I'm not sure how I feel about this bit from Pro Football Weekly's Dan Arkush:
While we hear it's far from a given the Colts will focus on tackles and guards early in the draft, it does appear that a change in the team's offensive-line philosophy could be in the offing with longtime position coach Howard Mudd finally calling it a career. "Howard always had a preference for smaller, athletic, versatile linemen," one team insider said. "But with the way the run game continued to struggle — especially in short-yardage situations — there's a feeling Polian might want to start really going after bigger, more physical guys. They've brought in bigger linemen before, but for whatever reason, they just haven't seemed to pan out."
The recent woes of the o-line in short yardage, and in running yardage period, have not been the result of a philosophy. When Tarik Glenn and Adam Meadows were working up front, the Colts were able to run the football with tremendous results.The issue with the current o-line is that Polian has busted two high round picks: Tony Ugoh and Mike Pollak. Both players suck, and when you spend back-to-back second round picks in consecutive years on crappy talent, it is going to hurt your o-line.
The key is not to bring in "bigger" guys. The key is for Polian to draft guys who "do not suck." Remember, Glenn and Meadows were not drafted by Bill Polian. Former VP of Football Operations Bill Tobin took those guys in 1997, the year before Polian was hired.
Much of our pre-draft coverage will focus on o-line play, which seems to be the #1 priority for this team entering the 2010 NFL Draft.