There has been a flurry of news on new (and old) players added to the active roster along with injury status updates. Much of the news is filtering in from an outstanding new widget on CBS Sports' website. It is essentially a "live ticker" of team specific information which CBS refers to as "Rapid Reports." The ticket is maintained by none-other-than John Oehser of IFR. So, unlike other supposed information ticker services, the content from here is legit and accurate. We've added the widget to the site, along the right hand column (scroll down).
Anyway, back to the updates.
Well, to start, even though they worked out Dominic Rhodes yesterday, the Colts opted to re-sign Mike Hart to the active roster. Hart has been battling back from last year's knee injury, and has been cut and re-signed to both the active roster and practice squad at various points this season. The Colts also signed defensive end Ervin Baldwin to the active roster. Baldwin (6'2, 260 pounds) was drafted in the seventh round by the Bears last year. He's familiar with Tampa 2, and his signing seems to suggest what PhilB wrote about earlier today: Dwight Freeney might not go again for the second week in a row.
Again, with Freeney, it seems to be a wait-and-see situation. A lot of this is precautionary, and does not seem the kind of thing that could screw-up his play moving forward.
The Colts also signed center Keith Gray and guard Drew Radovich to the practice squad.
Also, we have an Adam Vinatieri update! It seems Vinatieri is progressing quite nicely and could return to kicking very soon. According to Oehser:
K Adam Vinatieri (right knee) is closer to returning, Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. Caldwell said a decision will be made on keeping K Matt Stover if and when Vinatieri returns.
Personally, and this is just my gut instinct and not based off any info I've gotten, I think Indy might consider keeping both Adam and Matt on the roster going into the playoffs. Vinatieri is the Colts current and future kicker. So, any talk that Stover or Pat McAfee will replace him is just nonsense. However, Stover has been very reliable this year filling in for Vinatieri, showing that even at age 41 he can still hit the big kicks. If Indy is not 100% certain that Adam is completely healthy by the playoffs, they may keep Stover on the active roster just in case.
There were a ton of FanPosts and FanShots that many of you placed up on the site updating everyone on the the news. Thanks (and a special tip) to those that did so.