Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports thinks very highly of himself, his opinions, and his knowledge of football. I've also gotten the sense that he isn't a very big fan of the Indianapolis Colts, as he always seems to go out of his way to bash them.
Maybe Irsay annoys the piss out of him. I don't know.
Despite the aura of snottiness Cole emanates from his writing, he is a very informed guy when it comes to the inner workings of the NFL. That said, his offseason grades strike me as a tad unfair, especially when the Colts are clearly rebuilding:
OFFSEASON LOSERS
1. Indianapolis Colts: When you lose a future Hall of Fame quarterback and other good players (Garcon, Tamme, tight end Dallas Clark and linebacker Gary Brackett), that's just plain brutal. Following a 2-14 season, the Colts have cleared the decks for a rebuilding project. Of course, getting Luck or Griffin in the draft will be a huge step in the right direction. But these are still trying times that should make Colts fans appreciate what they had for 13 years (excluding the '11 season) with Manning.
It's probably not going to make any of you feel any better to know the Colts listed the Broncos as the No. 1 offseason winners, or that, per his sources, former Colts tight end Dallas Clark is "done."
Here's the news on Clark:
The word on the street is that Clark, who was such a dynamic force in his prime with Indianapolis, is done. Maybe a good offseason of rest will help. Getting a tight end who knows how to work the middle is a valuable commodity.
We wrote about Dallas being done last month. It's now less than two weeks before the draft, and literally no one has kicked his tires. Clark's wrist injury in 2010 might have been career-ending. He just hasn't recovered since that October game against the Redskins.
Back to the offseason rankings, I personally think it's a little harsh to call the Colts TEH SUXXOR for cutting a bunch of old, oft-injured players who showed they were 2-14 without Peyton Manning. Just like Dallas Clark, players like Gary Grackett and Joseph Addai have yet to sign with anyone. Kind of tells you what this league thinks of them. No mention of the Colts signing Samson Satele, Cory Redding, or Tom Zbikowski?
They aren't world beaters, I agree, but they add a helluva lot to this team.
Listing the Colts as bigger losers than the Dolphins? Worse than the team who screwed up trying to sign Peyton Manning and Matt Flynn? Worse than the Jets, who were dumb enough to trade draft picks for Tim Tebow?
Really Jason? Really?