Gary Brackett

Colts fans unquestionably adore Brackett, but, really, how much attention do you think he would draw as a FA?

He’s clearly talented, but he’s an undersized linebacker whose best asset is intelligence and experience in a Tampa-2.

usually when those decisions are coming they have the replacement on the roster. Who’s our mike of the future? It was rumored that the Colts had a chance to get Ruud before the trade deadline. The fact that that didnt happen and the fact that we havent drafted a MIKE to replace him, and the fact that there’s going to be more pressing needs this offseason makes me feel like he’ll be back. Besides, it seems like the league is trending to more 3-4 teams right now, I just dont see any tampa 2 teams out there with a need for Gary. It may end up being a Rob MOrris situation where he leaves and tests the market and comes back because there’s nothing better.

but like most players, it boils down to what is always asked in the show Bob Barker used to host.

“You cant stay on the Colts if the price is right!”

Will be back in a Colts uniform next year…

In year’s past, we had guys who were peaking in their careers and demanding top dollars. We already had money wrapped up in Manning, Harrison, Edge, and Freeney…

Now, with Manning, Bethea, Bullitt, Brackett, and Jackson all being in contract years….. Brackett will not be pursued heavily by us…

However, Brackett is not those other LB’s we let go. He’s a team captain for a reason, and as several have already said, we’re quite thin at LB. Who would replace him?

That ranked every player in every position after watching ever snap of every game. But I can’t remember what it was. I was thinking about our defense at the time so was very interested in how they ranked them, and I recall mentally noting something about GB, but I can’t recall if it was surprisingly high, or surprisingly low.

trying to re-sign him at a low cost, say $4 or maybe 5 max. million per year. If he doesn’t sign, then he’ll probably test free agency, with Polian hoping he does a Tyjuan Hagler-Freddie Keiaho move and comes back. I hope he doesn’t test FA and that he speaks to Tyjuan and Freddie about how difficult it is to become a starter in another team when you are a former Colts linebacker. Remember this is not Mike Peterson or Marcus Washington, this guy is 5’8 and pretty light. I’d bet he doesn’t start somewhere else, not even in Tampa because they’re making some changes. And that would probably mean that he wouldn’t play Mike anymore, and of course he wouldn’t be a team captain, or the leader, or the mic. guy. He may ask for captain money, and he probably won’t get it; but he’s in a pretty good situation right now and he shouldn’t leave for money.

1) replacement vague
2) he bleeds blue—undersized UDFA gets his big chance, makes his home here, becomes D captain and local legend….
3) Based on #1 and #2 above, both sides reach a reasonable financial middle ground for a couple more years, with options beyond. They’ll call it a “lifetime 6-year deal so he retires a Colt” but in reality it will be 3+3 with an out for the team. Makes everybody relatively happy that way.

I agree that there’s not likley to be a LOT of outside interest and the interest that is there would have to be considerably more attractive to 58—more money and longer term and a contender with a similar scheme. How likely is that?

The real question (the emotional one) is what happens when the 3 initial years are up? My opinion is that they cut him and then sign him on a Rob Morris basis—he provides a great locker room presence and great depth (ST play is unlikely, I assume, but who knows? He might have enough inner fire that if he isn’t starting on D he feels he HAS TO be full-time somewhere) at vet minimum for about a year or two, with a chance to get another ring (his 3rd, cough cough). I think the ring might be incentive enough for him to play cheaply, and his sage captaincy, experience, leadership incentive enough for the Colts to make a semi-emotional choice. Hell, if he chooses to play ST—that says a LOT to younger higher-priced players about desire, team, and how a guy who could easily hang ’em up chooses to sacrifice himself for the team.

I’m drafting the screenplay as I write this…. with the crowd chanting “GA-RY! GA-RY!” like the Domers in the movie Rudy as he races downfield and lights up a kick returner who fumbles in the waning minutes of the SB.

He was like 22 or 23 and just starting out on the team when a few family members died back in NJ all in a pretty short timeframe. Granted, a lot of the faces on the team have changed since then, but it is a reasonable assumption that he feels a bond to the org that goes beyond dollars.

Will remain a Colt. Another team would definately sign him. The Patriots would sign him. He’s not undersized—I completely reject that supposition. And how many of the supposedly optimum-sized linebackers have the Colts cut? All of them? How many of the linebackers the Colts let go in free agency were starting middle linebackers? They don’t cut first round draft picks. Rob Morris was a first round pick, Brackett won his job, Brackett is a key player and he’s not going to be let go like an outside linebacker. It’s too important of a position in the budget defense.