Countdown to Colts Training Camp 2010: Fighting for roster spots- Devin Moore
by Brad Wells on Jul 14, 2010 10:44 AM EDT
in Countdown to Colts Training Camp 2010
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PrintWith the release of kick returner-reserve running back Chad Simpson, it the conventional thought heading into 2010 was the running back pecking featured Joseph Addai, Donald Brown, and Mike Hart. Addai is the primary back, normally averaging 17 touches a game. He is also an outstanding pass blocker. Brown is the change-up back, bringing more speed and explosion to mix. Hart is the short yardage back, or Mungro-back (named after former hybrid fullback-running back James Mungro, who retired from the NFL in 2007).
Barring injury, this group looks pretty well set. All are relatively young, yet experienced. So, knowing this, how can someone like Devin Moore, a second year player out of the University of Wyoming who grew up in Indiana, hope to have any shot at making the active roster?
Chime in with me if you've heard this tune before: Special teams.
Before we get into how Moore can fill needs on special teams, let's focus a little bit on his skills at running back. On the WIBC radio show "The Heavyweights" last week, hosts Jeffery Gorman and Will Wolford raved about the strides Devin Moore was making during the off-season. The main attribute Moore brings to the table is speed, speed, and more speed. While oddly not invited to the 2009 NFL Combine (despite rushing for 1,303 yards and seven touchdowns his senior year), Moore held his own "Combine" near the Indianapolis airport. fourteen NFL teams attended this workout, and they witnessed Moore run a 4.41 40 time.
Had he been invited to the 2009 Combine, Moore would have placed #1 among the running backs who were invited. Donald Brown ran a 4.51, and we've all seen his speed on the field.
Moore also has good hands, runs clean routes, and is a willing and capable blocker. At 5'9, he reminds me an awful lot of a young Dominic Rhodes. Prior to Rhodes' 2002 ACL injury, he was one of the fastest players on the team. He also was the kick returner on special teams. But, despite being a tough guy, at 5'9 playing the running back position, you are going to get your ass beat-up. If there is one red flag on Moore as a running back it's that he often takes big hits which can result in fumbles or injury. If he wants to make it in the NFL, he needs to start watching tape of Edgerrin James and post-2002 Dominic Rhodes. Watch have the juke, glide, and weave would-be tacklers away from them. With Edge, all throughout his amazing eleven-year NFL career, I never once saw him get blown up. Take note of that, Devin.
But, like most silly attributes, speed is over-rated in the NFL. Terrell Davis of the Broncos in the 1990s wasn't all that fast. He has two rings. Edgerrin James was never a burner. He's a sure Hall of Famer (if not, then the Hall means nothing, especially with Michael Irvin's and Joe Namath's busts already in there). Vision, intelligence, and versatility are what make running backs great. Speed helps when you break away from the first four tacklers, but getting past those four tacklers takes a lot more than just speed. Thankfully, Moore has the best running backs coach the league has ever seen teaching him in Gene Huey. Huey has coached Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James, Joseph Addai, Roosevelt Potts, James Mungro, and Dominic Rhodes. He takes four round picks and turns them into legends. He also takes no-round picks and turns them into pro-ready backs.
With Addai, Brown, and Hart pretty well locked into their respective slots at running back, it seems the only way Devin Moore will make this active roster is on special teams. In his interview with Gorman and Wolford, Moore talked about how he was working on his kick returning skills. With a 4.41 40 time, special teams returning is one area speed can greatly help you.
In the past, the Colts have shown a willingness to keep four running backs, especially if one of them is a kick or punt returner. Should Moore beat-out players like rookie Brandon James for special teams return duties, he will certainly make this roster. Interesting note, many people really consider James a serious burner on special teams. He ran a 4.50 at the Scouting Combine. Moore ran a 4.41. Just sayin'.
Moore spent some time on the Seahawks practice squad last year before finally making his way back home again in Indiana.
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Sounds great on paper
but I would have to believe he must have some field awareness issues if he was on the Seahawks practice squad. Granted the Seahawks obviously don’t have the coaching staff we do. It will be interesting to see who emerges as our special teams returner(s).
"Okay, well maybe we should tell that to Rain Man, because he practically bankrupted a casino, and he was a ri-tard."
Seahawks have Justin Forsett for the returner/scatback role
I really wish Indy had been able to hold onto him after they snatched him off their PS in 2008, but injuries (in the secondary I think) meant they couldn’t afford a roster spot for him.
Choke/Clutch is the fetishization of the small sample size.
"People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -Isaac Asimov
by shake n bake on Jul 14, 2010 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions
NO!!!
Don’t talk about him anymore… it infuriates me. I don’t know how I could have seen so much in the kid and the team lets him go and I feel like the organization has pie on its face. It’s frustrating. I want Grady back too… I wish we had more time with him, he showed amazing potential for a UDFA DT.
oh man... i had just about forgotten Grady...
/sad
My worry is we’ll be saying the same thing, this time next year, about Blair White. Pfffffft… really, really, really want to see him make the team.
