Colts rookie camp starts today at West 56th Street:

The 22 rookies recently acquired by the Colts will report to the team's practice facility Friday for the first time, then will spend the weekend at a three-day rookie camp designed to allow them to acclimate, learn and prepare.

When it begins, Polian – in his 11th season as the Colts’ President – said they will receive two messages. One, that they will have every chance regardless of background or draft status to make the 53-man roster. The other, Polian said, is equally important:

College is over. The NFL Draft is over.

All that matters as far as the Colts are concerned is the future.

Starting right now.

“This is the real world,” Polian said, discussing what the rookies will be told at the beginning of the team’s 2008 rookie camp at the team’s practice facility Friday.

“All that took place on draft day, and before that, is the phony world of the draft. This is now the real world of the NFL. It doesn’t have to do with marketing and it doesn’t have to do with seminars on how to be a better person.

“All that stuff is fine and dandy at the appropriate time, but this is about competing for a job in the National Football League.”

The Colts made a conscious decision to improve the interior of their offensive line in the 2008 NFL Draft, taking OG Mike Pollak, OC Steve Justice and OG Jamey Richards. They also wanted to gain more depth at running back, drafting Michigan legend Mike Hart in round 6 and signing rookie free agent Chad Simpson out of Morgan State. Special teams, in particular the return game, were also a focus. Bill Polian drafted Mount Union standout Pierre Garcon to compete with current returner TJ Rushing. Simpson also has the skills to return kickoffs. Georgia standout DE Marcus Howard will likely play special teams and get acquainted with d-line coach John Teerlick.

When we get pics of the 22 rooks at camp, we will post them. Rookie camp runs through Sunday.

There have been some great analysis stories done already by BBS and by Bullard47 on the draft, so I'll try to touch on some things these guys didn't talk about.  By the way, you'll notice my new avatar next to my name.  It was submitted by the aforementioned Bullard47 here.  He'll get to give us his excellent opinion on the main page for a day.  The picture is fantastic, as I wasn't expecting the Golden Dome to be worked in.

Back to the draft...I think we got excellent value for almost every pick we made.  Pollak seems to be a great steal for Polian and Co. at #59.  The crop of Interior Lineman wasn't very good up top this year, with Brandon Albert and Chilo Rachal as the only 2 Interior Lineman to get picked before Pollak.  He seems very excited to be joining the Colts (who wouldn't?), and said this yesterday:

"I couldn't have asked for a better way for it to work out," said Pollak, who has a chance at the first string because Indianapolis lost Jake Scott in free agency. "I'll get to learn from all of the older guys. When I spoke with coach (Tony) Dungy and (general manager Bill Polian), they told me they felt that my game was perfect for what they have there."

We picked 2 Tight Ends, and 1 WR, which I thought we'd do.  We really only had 2 TE in Clark and Fletcher, and we are dangerously thin at WR, especially with the health of Harrison still up in the air.  I think the thought is that if either Marvin isn't back yet, or one of the main 3 WR gets hurt, Clark can step in and play the slot receiver.  I'm also really excited to have a speedster to return punts and kicks in Pierre Garcon.  Watching the video posted below gets me excited.  I really can't remember the last guy the Colts had that, when he caught the ball on a return, you expected him to take it to the house.  I hope Garcon makes me feel that way. 

As much as it pains me to say as an ND grad, I'm very glad Mike Hart fell into our laps at pick 202.  Running backs always seem to make an immediate impact in the NFL, and I definitely see Hart playing a big role in 2008.  He NEVER fumbles the ball .  Maybe he can teach KK how to hold onto it.  Michigan has always loved running the slow progressin g, off tackle run, and Hart always seemed to find a sliver of daylight and burst through, just like Addai does now.  This will be a great asset running the stretch play.  He's used to long handoffs and running outside off-tackle, or further.  He's a great fit.

We all loved the Marcus Howard  pick.  We all know everything about him.  Great pick, especially for the 5th round.  I also liked the Philip Wheeler selection.  He is a head hunter, much like #21.  Some people mentioned we may move him to DE, which makes some sense, although he's never played on the DL before.  For right now, he seems like a 3rd down pass rusher, most likely as a 5th DL.  We'll have to see what happens in training camp.

I have to confess:  in the poll below, I gave the Colts a C, but only because Polian loves those C grades.  Overall I give the Colts a B+.  They back filled areas of need, but seemed to go too heavy at one certain position.  Also, without a first round pick, there doesn't seem to be, for this moment in time, that superstar pick.  Hopefully one of these guys becomes that.  Great job by the Polian, Coach Dungy, and the rest of the staff!

What did we learn about the 2008 NFL Draft and all those mocks that I showed you over a two month period? Well, that I'm a lot better at picking who the Denver Broncos wanted in the draft than the Indianapolis Colts. DT Carlton Powell, CB Jack Williams, and OC Kory Litchensteiger were all drafted by the Broncos from rounds 4-6. While sitting in Radio City as round 5 was winding down, TheSportsGuru was lamenting the Broncos had not drafted a DT. With both Williams and Lichtensteiger taken, I joked that Carlton Powell would get drafted next by Denver.

Sure enough, he was.

So now I am convinced Mike Shannahan reads this blog, and is getting scouting advice from it. This means I have helped a rival team get better. I'm sorry, Mr. Polian. I'm so, so sorry.

Back to reality, it is no surprise that people are already giving the Colts a "C" grade for the draft? But, regardless of the silly and useless "grade," everyone seems to believe that taking Mike Pollack was a coup at pick #59:

BEST MOVE

There's a reason why coach Tony Dungy and general manager Bill Polian have had such a successful tenure in Indianapolis. They're always thinking one, maybe even two, steps ahead of everyone else. Without a first-round pick (they traded it to San Francisco last year to get tackle Tony Ugoh), Dungy and Polian didn't try to make up for it by reaching for an immediate need in the second round.

With the No. 59 overall pick, they drafted Arizona State center Mike Pollack, who really was the best player on the Colts' draft board. The Colts already have a very solid center in Jeff Saturday, but he is getting older.

The beauty of this move is Pollack will get to spend a season learning from Saturday and the Colts won't have to draft a center next year.

Already on the Colts website, Pollack is listed as a OG. Jamey Richard out of Buffalo, who also played OC and was drafted in the 7th round, is listed as a general o-lineman, and may get moved to OT, OG, or whatever. Only Steve Justice, OC out of Wake Forest, is listed as a back-up center.

Going into the draft, we identified several specific needs the team had to address before the start of the 2008 season. It seems that in this draft, Bill Polian also saw those needs and did his best to address them. Those needs were:

• Back-up running back (Mike Hart, Round 6, Michigan)
• Pass rushers (Marcus Howard, Round 5, Georgia)
• Wide receiver and returner (Pierre Garcon, Round 6, Mount Union)
• Solid #2 tight end (Jacob Tamme and Tom Santi, Rounds 4 and 6, Kentucky and Virginia)
• Depth on the offensive line (they drafted three friggin' lineman, including one with their firstpick in the draft)

So, just like that, the Colts have addressed pretty much every need they had going into the 2008 season. The question now is can these guys come through. The Colts are also doing their normal thing post-draft, signing several rookie free agents. They recently signed Rudy Burgess, WR out of Arizona State.

So, while our team didn't quite get the flashy Chris Johnson or the explosive Matt Forte', they did what they always seem to do: Quietly OWN the draft, filling needs and stocking up on quality players. More fallout on the 2008 draft throughout the day.