Jason Lisk of The Big Lead has an article up ranking the Top 15 owners in the NFL. Lisk made his judgements based on these criteria:

I like to do things objectively, so I went through and found each ownership group, the date they took over, and then tried to measure by the bottom line. In the NFL, the bottom line is winning. So I found the winning percentage for each owner, the percentage of seasons in which they have been in the final eight teams in the league in the playoffs, and the number of Super Bowl appearances and wins.

Based on that, it's tough to argue where Lisk has Colts owner Jim Irsay ranked.

7. Jim Irsay, Indianapolis Colts. Irsay may come across as a weird dude on Twitter, but he has far surpassed his father as an owner, and made some bold moves this offseason to rebuild for another era. (15 seasons, 60.8% win percentage, 2 SB Appearances)

To say Jim Irsay has far exceeded his father is an understatement. Robert Irsay obtained ownership rights to the Baltimore Colts on July 26, 1972, when he traded his recently purchased Los Angeles Rams franchise to Carroll Rosenbloom. From 1972-1996 (Robert Irsay died in 1997, but by '96 Jim had pretty much taken over as owner of the team), the Colts were an embarrassing 144-219. In Robert Irsay's infamous 25-year stretch of owning the Colts (both in Baltimore and in Indianapolis), they only won in the playoffs once.

The Jim Harbaugh 1995 season.

The same Jim Harbaugh who now coaches at Stanford, and who Robert Irsay once famously called Jim "Harbro" when asked who his team's starting QB should be during that '95 season.

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The last 24 hours have seen the Colts lock up all their Day Three picks in the 2012 NFL Draft. Yesterday, the news broke that Vick Ballard, Chandler Harnish, LaVon Brazill, and Tim Fugger were signed. Today, Aaron Wilson of Scout.com reports that Indy has inked 5th round pick Josh Chapman, NT out of Alabama.

Chapman reportedly got a four-year deal worth $2.315 with a $215,512 signing bonus. The Alabama behemoth is presumed to be the starting nose tackle as the Colts shift from a 4-3 to a 3-4 ailment on defense. Chapman is recovering from an ACL injury, which he played with for much of last year during Alabama's national championship run.

It seems Jim Irsay wasn't done inking former SEC guys. The Colts released a statement, via their website, that 7th round pick Justin Anderson, OT from Georgia, was signed as well. No details on the contract, but considering Anderson is a final round project player, do you really care how much money he got?

With these recent signings, only 3rd round picks Dwayne Allen & T.Y. Hilton, 2nd round pick Coby Fleener, and No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck are unsigned. The Colts should expect those players to get inked any day now because, with the new CBA, rookies have absolutely zero leverage. If one or a few holdout, they're basically just greedy. Look for them to sign soon and be ready for training camp.

You all might remember this little write-up after Ryan Grigson met with the media following the Colts Day Two selections of Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen. During that Day Two presser, he made this statement:

Colts G.M. Ryan Grigson: "It's nice to have two legit NFL tight ends on the roster now."

The interesting part of that is 2010 5th round pick Brody Eldridge, TE from Oklahoma, was on the roster. Grigson's statement implied that Eldridge was not a "legit" TE.

Whether intentional or not, that comment was a shot at Eldridge.

Grigson was immediately asked a follow-up question after, and that question was whether Eldridge still had a place on this Colts team. Grigson responded:

Definitely.

Nearly three weeks to the day that Grigson said this, the Colts announced that they have cut Brody Eldridge.

His place on the roster will be filled by QB David Legree. With the injury to rookie QB Chandler Harnish, and Andrew Luck not being able to to participate in OTAs because of graduation requirements at Stanford, the Colts simply needed another warm body at QB. Enter Legree.

Back to Eldridge, this move is yet player from the Polian regime sent packing. Ryan Grigson also cut Joseph Addai, Gary Brackett, Melvin Bullitt, and Dallas Clark this offseason. Eldridge was intended to be a blocking TE or fullback. With the team drafting Fleener and Allen, along with their commitment to FB Chris Gronkowski and their need for another QB, it seemed pointless to keep Eldridge.

It also suggests that Grigson was completely full of it when he said Eldridge "definitely" had a place on this team three weeks ago.

Yes, yes, yes. We all know that Andrew Luck cannot attend OTAs until he fully and completely graduates from Stanford. While some might dismiss his absence as just another useless story no one cares about, the reality is the time lost will hurt Luck's development. It might not be noticeable, but it will hurt. Luck knows this. Head coach Chuck Pagano knows it as well:

We're talking back and forth. [Luck] was able to take some stuff with him [to Stanford]. Besides school, he's spending time with Griff [Whalen] out there and a couple of his other teammates. He does football in the morning. Goes out, throws, works out. He's staying on top of everything. He's on point. I spoke to him, as a matter of fact, last night. He called me. It's killing him not to be here. He's just dying, dying to get out here.

