We may never know the truth lol

and maybe the gave him the bonus just because of who he is. I mean if Jennings was due a bonus, he wouldn’t get it if there was a choice but Lilja’s awesome.

I should know better by now.

At least news of a potential injury starts to solve that mystery though. Lilja’s release was a little bit of a surprise given our need for O-Line depth and the fact that we gave up so few sacks.

I do agree that we need to begin to slowly adapt our line to be able to handle and create Running Lanes (meaning we need to get a bigger on the Line). A mainly Zone Pass Protection line just doesn’t seem to be able to boost the run even with a Pass game as good as ours. It protects our “Crown Jewel”, but doesn’t do much for a RB looking for a lane/gap. We had decent production from our RBs in terms of TDs, Rec, Yards from Scrimmage, etc…, but in terms of straight ahead running we were shockingly bad.

Still think we’re either going to land a few O-Line Free Agents or go O-Line with 1 of the first couple picks.

I mean, we all know that the true reason is probably renovation. Since last year, with Marvin and Dungy gone, that has been the story of the Colts. It will certainly be this year as well.

I mean, Lilja’s not really old-old. He’s 28, and that’s still a young guy. But he’s beginning to get to the point where he can be considered football player old. A guy who doesn’t tend towards injury can definitely last past 28, but someone who’s regularly hobbled by problems… worrisome. A linesman can age fast, you know. Not all positions must suffer contact every play. Linesmen do.

Well, come to think of it, maybe we shouldn’t think of things in terms of “age” as much as “wear”, because that’s really what I’m getting at here: Poor Lilja’s got some wear on him injurywise. Age is not exactly the right way to think about it since it’s measured in time. “Wear” is more applicable here because it’s subjective regarding each individual player’s history. Wear does have time as a component, but it’s not the absolute meansure; after all, not all 6-year players have worn the same over their careers.

Anyway, this is what worries me about Diem: Lilja came to the Colts in ‘04. Diem came in ’01. Only Saturday’s older than both. And obviously they haven’t worn the same, but again: Unless someone doesn’t play, time is a component of wear, and those guys play every first unit offensive down. It makes you wonder how many more years Saturday’s got in him. And Diem is already gone from highly regarded to “can’t he block?” in just the space of a handful of years.

Man… time passes quickly in professional sports. Just when you think a player has finally settled in, he’s suddenly old. That’s rather depressing.

I heard the reason he was given the bonus was because he restructured his contract last year and really went beyond expectations. This was a generous and good move by Jim Irsay.

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2010/3/12/1370423/chiefs-visiting-with-ryan-lilja-on

Although I supported Polian’s decision in this, I have said that he better have had a damn good reason for doing it, which I thought that he did. When we were signing guys like Alleman, I was getting nervous and frustrated, but given Lilja’s injury woes, this makes sense. Sounds like the bonus paid to him was a generous compensation for his hard work, but due to his health and possibly/likely his size, he may be better suited elsewhere. Nothing wrong with this move.

Just signed Adam Terry as well, who actually is a good lineman. Not Gaither-good, but we should feel much better about this than Alleman. Terry actually is starter-caliber and may thrive in this system. Still think we should draft a guy like Brown/Williams for the outside or Pouncey/Iupati (I know I butchered both of those) for the inside. Terry is not a bad start to the o-line re-vamping though.