Colts Players Making Headlines

by mgrex03 on Apr 11, 2008 10:30 AM EDT in Colts News

There are lots of Colts in the news today, and here's a small sampling of what they are up to:

Peyton Manning was the featured speaker at the Jackson-Madison County Hall of Fame Banquet. Among the inductees was Manning's former University of Tennessee teammate Trey Teague. Peyton had this to say about his good friend:
It's special to be here this evening. Trey and I are best friends, and it was fun to play with him. I really appreciate his friendship.
Peyton seems to be a regular on the banquet speaking tour, as he said he appears at 8-10 banquets a year.
Raheem Brock has signed a franchise agreement with Wingstop Restaurants, where he will develop 3 new restaurants in Philadelphia. Brock said:
"I'm excited to bring Wingstop to my hometown and share it with the people here," said Brock. "I love the food and the simple concept of focusing on great wings and sides. The ease of operations makes it an attractive business."
Wingstop's national spokesman is former Cowboy Troy Aikman. It doesn't look like there is a Wingstop in Indiana anywhere, but I'll try to visit to local franchise here in the DC area.
Former Colt Offensive Lineman Tarik Glenn spoke at John Brown University Thursday. He seems to be spreading messages learned from Coach Dungy, and I'm glad to see Tarik do some great things in the community after retirement.
Everyone in the media has now declared Marvin Harrison's career over, based on a story by NFL.com's Adam Schefter (tip to metalmilitia as well). The Colts have brought in Mario Manningham and Early Doucet for an interview. It's great that the Colts are bringing in receivers, but my first thought is that this is a diversion put forth by the brain-trust that is Bill Polian. Teams bring in many, many different players for interviews, trying to cover all of their bases. Most of these players will, obviously, not be drafted by that team. Maybe we should start a story that Peyton's career is winding down as well, since the front page story on Colts.com is on the Quarterback draft class in 2008. No need to make a mountain out of a mole hill. If Polian and Dungy both say Harrison will be healthy, he'll be healthy.

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Riiiiiiight

Because Polian and Dungy say so? I'm not so sure about that. If everything Polian and Dungy said about Marvin were 100% true, Marvin would have been back ages ago, and we wouldn't even be talking about this.

Don't get me wrong, I'm giving Marvin the benefit of the doubt, but it has nothing to do with what Polian and Dungy say. I'm giving it to him b/c he has been one of the best, most productive, and most consistent WRs in the history of the NFL. He has an unbelievable record of health and has bounced back from injury time and time again. So, until Marvin shows me that his career is over, I'm not going to believe it. Until then, I fully expect him to come back healthy and ready to play.

(And even if he's not 100%, an 80% Marvin is better than 80% of the rest of the league's WRs.)

The Shogun of Harlem

by shonuff on Apr 11, 2008 11:32 AM EDT 0 recs

Marvin

Even if he's back, how much longer will he play? We should look for a WR, but not with our first pick.

Walk on, walk on With hope in your heart And you'll never walk alone You'll never walk alone

by MerryGoByeBye on Apr 11, 2008 1:27 PM EDT 0 recs

This point is the main issue

With so few WRs excelling in their first two or three seasons in the NFL, and with the time it takes to master the complex Colts offense, it makes sense to think about another receiver now. Reggie is great, but A-Gon is still learning and Marvin is clearly on the downside of his career. I think (hope) Marvin will be back to his old self next year, but I think that to expect anything more than three years (at the most) out of him is unrealistic. Thus we should start thinking about a replacement now.

I'll even go out on a huge f'ing limb here: I'm not so sure we shouldn't think about a WR with the first pick. We've seen lower round draft picks and undrafteds excel in Dungy's defense. We've seen lower rounders and undrafteds excel on the offensive line under Mudd's masterful tutelage. We have Peyton and Addai locked up -- although backups to both are certainly an issue. We're certainly not going to spend our first pick on a someone who only plays special teams. What's the one area we haven't had great success with low-rounders or undrafteds? Wide receiver.

Now, I admit I'm just kind of pulling this out of my ass here. And I see much greater areas of immediate need. But Polian has always balanced nicely between immediate need and the long haul, to the extent that we have the longest active streak of playoff appearances in the NFL. If he sees a potential Marvin or Reggie fall to us and pulls the trigger, how can I object?

