We've got 11 more days until players under contract are to report to training camp. The national media buzz will likely center on idiots like Chad Johnson, Pacman Jones, and the dysfunctional mess that is the Dallas Cowboys. For us, we have different interests. For me, I always get a little nervous because of the rookie signing situation, as you can see. As of today, no rookies for the Colts are signed. Hopefully, we will see some guys get inked this week.

In a post some time ago, you expressed the following interests in TC:

• Roy Hall's development
• Who is Eric Foster, and is he good?
• Who starts: Pollak or Charlie?
• Is Dwight healthy? Is Bob healthy?
• Is Marvin Harrison done?
• Tony Ugoh's development
• More blitzing from the defense?
• The running backs, in particular Dominic Rhodes and Mike Hart
• Why was Pierre Garcon drafted, and who is Samuel Giguere?
• Can the special teams FINALLY be good?

Now, after we've leanred more about guys like Pollak and have had to deal with typical off-season annoyances (like Tyjuan Hagler's injury), do other things perk your interest? Like, say, Philip Wheeler starting at SAM?

I really, really love the Peyton Manning's Greatest Games series mgrex30 is doing. It is easily one of the best series I've read in some time on one specific player. He even highlighted a game I always thought was one of Peyton's best: His dismantling of the Patriots in 2000 in the RCA Dome.

• From Hashmarks (via AOL Fanhouse) NFL coaches seem to think that, right now, Tom Brady is better than Peyton Manning. That's fine. In a league that has "genius" coaching from the likes of Jack Del Rio, Mike Nolan, Wade Phillips, and Norv Turner I'm not surprised. Look, Tom Brady threw 50 TDs in 16 games playing on an offense Peyton Manning created. If coaches voted for Brady because he is 2 years younger and just threw 50 TDs, I understand that. But when I look at the two of them, I cannot think of one thing that Brady does significantly better than Manning (and yes, I am a very big Brady fan). One used to say Brady was more "clutch," but Brady in the post-season the last three years has been very shaky. He had an INT returned for a TD in the 2005 playoffs, blew a 24 point lead in the AFCCG in 2006, and choked big time in the Super Bowl this past year.
  
• 18 to 88 has a great contest going.
• Colt Homer thinks Dom Rhodes will get 125 carries this season (8 carries a game). He also thinks Kenton Keith is a goner.
• SI.com has a Salary Cap Roster Challenge thing going on.
• I miss Charlie Weis At My Baby. It was a great blog (and a great blog title).
• It's been a wild first year for Keyunta Dawson. He played DE at Texas Tech. In pre-draft workouts in 2007, he played LB because scouts said he was too small to play DE in the pros. Now, he's a starting-caliber DT for the Colts.
• I highly recommend camping in Ontario and Quebec. That's where I spent my vacation. I also saw the University of Sherbrooke, where Samuel "Guns" Giguere attended school.

Pierre "The Waiter" Garcon

With all the positive chat about second year WR Roy Hall's development (aka, he can catch now) and the phenom we are about to experience in rookie free agent WR Samuel "Guns" Giguere, it makes you wonder how seventh round pick Pierre "The Waiter" Garcon fits into the equation. When drafted, I was convinced he was taken to return punts and kicks. Then, the Colts said otherwise, prompting many of us to scratch our heads, wondering why he was drafted in the first place.

But, like Roy Hall, Pierre might be a project receiver. Rather than draft a second or third round WR, and deal with the financial implications of paying that guy such money, the Colts seem to draft late round projects. These projects usually play special teams early in their careers, while minicamps and practice help them hone NFL-caliber receiving skills. It's not enough to just be fast in the NFL. You have to know what you're doing.

We talked a few weeks ago about the WR battle between Devin Aromashodu and Roy Hall but the X-Factor here is Garcon and Giguere. Make no mistake, if Garcon or Giguere (Giguere especially, because reports say he is polished) come into camp and look good, Devin Aromashodu is looking for a job come September. This is not a knock against Aromashodu, who I thought handled himself well after getting thrust into a starter's role last year with virtually no knowledge of the offense. It's just that if these other guys look good, Aromashodu is expendable. Knowing this, as I'm sure Aromashodu does, should motivate him to come into camp and showcase his receiving skills as well.

Really, the more I look at it, and the more feedback I get from you guys on not wanting potential camp free agents like Terry Glenn, the more I warm up to our WR depth. Stampede Blue will have wall-to-wall coverage of camp this year (if I have my way) with daily updates of who looks good and who doesn't. I plan to pay extra attention to the WRs.

Should I focus on any other group? DEs? RBs? What's your take?

