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Rookie camp news, and Tim Couch

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The last few days at the Colts Rookie Camp, coaches has made it a point to go slow in teaching the rookies how the Colts play offense and defense. The Colts will most likely keep five runningbacks during the season: Joseph Addai, Dom Rhodes, James Mungro, Kory Chapman, and a first-year vet named Vashon Pearson. The Colts are very high on Chapman and Pearson, but the feeling seems to be that Indy will not run the ball "by committee" next year. Here's Dungy on the running game:

"We knew we wanted to use this off-season and training camp to get Joseph Addai a lot of work," Dungy said. "We also have Vashon Pearson, who we think is going to be a real good player for us. We had some guys we want to look at and get them the work.

"We're primarily a one-back team, so we didn't want to overload it too much."

This is interesting, because it seemed apparent the Colts were going to use Rhodes early this season, and gradually integrate Addai in to the mix along with Chapman and Pearson. Mungro would still remain a goalline/short yardage back. This seems to suggest that if Addai has a strong camp, he will start and play several snaps, ala Edgerrin James.

In other news, the Colts are bringing back former Cleveland Browns QB Tim Couch to try out for the team. Couch tried out last year, but wasn't recovered from a serious shoulder injury. He's been out of football these last two years, healing. Couch was the first overall pick in 1999, the year after the Colts used their first overall pick on Manning. If Couch's shoulder is indeed healed, signing him to backup Manning would definitely be worth it. He and Manning are friends. Couch knows the offense because Cleveland ran it back when Couch played for them. We'll keep an eye on Couch and his health.

Finally, there is a very hot rumor that Steve McNair is getting traded to Baltimore soon. This greatly affects things for the Colts. First, if McNair is out of Tennessee, that team will win 2 games next year if Vince Young quarterbacks that team. Second, McNair on Baltimore would move the Ravens to the top of their division, past the Bengals and the champion Steelers. I hate Baltimore. I hate Ray Lewis, Brian Billick, and all thier whiny fans that think Indianapolis committed a horrible crime "stealing" their team (a crime they felt perfectly entitled to commit themselves when they stole Cleveland's team in the late 1990s). However, McNair would be perfect for that team, and they would instantly vault into the top 5 in the AFC.