There have been conflicting reports recently regarding the intensity of negotiations between free agent Robert Mathis and the Indianapolis Colts. Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz played "reporter" last week and said talks between both sides were "warming up considerably." However, this past weekend, The Sports XChange's Len Pasquarelli essentially said that Kravitz's report was bunk.

Amid reports that negotiations between the Indianapolis Colts and pending unrestricted free agent Robert Mathis have "warmed up considerably," this dose of cold reality: the talks couldn't even be characterized as tepid as of Thursday night, because there hadn't been any negotiations, substantive or otherwise, to that point, The Sports Xchange has learned.

Today, we get this Tweet from ESPN's Adam Schefter:

Colts trying to sign DE Robert Mathis to a new deal but if they can't, they told him they will use franchise tag on him by today's deadline.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 5, 2012

Schefter's tweet seem to make Pasquarelli's report more accurate than Kravitz's.

The positive here is that the Colts intend to re-sign Mathis, which is what we all gathered after we listened to Chuck Pagano gush over him and Dwight Freeney at the Scouting Combine two weeks ago.

The franchise tag deadline is today at 4:00pm ET.

The week us Colts fans have been dreading since we learned that Peyton Manning was not starting Week 1 of 2011 is now upon us.

Back in September, March 8th seemed so far away that it really never registered that we'd get to this point, and there would be a very real chance that Manning would not be on the Colts roster in 2012. There was plenty of time for him to get his neck healthy, maybe even come back to "save the season", and we'd all move on to 2012, after an expected bad season, and we'd be back to watching the Colts of old. We all had this hope back in September, but as the months went on, and the Colts kept losing, the prospect of the Colts cutting ties with Manning became more of a reality.

Now that we're here, what's going to happen? The first thing to know is the actual time deadline for a decision on Manning's $28 Million roster bonus is 4:00 PM Thursday afternoon. My feeling is that we won't hear anything until Thursday at some point, but almost every other piece of breaking news the Colts have released this offseason has been on a Wednesday, so that's clearly possible as well. I don't expect it Monday or Tuesday.

As the offseason has gone on, it became perfectly clear that Owner Jim Irsay is not going to give Manning the $28 Million bonus, and I won't get into the back-and-forth they've had in the media since the season ended, as we've talked about it at length. I also said all along that I would not believe Manning was actually healthy without seeing it on video. Until I saw that, it was all just media fodder.

That was dispelled on Friday. Manning just went Pete Sampras-style overhead smash on Irsay.

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One of the most important, and most underrated, players of the past decade-plus for the Colts could be in a slightly different role next season in Indianapolis. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Colts would like to bring Center Jeff Saturday into the Front Office, if he were to retire. The Colts are not alone either:

The Colts have told Saturday, a player who was instrumental in helping to end the lockout, that they are willing to give him a front-office job, according to league sources.

A second NFL team also has floated the idea of Saturday joining its front office.

Saturday was interviewed by WTHR here in Indianapolis Saturday night before the NFL Honors show, and I'm going to do my best to paraphrase as I can't find the video right now. He was asked about retirement, and said it was a decision he'd make with his wife and family, and the outcome of the Peyton Manning saga will have no effect on what he decides. I couldn't tell either way which way he was leaning, but Schefter said in his article the he'd have a good shot at playing at least one more year:

One NFL scout said this week that Saturday's career is not over if he doesn't want it to be, and Saturday could continue playing another season with the type of technique and playing style he uses.

Regardless of when Saturday ends his career, he should have an open job offer to join the Colts front office. The amount of time and effort put into ending the lockout last offseason showed just how good this guy is, and when you add in everything he's done for the Colts over the past 14 seasons, it's really a no-brainer. I'd much rather have him here than anywhere else, and I'd have to think he feels the same way.

My opinion is he isn't quite ready to hang them up just yet, and has one more season in him, trying to get the taste of 2-14 out of his mouth. He'd be a great help to a rookie QB, helping to identify different coverages/schemes that are foreign to a newbie. I guess we'll see if the Colts agree, and Saturday wants that task.

He's never steered away from a challenge in the past. I hope he's up for one more next season. If not, his cushy front office job is there waiting for him, exactly how it should be.

In the latest episode of "As The Colts Turn", we get information from Colts Owner Jim Irsay at 1:25 AM last night, just as he was finishing watching Jimmy Fallon from here in Indianapolis:

Peyton has not passed our physical nor has he been cleared to play for The Indianapolis Colts. Team statement coming on Friday.

— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) February 3, 2012

This is at least Round 3 of the back and forth between Team Manning and Team Irsay, as Manning's camp released the statement yesterday saying he's been cleared to play by his doctors, and quite frankly it's starting to look very petty on both sides. No matter how many nice things are said about the other party in the media, if both sides really didn't want this to play out in the media, it wouldn't be playing out in the media. But both sides are trying to win the PR battle.

This week should be about the magnificent job the city of Indianapolis is doing hosting this Super Bowl, and both sides are pushing it to the background, as any story involving Peyton Manning will get top-billing, even when the biggest game of the year is just two days away.

More to come when the Colts release their statement. If you were on the fence about whether you thought a divorce was coming, I'm not sure how you can conclude it's not coming now. It's really sad how this is going down, and both sides are to blame.

