Gonzo, Hall, Ugoh, Pittcock, and Coe signed. I don't if that happens in around 3 million, especially when we have Freeney expected to be one of the highest paid defensive players in the league come sometime after July 4. (someone please tell me that that cap number includes his salary under the proposed one-year franchise tender)

by Bullard47 on Jun 30, 2007 4:48 AM EDT reply actions

I beg to differ

I don't dislike the guy because he was a big part of what got us a ring. BUT, that being said he was so inconsistent. He never got beat deep because teams were too busy running on us, and he was the second worst tackler on our team (next to Gardner of course). We will take a hit at depth, but give these young guys a chance. Hayden rarely saw the field his first year and he was great when he needed to be last year. Jennings could do the same thing and Hughes just sounds like he was made for this system. As long as Hayden and Jackson stay healthy (knock on wood) I think these guys will be fine filling in at nickel.

I'd have to agree with Montae, or possibly Doss. People didn't notice the loss of Montae because the first game he missed was the first game Booger played. If he could still be in the tackle rotation with Booger and Pitcock, that would be 3 290+ guys to anchor the middle. Brock is really too undersized for the tackle position, even in a one gap scheme. And for Doss, you never know when Sanders is going to go down again, and the depth behind him is more scary than the depth at corner. And both those guys would have been significantly cheaper to retain than David. But we definitely should have given him a higher qualifying offer, but it would have been ludicrous to match the deal the Saints gave him.

Anywho....time will tell I guess. Just counting the days until training camp.

by rudy0498 on Jul 2, 2007 10:31 AM EDT reply actions