Photo: a.espncdn.com
King Richard hit it up here first.
Remember the early days of the Polian era, when we had safeties like Cory Bird and Chad Cota roaming around in the defensive backfield? Remember seeing David Patton set an NFL record by catching, throwing, and running in a touchdown in one game! Remember 2002, when Jeremy Shockey ran over then-Colts safety David Gibson like a wrecking ball plowing through wet dry wall; this after Gibson said Shockey was "just another player."
Remember those days?
To put it bluntly, from 1998 to 2004, the safety play for the Colts really, really, REALLY sucked. If the Almanac of Fail had a chapter on football, the Colts safeties from 1998 to 2004 would comprise at least half of the chapter.
Today, it's a bit different. The Colts, in my not-so-humble opinion, sport the best depth at safety in football. Bob Sanders and Antoine Bethea are the best safety tandem in the league, period! Melvin Bullitt, who played a ton of strong safety last year because of injuries to Bob, came into his own and has developed into an excellent back-up. He could start for most teams. Add to this the surprising development of Jamie Silva and Brandon Condren, two young, hard-hitting safeties.
And now, we can add Matt Giordano into the mix once again.
The Colts re-signed Matt to what looks like a vet minimum deal. He joins a very talented and crowded safety field, but unlike Silva or Condren, Matt is one of the faster players on the entire Colts team. Matt Giordnao also hits like a Mack Truck, and has shown a knack for making big plays. He is a tremendous special teams player, and just a good, all-around guy.
In addition to Giordano, Sanders, Bethea, and others, Marlin Jackson can also play some safety. Oh, and in case your wondering, his knee surgery recovery is going quite well.
While the defensive tackle position frustrates all of us to know end, at least we know the Colts have some serious talent in the defensive backfield. If they can just shore up the d-line in this draft, we can look forward to seeing some dominating Colts defense in 2009.