Careful what you wish for... "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have." Gerald Ford, 38th US president
(sigh)
Grady. I remember it well, I went out for a pedi and when I came back he was gone.
/bummmed
"I throw, you catch. It's NOT that hard!"
Peyton Manning, SNL, 2007
by peytonsthebest on Jul 14, 2010 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh Lord.
I can’t have that!!!
"I throw, you catch. It's NOT that hard!"
Peyton Manning, SNL, 2007
by peytonsthebest on Jul 14, 2010 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions
I think it goes without saying
that I really wanted the Colts to keep Forsett. But if it goes without saying, why did I just say it?
How can you not love a team that does this?
You're funny today.
In a wacky sort of way.
"I throw, you catch. It's NOT that hard!"
Peyton Manning, SNL, 2007
by peytonsthebest on Jul 14, 2010 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Memory Lane
When Devin Moore was a junior at Indianapoils Ritter, I covered a sectional title game against Clinton Central for the Frankfort Times. I was a senior at Butler and had graduated from Central High School and did some other freelance sports work for the paper as extra money during school for something at that point that I thought could become a career. (It didn’t) Anyways, the paper asked to cover the game since it was being played in Indy and there was another local team still in the tournament. That way they didn’t have to send someone from their own staff to the game, not to mention, I guess they liked my work. So, if memory serves me right, the opposing coach, whose team won the game by the way, afterwards called Devin Moore the best high school player he has ever seen. It was at the 1A level, which doesn’t have potential NFL talent come through too often, to say the least. But the coach, George Gilbert, had coached at the high school level for nearly 30 years and in two states over that period. He also coached against Brett Law of Sheridan ‘88 fame. So that is saying something.
While covering the CC v. Ritter game, I couldn’t believe Ritter wasn’t putting the ball in his hands more than they did. He touched it less than 15 times that game and had over 180 total yards, and I think 3 or 4 TD’s. When he didn’t score, the defense felt lucky to tackle him. If he touched it another 10 times, he easily could’ve had over 300 yards and Ritter would’ve won. But they were running a pass heavy offense. I feel like I should add that both teams were good that year and had good players. CC had a player make the All-Star game that year, and Ritter won state the following year, but no one on the field came within a mile of Devin Moore’s ability, and he was probably the shortest guy on the field.
In further disclosure for the purpose of going further down down memory lane in relation to this game, my dad started as an assistant under Gilbert after I graduated high school and was up in the coaches box during that game.
Near the end on 4th quarter and something workable like 6 or 7, Ritter had the ball and was down one score. Everyone knew the ball was ending up in Moore’s hands, finally. Ritter called time-out and set up a trick play and had the team huddle before their time-out was over and they inexplicably had Devin Moore leave the huddle early acting like he was heading out of the game. The purpose was to hide him on the edge of the sideline so none of the CC players saw him, and it almost worked. The CC defense didn’t have a clue this little guy was still on the field, b/c the rest of the players not on the field and all the Ritter coaches were standing as near to him as possible. He just blended in with the sideline. My dad was possibly the only person other than Ritter’s team who saw Moore still on the field, and he was yelling in the headset for CC to call timeout. None of the other players or coaches knew why. He was just yelling ‘call timeout call timeout’ over and over. He didn’t have time to tell them why. Just do it! Luckily for CC it was relayed without anyone knowing why, and a player signaled timeout and the referee’s whistle blew just before the ball was snapped. Ritter’s qb still threw it to Moore since the time between the whistle and snap was so short, and he who ran with it all the way to the endzone even though the refs’ whilstle prevented the play from happening. The timeout saved CC a sectional title. And Moore who ran over 60 yard to the endzone for nothing wasn’t on the field for the game’s most important play after the infamous CC timeout. I wonder how many Ritter fans remember this and still think that the whistle came too late. CC won the sectional all thanks to my dad and a referee’s whistle. Also, if memory serves me right, the following year, Moore’s senior year at Ritter, they won the 1A state title.
nice! Thanks for that.
Careful what you wish for... "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have." Gerald Ford, 38th US president
40 times at a pro day should never be taken as gospel
or even compared to a 40 time at the combine. Pro days often use fast tracks to boost their players chances at getting noticed. You can safely tack on a tenth of a second if not more to any pro day 40 time.
And with that being said, I remember reading an article in ESPN magazine about Devin Hester when he was in Miami (Hurricanes) and it was talking about how he might be the fastest player in college football, but then he disappointed some when his 40 didn’t live up to the hype. It’s that short area twitchiness and change of direction ability that really helped Hester carve up the special teams of the NFL, not necessarily his straight-line speed.
Like you said, when it comes to halfbacks it’s about making those first 4 guys miss, but I think that’s true for returners as well.
Sidenote, does anybody remember Hester returning that kick? And seeing Matt Giordano fly past everybody else to catch up to him? Why did nobody ever acknowledge that some goofy Italian sounding white kid was flying across the field?
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