After all, I'm one of those guys who blasted him for taking Sanders.

by ctnyc on Apr 11, 2008 6:52 PM EDT up 0 recs

Oh

And as someone here said before, Manning to Manningham sounds way badass. :)

Walk on, walk on With hope in your heart And you'll never walk alone You'll never walk alone

by MerryGoByeBye on Apr 11, 2008 1:28 PM EDT 0 recs

Does anyone know about the '09 Draft

As far as WRs go. While I agree with ctnyc's reasoning that we need to work Marvin's replacement in sooner, not later, I'm concerned there's no Colts-type WR in this draft, let alone at #59. Perhaps the '09 draft--which, after all will be after we see the extent of Marvin's recovery--is the more likely option. Any of the guys who might fall to #59 this year are going to fall for a reason: Sweed because of his wrist injury; Jackson because he's smurf-sized; Kelly because now his 40 times are glacial; Manningham because of weed; Doucet because of, well, hell, it's hard to evaluate how good a WR is in LSU's spread offense. I'm not saying if any fall to #59 they couldn't help, just that all of them have, to put it politely, "issues". To me, none of these guys have Gonzalez' potential to fit the Colts' needs (except maybe Sweed). So, I'd be loathe to go this way, especially when a pass rusher is a more pressing immediate need.

Maybe '09, when the Colts will pick #32 after winning the Super Bowl, not #59, is the time to address Marvin's replacement.

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.

by Coltsfan58 on Apr 11, 2008 7:12 PM EDT 0 recs

How about someone who might be around at #59? :)

Hi, I am a long time user of this site, however this is my first comment.

First of all. I don't believe we'll be able to pick either Sweed, Kelly or Jackson because they are at the very least a half round away from our 2nd rounder.

Manningham may drop to the #50 area, but some team will likely pull the trigger on Manningham here because of his skillset.

I expect Doucet to be gone in the same area as Manningham.
So who is left?

I don't know why someone hasn't mentioned his name before(I apologize if someone else indeed has praised this fella before I). Earl Bennett out of Vanderbilt. He is a very talented guy, with good hands with incredible concentration, ok speed, good routes(His route running should be a bit more crisp). And he has excelled against superior competition in the SEC, and is currently holding the record for the most catches in the SEC All-time!!

However he might also be gone around #50 or even before.
Another excellent option is Jordy Nelson of Kansas State, who might be more of a slot kind of guy. He has decent size(6'2, 218), decent speed(However he might have better football speed than timed speed, since he outrunned CB Talib, Kansas for a 68 yard-TD during their game during the '07 campaign), he has great after-the-ctach ability, he can return punts, makes great adjustments to the ball and he was incredibly productive during his senior year. Add to that, he is a very down-to-earth kind of guy who will work his butt of every day at practice and you got a pretty decent football-player. BTW He is often compared to Wes Welker. Not too shabby even though I think Welker is overrated.

Just thought I would add some other guys(more realistic guys IMHO)to the mix.

by jocre on Apr 12, 2008 5:11 AM EDT up 0 recs

That would be an excellent choice, as well.

by coltsfanawalt on Apr 12, 2008 5:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

Doucet

His profile here doesn't exactly make me fall in love with him.
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=47

Is a sloppy route runner. Blocking: Is big enough to be an outstanding blocker for the position when he gives maximum effort. Whether he does that or not will be the key for him in this regard. Is prone to dropping passes that shouldn't be put on the turf. Not regarded as a particularly hard worker in either the weight or film room. Not a particularly intelligent player. Has shown a bit of a cocky or arrogant side this season

my blog <http://shakennbaken.blogspot.com>

by shake n bake on Apr 12, 2008 6:02 PM EDT 0 recs

Manningham's is less worrying

but the lowlights:
Doesn't like to go over the middle.
Has maturity issues.
Was a general distraction when freshman Ryan Mallett was playing.
Pouts.
Has not been exposed to a very complex offensive scheme. Was asked mostly to run deep routes. Will need to learn basic coverages and timing.

Neither of the guys that came in for visits really sound like Colts type receivers. The size and draft status are about right, but the attitude/effort is off.

my blog <http://shakennbaken.blogspot.com>

by shake n bake on Apr 12, 2008 6:08 PM EDT 0 recs