So, with Colvin signing with Houston, we now have a fairly good idea what the Colts roster will likely look like heading into training camp. Oh, and why did Colvin sign with Hosuton? Was it the team? The chance to win? Nope, it was money. We also have some news and links about many players who folks have been asking about:

• I’m starting to really like Pro Football Weekly. More great stuff from their The Way We Hear It section:

  Word out of Indianapolis is that super-sized WR Roy Hall appears poised to finally make an impact. Injuries and poor fundamentals kept him from so much as catching a pass during his rookie year, but a team insider noted to PFW that he has finally learned how to catch the ball with his hands instead of trapping it against his body and looks markedly more natural on the field. At 6-3 and 240 pounds, he’s always had the body. The insider also noted that undrafted rookie WR Sam Giguere out of Canada has been a revelation. Nonetheless, he faces an uphill battle to earn a roster spot.

  I did an interview with The Football Guys last week, and they asked me specifically about Roy Hall. Bottom line, if Roy Hall shows up to camp and displays dramatic improvement, this offense will continue to send chills down my spine. Add to this the "revelation" that is Samuel "Guns" Giguere. Unlike last year, we might actually have some back-up WRs who can catch the friggin ball. Oh, and if Giguere and Hall are legit, Devon Aromashodu is out of a job.
• More from PFW (not PFT, the armpit of Internet football news):

  The Colts harbored high expectations for second-round rookie OG Mike Pollak entering the team’s offseason program. The way we hear it, it hasn’t taken him long to justify the coaches’ hopes. Pollak has adjusted well enough to the NFL and a relatively new position — he played the bulk of his Arizona State collegiate career at center after switching from guard — that he’s not only penciled in as the starting right guard but has impressed the coaches to the point that they felt comfortable cutting veteran Dylan Gandy. Gandy and Pollak were initially expected to stage one of the team’s bigger position battles. OL coach Howard Mudd isn’t averse to throwing rookies right into the fray, with the latest example of a first-year pro thriving under his tutelage being the solid play of OLT Tony Ugoh last season. That being said, a source close to the club said that converted OT Charlie Johnson cannot be overlooked. Although not quick enough to handle speed rushers on the outside, Johnson possesses the raw power to be a solid interior lineman. It still figures to be Pollak’s position to lose, but if he struggles when thrown the entirety of the playbook in training camp, Johnson could certainly emerge atop the depth chart.

  This is good news. I’m glad they are allowing Johnson and Pollak to compete for the same job, but Pollak should win this thing hands down. If he doesn’t, Polian wasted his 2nd round pick. It’s just that simple. I like Charlie Johnson, and I think he adds a vital piece to this team. The guy can play four offensive line positions (though he kind of sucks playing LT). But Pollak was drafted specifically to play OG right now, replacing Jake Scott. If Pollak can’t do that right now, we got problems. But, articles like PFW’s tell me Pollak is on his way to winning the job.
• Surprise! We are now in week 7 and no chargers against Marvin Harrison. He’s still not even a suspect. Heck, the case barely has enough evidence to continue. We’re also still not sure the gun used was even Marvin Harrison’s despite news outlets reporting that it was. This was a colossal screw up by ESPN, WIP Radio, Deadspin, AOL, Yahoo, and just about anyone else who flamed the fans of this non-story. The prize winner for hack buffoonery on this is still Mike Florio of PFT. I still love his legal analysis piece he did for The Sporting News. Again folks, if ever you are in trouble with the law, do not let Mike Florio represent you. He is a clueless moron who knows as much about the law as I do about the latest women’s handbag trends. Why these supposed journalists and football fans would want to tear down the greatest WR not named Jerry Rice I don’t know.
• Tragically, former Colts Jonathan Goddard passed away recently. He was 27. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.

BBS- Old title for this post used to read 2008 Colts Draft Pick: Samuel Giguere et Pierre Garcon donneront un coup de pied à votre âne, which basically translated meant that Giguere and Garcon were going to kick your donkey. I got the word "ass" wrong. The title has been corrected, reflecting that they will kick your rear section, not your donkey. Now kindly kiss my âne. Thanks to bluegirl and TeteDeFer for correcting my Friench.

For you non-French speakers out there, use this site to translate what the title says.

If you hadn't noticed, the theme for this year's off-season is a French one. Vive le France! Vive le Québec libre! Cue the flag pic:

via www.teachnet.ie

Why is the theme a French one? Well, if you haven't noticed, the Colts currently have two WRs on their roster named Pierre Garcon and Samuel Giguere. Giguere (pronounced She-gair) hails from L'Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada, where the team sports colors are Le Vert & Or (The Green and Gold). Despite playing at a school located in another country (and in a part of that country where people speak French and ONLY French), Giguere garnered a lot of interest long before the 2008 April Draft.