Certainly didn't expect this news to come down this week. ESPN's Chris Mortensen dropped this bombshell on all of us a few minutes ago:

Peyton Manning medically cleared to resume NFL career, per sources. More coming on ESPN now. #NFL32

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) February 2, 2012

Now, I didn't think this would come down any time soon, but what does this mean? It doesn't mean that he's actually able to play again, but I guess it means he can go out there and try to not get plowed by defensive linemen. A couple reactions:

"@mortreport: Peyton Manning medically cleared to resume NFL career, per sources"~ Sources say.. Things just got interesting didn't they

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 2, 2012

So, Manning is cleared to be sacked by 320-pound lineman? Sorry if I'm a little hesitant to fully buy that report.

— Derek Schultz (@Schultz1260) February 2, 2012

Peyton being cleared is not news. We knew this when Watkins cleared him in November. Just more media fodder.

— Will Carroll (@injuryexpert) February 2, 2012

Clearly Manning wants to play, and he's going to make it certain that he's ready to go for any team, whether it be the Colts or somebody else. This news doesn't change whether he's going to stay in Indianapolis or not, as I don't think anyone knows whether that is happening, and that includes Owner Jim Irsay. I have my suspicions, and feel pretty strongly about them, but I can't say 100% anything.

Let the craziness continue...

UPDATE: ESPN has an article up now, and here's a relevant paragraph, emphasis mine:

The sources said Watkins examined Manning recently in Los Angeles and concluded the stability in his neck would have allowed the quarterback to play this Sunday if the nerves in his arm had regenerated to a satisfactory performance level.

So basically his neck is fine (I thought we knew that already), and he could play if his nerves regenerate, which we also already knew. Certainly seems like we're not learning anything new here.

Now that the Colts now have their new General Manager, and their new Head Coach, it's time to transition fully into draft mode. What better way to do that then with the annual Senior Bowl, which is Saturday afternoon at 4:00 ET on the NFL Network. It's the premiere draft-prep game for seniors to make an impression on actual NFL coaches and scouts, playing against one another. A good number of top prospects will be there, and if you're into the draft even a little bit, you should make a point of watching Saturday afternoon.

The Colts obviously have a boat-load of holes to fill going into 2012, so there are a lot of positions to watch Saturday. In fact, when I sat down to start going through players to watch, I had 61 guys. That's a few too many, but when there are seven positions that I think the Colts will target (not including QB), it's a lot of guys. I narrowed that list down to 25 players that I think we as Colts fans should keep our eye on, and a set of 7 that I feel will definitely be looked at by the Colts.

The positions I initially pulled, in no particular order, are C, OG, WR, DT/NT, DE, OLB, CB, SS. There may be more once we learn about Coordinators, what kinds of schemes they'll run, etc. There's also the uncertainty of several big-name free agents that we don't know about right now, but we will know about before the draft. I made the list broad, with the assumption it'll probably shrink as we get close to the draft.

After the jump I have a table of all guys to take a look at, as well as a quick blurb on the top guys for the Colts, at least in my opinion...

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If you sent a tweet to Colts Owner Jim Irsay yesterday with Ravens Defensive Coordinator Chuck Pagano, it looks like you have a chance to win Super Bowl tickets. Citing a league source, Pro Football Talk announced via Twitter that Pagano will be the next Head Coach of the Colts:

League source tells PFT that Chuck Pagano will be the next Colts coach.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 25, 2012

Pagano held the Defensive Coordinator position for the Ravens for just one year, and was the team's secondary coach for three season before that. He also coached the secondary between 2001-06 with the Browns and Raiders. He also seemed late to the interview game, but obviously he was busy with the Ravens up until last Sunday. It makes you wonder whether the Colts would have gone in a different direction had the Ravens won last weekend and were all set to play in the Super Bowl.

Now, this is not official news, but I doubt PFT would stick their necks out like this if they weren't very sure about it. We'll obviously update when we get more news.

[UPDATE]: Tweet from NFL Network's Jason LaConfora:

Chuck Pagano has informed the Ravens he is leaving to become Colts head coach #insideslant

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 25, 2012

What are your thoughts on the hire? Let us know.

[UPDATE 2]: It's now official. Pagano is the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. They team will hold a 3 p.m. ET press conference tomorrow to announce the hiring.

In the continuing season of change with the Indianapolis Colts, one of the cornerstones of the franchise for the past decade-plus may decide to hang them up. Jeff Saturday talked with Indy Star's Phil Richards yesterday in a column about players' reactions to the firing of Jim Caldwell, and here's his comment when asked about the future of the Colts:

"I have my own decision to make long before I worry (about) what the Colts are going to do," said Saturday, 36. "I'm considering not playing."

We all know that Saturday is one of the unsung heroes of this great run we've seen from the Colts, and it seems as though he would still lace them up here in Indy if there wasn't a brand new regime. But without his coach and friend Jim Caldwell, and presumably with a new QB starting in 2012, nobody would blame Saturday if he went to play somewhere else, or decided to just retire, playing every game in a Colts uniform, and taking his rightful place in the Ring of Honor.