The more I look at the way the offseason is shaking out, the more it seems as if the Colts signed Whalen just so he can work with Luck during this odd period when neither can attend team OTAs in Indianapolis. This way, Luck can continue to build chemistry with, at least, one Colts player who is likely to suit up in preseason.

Luck's other former-Stanford-but-now-current-Colts-teammate Coby Fleener is apparently in Los Angeles at a NFLPA event with follow TE Dwayne Allen. One Interesting (and encouraging) note is that Fleener and Allen have seemingly been inseparable during OTAs and minicamps.

At some point, Fleener will likely head back to Palo Alto to work with Luck. Luck reportedly has plans to meet up with Reggie Wayne and Austin Collie as well. In the end, no one seems to question Luck's willingness to do extra work to catch-up and be ready for training camp. The question is how much will that extra time limit his ability to build chemistry and timing with his receivers.

Yesterday evening (while I was out celebrating my wife's birthday) the Colts and Jim Irsay decided to announce that they had signed four of the ten players they selected in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Running back Vick Ballard of Mississippi State, wide receiver LaVon Brazill of Ohio University, outside linebacker Tim Fugger of Vanderbilt, and quarterback Chandler Harnish of Northern Illinois all agreed to terms with the Colts.

All four players were drafted in the third day.

The other news to come out of OTAs is that Harnish (who was the "Mr. Irrelevant" pick in the draft) is hurt. He was seen on the sidelines of practice yesterday nursing a sore knee, his leg wrapped. The timetable for his return is estimated at 2-3 weeks. Drew Stanton and Trevor Vittatoe handled all the QB duties.

It's likely the injury to Harnish happened during this most recent series of OTAs. He had no such visible knee problems at the rookie camp two weeks ago.

Now, while not catastrophic, it is worth noting that with Harnish hurt, this means both rookie QBs for the Colts were, essentially, MIA for the first install camp of the offseason. OTAs are when offensive coaches install their systems, and it is an absolutely critical time for young players to learn those systems. Andrew Luck, also known as "the other rookie QB," will miss all of Indy's OTAs this month. He is still finishing up his school requirements at Stanford. Griff Whalen is also there doing the same.

When the June OTAs roll around, it seems Whalen, Harnish, and Luck will have a lot of catching up to do.

Colts center Samson Satele reportedly tweeted this earlier today:

On my way to Hawaii....RIP Papa....ILY... #THEMAN

— Samson Satele (@satele66) May 16, 2012

Though this twitter account is not "official," it seems legit considering the owner has chatted with other Colts offensive linemen who do have official accounts on Twitter. These players include A.Q. Shipley and Anthony Castonzo.

Based on the tweet, it seems Satele has had some sort of loss in the family. He is from Hawaii (Kailua, Honolulu County). Condolences if this story is as it appears.

Indianapolis is currently in Day Two of their first series of OTAs. Today's practice is open to the media.

Satele was signed by the Colts in March 21st, and he seems the most likely player to replace longtime veteran Jeff Saturday. Saturday left the Colts via free agency, and has since signed with the Packers. Satele spent three seasons with the Oakland Raiders before signing with the Colts as a free agent. Prior to that, he spent two years in Miami, the team that drafted him in the second round in 2007.

With the draft finished, the NFL offseason (frequently defined by teams releasing and acquiring players, coaches, front offices people, etc.) comes to an end. For the most part, the players the Colts hold the rights to now are the ones who will show up and play in the first preseason game in August. Thus, we take this time to evaluate and examine the moves made by Jim Irsay and his first year general manager, Ryan Grigson. This series will breakdown the player loses, the free agent signings, the draft, and the undrafted rookie signings.

We started out with who the Colts lost. We also talked free agents and the 2012 NFL Draft. Now, we grade rookie free agents... or, at least, we attempt to...

Rookie Free Agents

Grading or evaluating rookie free agents at this stage of the game is virtually impossible. In fact, it's just plain dumb to do it. Thus, for this recap-evaluation-summary-whatever, it's more about grading the front office and how they used the rookie free agent market to fill needs that they did not address during veteran free agency and the NFL Draft.

It's important to note that I'm not at these camps and OTAs. I'm not seeing these kids run, and even if I was there, it wouldn't be fair or accurate to evaluate their skills at this time. One evaluation that is fair is that these guys are rookie free agents because they weren't good enough to get drafted. So, already, they are inferior prospects to guys who were drafted, or the veteran free agents signed pre-draft. Anyone who tells you that drafted players and undrafted players are on even footing is lying to your face. If an undrafted player beats out a drafted guy for a roster spot, it makes the G.M. look moronic for burning a pick on the guy who lost out.

So, right off the bat, players like WR Griff Whalen, WR Jabin Sambrano, and RB Matt Merlettim are long shots to make the 53-man roster. However, guys like Buddy Jackson, Cameron Chism, and Antonio Fenelus are almost guaranteed to make the team for no reason other than the Colts did virtually nothing this offseason to address the team's near total lack of talent at the cornerback position.

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