Sherbrooke (Canada) senior wide receiver Samuel Giguere is attracting interest. He finished second in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) with 45 receptions for 871 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging more than 19 yards per catch. He has been timed in the 4.4 range in the 40-yard dash with a career best time of 4.35. Giguere ran 4.41 for me during the workout session of this past spring's East-West Bowl held in Quebec City. He is a rare natural athlete with a 40-inch vertical, 4.14 short shuttle, 10-foot, 1-inch broad jump and has also completed 23 reps of 225 pounds during offseason training. Not subject to NCAA rules, he was able to sign with an agent while still having a year of college eligibility remaining. He signed with well-known CFL agent Darren Gill who has represented Jason Clermont and Chris Bauman, two of the top-rated receivers in recent CFL Draft memory. You could hear Giguere's name among the players assigned to the East-West Shrine Game or another postseason game.

The "new frontier" for NFL scouting seems to be Canada. Seven years ago, the Colts were one of the few teams that signed numerous undrafted free agent rookies. Now, teams compete over signing these undrafted players. The Colts and Jaguars got into a bidding war over WR Rudy Burgess just after the NFL concluded with Burgess eventually signing with Indy. The next big fad, established by teams like the Colts, will likely be to start scouting players in Canada. Guys up there can play American football. We all like to bash on Kenton Keith, but the guy did average 4.4 yards a carry and generated 533 yards backing up Joseph Addai last year. And while Keith is not from Canada, he has spent much of his professional career playing for the CFL Roughriders.

Sam Giguere, like all Canadian college stars, has his own website.

Photo via samuelgiguere.com

Regarding Giguere, the first thing you notice about him is his size and speed (4.45 speed). The dude looks like he was exposed to the same radiation that Hulked Dr. Bruce Banner, only in Giguere's case his skin didn't turn green. Between Marvin Harrison Kung Fu skills and Giguere's bulk, I'd rather get into a fight with the o-linemen and take my chances rather than pick a fight with Indy's WR corps.

The other "Frenchie" the Colts plucked from the college ranks is from Division III powerhouse Mount Union: Pierre "The Waiter" Garcon. For those of you who like to reference movies that like to reference movies: Garcon means "boy."

Garcon might have a name that would fit in with the football notables at L'Université de Sherbrooke, Mount Union is in the Ohio Atlantic Conference, and Garcon is from West Palm Beach, FL. So, I highly doubt Garcon walked up to Giguere the first day of rookie mini-camp and said Vou et vous ce a le qua? Because, like, if he did it would have been a little... awkward.

Like Giguere, Garcon came from a school that no many have heard of. Though Mount Union dominates Division III NCAA football, not many NFL prospects comes from Div III. That's not to say that no one from Div III has a shot at the NFL. Last season, the Rams took a shot at Div III Wisconsin-Whitewater's Derek Stanley. So, anything is possible, but if you agree with TheSportsGuru's philosophy of Give me big time players from big time schools who have played in big time games, then Pierre Garcon is not someone you want to draft. Might I suggest then Tommy Frazer, Eric Crouch, or Lawrence Phillips. They played in big time games for big time schools.

Can you tell I think the whole "big school" theory is a big bunch of merde?

Like Giguere, Garcon is 6'0, has good speed, and is quick. Garcon was also one of the top performers at the Combine, running a 4.48. NFL.com has a scouting report on him:

Positives: Adequate size, larger than most small-school prospects. ... Long limbs. ... Accelerates well and is also a strong runner after the catch. ... Blows by defenders at the Division III level. ... Good speed and quickness. ... Used on bubble screens and shallow crossing routes to get the ball in his hands early. ... Also a deep threat, able to adjust to the ball in the air. ... Good hands on punt and kickoff returns. ... Can get upfield quickly and shows a burst to hit the hole hard.

The second to last bit I placed in bold is the reason I thought the Colts drafted Garcon. If you watch any of his college football kick and punt returns, you know the kid is lightening in a bottle. Speed is speed. It doesn't matter if it is Div III or USC v. Notre Dame. Pierre Garcon has speed. Yet, surprisingly, the Colts are saying they will not play Garcon at KR pr PR this year. Um, did they not see the film:

Why is Garcon not returning kicks this year? I have no friggin' clue.

If Garcon or Giguere can return punts and kicks, I think they should have a chance to compete against TJ Rushing. I don't think Rushing stinks or anything, but if Garcon or Giguere can do the job better (or provide a legit threat to score every time they field a kick) they should have a chance to win it over TJ.

Both Garcon and Giguere have excellent chances to make the final roster. I think one will get placed on the practice squad though, but the Colts saw something in these two guys that made them think they could be Colts.

Rookies at the 2008 Colts Minicamp. Photos from Colts.com , and by Chris Hall.

WR Rudy Burgess

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