Indy Star's Mike Chappell weighs in on Anthony Gonzalez and Austin Collie

The arguments change based on whether Gonzo’ speed and health have returned to him and he is 100%. If not healthy, heck yeah, he is #4.

But making a statement that Gonzo is #4 before news of his injury and setback leaked out at the OTAs, and then coming back to say I told you so is well, lucky, at best, BBS. The arguments people were making for Gonzo to be better than a #4 was based on 100% health and speed returning, which has not been shown to be the case.

The Colts had about 45% of their passing yards in yards after catch last year, the highest in the Manning era. Now, the flip side is, did we lose an extra prototypical Z flanker in Gonzo when he went down that caused most of our offense to be YAC, or was it that our O-line pass blocking is not as good as advertised that Manning never had the time for those routes to progress?

At this point, Gonzo’s progress in the depth chart and playing time solely depends on how well his health and speed get back to 100%. When he was 100%, I felt he posed the danger of going deep as a slot WR that had to be factored in as well. Collie, you could almost say for definite that he is either a YAC or find-the-soft-spot-in-the-zone slot WR. I do not see him as a deep burner against any nickel CB, Gonzo will give us that option if he lines up against most nickel CBs in the league.

your argument before was that Gonzo is the #4 wideout? I don’t understand how this article supports your opinion? Here’s the thing (IMO).. You pick your 3 best WRs.. everyone (but BBs) believes it to be Wayne, Garcon, and Gonzo in some sort of order.. No way Garcon is going to play the slot reciever, he’s not skilled enough, so obviously Garcon will be in the “#2” position.. that’s what makes Gonzo so special and in my opinion better than Garcon/Collie… he can play any WR position on the field.. When healthy, he’s an absolute stud..

i do feel however, if i had to chose between who’s playing the #2 along side wayne in a two WR set.. i’d go with Garcon most of the time.. he has a flair to his game.. I LOVE IT : )

BBS, I agree that with you, Chap and whoever else if you were to rank the current receivers; Gonzo is currently 4th. BUT, if any team were to care less about ranking players, it’s the Colts. They love to rotate players to get the best player on the field for each situation they face.

With Moore’s history of wanting interchangability with his offense and Peyton’s ability to execute those changes, the possibility of WR/TE options available to them are mind boggling! If you’re Gonzo, I don’t think it matters where you are on the depth chart. The Colts need him rotating regularly into the line-up.

You’re going to see all kinds of formations each week because this offense is going to exploit secondaries like we saw in ‘04. Teams are going to come in focusing on taking Clark or Reggie out of the game and this offense is going to be ready to pounce on that game plan with trips, four wides, 2 backs, double tight 4 wides…You are going to possibly see 5 to 6 different game leading receivers this year. One guy will be the go to man that one week that the defense can’t figure out. Then another guy the next week.

The more receivers we have the more dangerous it makes the other receivers and Peyton. Gonzo playing a lot is great for EVERYONE!

Bigblue,

I am new to SB Nation, Love it. Great down to earth thoughts from knowledgeable people not influenced by dumb ass media conglomerates. However, for my first blog post here, I am going to have to sharply disagree with you on Gonzo. I am a big fan of Mike Chappell, he has a history offering experienced, level headed, down to earth, tell it like he sees it advise. First, The whole 1.Wayne/2.Garcon/3.Gonzo/4.Collie pecking order is not a big surprise to many. This is the order they used last year minus Gonzo when he got hurt. If Gonzo is back to 100% (That is still a BIG BIG BIG BIG IF here!), Collie and garcon will have a hard time competing against him. I know the media likes to talk up the story of Collie and Garcon coming in and making big plays, and yes they have. They have matured well and done it fast this past year. However, as most of you know, the general media can be full of shit and blow things out of proportion. If you are a media-bandwagon-NFL-fan, just stop reading my post now.

I remember after one game Peyton said it best to a reporter and said Garcon and Collie have done a great job but they are both making lots of mistakes our there still and have a lot to improve. That is a truth the media likes to conveniently forget to fit into their perfect little "rookie sensation" story. IF you go back through the tapes I think you’ll see that last year, Collie and Garcon both had slipperly hands like they were Mrs. Butterworth’s kids, especially Garcon, They have to learn to Consistently hold on to the footballs being thrown in the NFL. There were far too many passes that were good passes by Peyton but Collie and Garcon’s hands could not hold on to (especially Garcon). They drop far too many good passes to be considered a "Great" receiver. They played "great" for rookies, but not "great" like Reggie Wayne or even Gonzo. Remember, they have Peyton Manning to make them look good. He throws to them because he no longer has the option of Harrison and Gonzo, not because they are his top picks. He can make a lot of average and rookie receivers look good out there. My point is that Collie and Garcon are great rookies, not great players (not yet at least). Gonzo is much quicker than the both of them, his ability to hold on to the ball and catch the ball are extremely better than the both of them, his NFL knowledge and ability to read defenses is much more matured than the both of them, his run after the catch is far better, and he runs a hell of a better route than the both of them put together. Now for you talking about the stats and # of TD that Collie and Garcon had over Gonzo, most good fans know, stats can be shit, just ask Matt Cassell. The fact is Gonzo grew up behind Harrison, Wayne, and Clark. Now that Harrison and Gonzo were out last year that makes it a much better situation for Collie and Gonzo to rack up stats. Remember, Garcon was on the roster two years ago and by the end of the season most viewers would still not have even recognize the blue 85 number, this was because Harrison, Wayne, Gonzo, and Clark were there. Peyton threw to Gonzo and Collie last year because his favorite receivers were not there.

The only catch to all that is that although Gonzo is quicker and overall better than Garcon, Garcon has a faster top speed. Because of this, Garcon will likely start at the #2 position on the outside to add top speed to the position and let Gonzo play slot which is truly his specialty because of is his quickness, hands, and route running ability. The overall ranking of the receivers is:

1.Reggie Wayne 2. Gonzo 3. Austin Collie 4. Pierre Garcon

I agree with Mike Chappell that the starting WR Positions are going to be:

1. Reggie Wayne #2 Pierre Garcon #3 Gonzo

The Colts love to rotate though. I think we will see plenty of all the top four receivers (Wayne, Gonzo, Collie, and Garcon) because we have a great depth of good receivers this year. We will see some of Gonzo playing the #2 position (Maybe even Collie sometimes too). Definitely will see some of Garcon playing the #1 position to move Reggie around too.

However, the best part of the game is that you never know what will happen. Gonzo may not come back 100%. If he doesn’t, that changes everything. Then, Collie could easily overtake Gonzo. Collie and Garcon might make those huge leaps forward again and become "great" players at Gonzo’s level. They were not quite there last year, but they could easily come close this year. I have much higher hopes for Collie especially; he shows much more potential in his quickness, IQ, and hands. I don’t think Garcon will improve quite as much. Plus, the Colts have the best track record growing players into stars. And, even as a huge gonzo fan, I remember back in the days of Reggie and Harrison when Gonzo was green and use to have Mrs. Butterworth’s hands too!