Posts tagged Boston College
Colts Off-Season: A Time for Change and Hope
Feb 9th
Will the Colts make a move for free agent running back DeAngelo Williams? (Chris Keane | Reuters)
The Indianapolis Colts are known for their ability to put together teams that are young and competitive on the field with a chance to win the Super Bowl every year. The team has accomplished this by finding jewels in the draft that other teams simply overlook. As a Colts fan I have nothing but respect and admiration for the front office of the Colts and thank them for the product they consistently put on the field for Colts fans to cheer. It’s time for the next step, and at this point in Peyton Manning’s career it’s now or never for the Indy. Unlike many of the experts out there, I do not believe that Peyton is anywhere close to the end of his career. I do believe that he is at the point where the team can’t just wait for young talent to develop around him.
Starting with the offensive line, Ryan Diem has been rode hard this year for the false starts and his mental mistakes, but I’m one who believes that a lot of his issues were because of having to play through injuries all year long with a lack of depth behind him. The same could be said for left tackle Charlie Johnson. The hope in the franchise should be that Ryan Diem will work with the front office on restructuring his $5.4 million deal that would allow the team to pay him on incentives as opposed to cutting him as cap casualty.
Regardless what happens with Diem, the best answer for the Colts is to not miss out on a chance to get an anchor left tackle early in the draft such as Anthony Castonzo, Boston College, Nate Solder, Colorado, Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin, or Derek Sherrod, Mississippi State. There is also the option of landing a couple solid free agents with both Tyson Clabo of Atlanta and Matt Light being available, Clabo being ideal because of his youth. At guard the best answer without question is to find a way to sign Logan Mankins out of New England. Adding an all pro will allow you to let Jamey Richard and Mike Pollak fight for the starting spot next to Mankins with the loser backing up both the center and guard spots.
Ideal line: LT-Tyson Clabo, LG- Logan Mankins, C- Jeff Saturday, RG- Mike Pollak, and RT- Gabe Carimi. More >
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Introducing Colts Safety Chip Vaughn
Oct 26th
Chip Vaughn is a big hitter. (Marc Serota | Getty Images)
Prior to the 2009 NFL Draft, I put together a series of stories which compared players I thought the Colts may select. Former Wake Forest safety Chip Vaughn was one of those players and was arguably the best run stuffing safety out of the 2009 group. One will notice a lot of similarities in Vaughn’s aggressive style and hard hitting to Colts safeties Bob Sanders, Antoine Bethea, and Melvin Bullitt. The New Orleans Saints selected Vaughn in the 4th round.
Researching the injury that kept Vaughn out of the 2009 season, it appears as though he was placed on injured reserve for much the same reason a lot of young players are when teams want to save them for the future, but have not had the time to work them into their system prior to the coming season. The Colts did the same with safety David Caldwell this year, who seemingly did not have a critical injury and was seen at training camp practices, but his injuries were bad enough to put him on injured reserve, get him healthy, and give him a chance to get ready for the 2011 season. More >
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Summer Showdown: Jamie Silva v. David Caldwell
May 12th
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For the last two seasons, Jamie Silva has served as the team’s primary back-up at safety and has established himself as one of the team’s leaders on special teams coverage units. Since he joined the team, two realities have been relatively obvious.
First, Silva is the kind of player who has uncanny football instincts and uses his experience as a team leader at Boston College and his knack for being around the football to make plays. Second, the reason he relies almost entirely on his football instincts to excel is because he lacks the elite athleticism of most NFL safeties.
The importance of intangibles should not be understated but at the same time, the limitations associated with not having NFL caliber speed and athleticism have a very real impact on a player’s ability to ever serve anything more than a supporting role.
This is where undrafted free agent safety prospect David Caldwell could come in. Caldwell out-performed all safeties at the 2010 NFL Combine in the broad jump, 3-cone drill, short shuttle, and 60-yard shuttle. His 39.5 inch vertical leap would have ranked third amongst safeties at the combine. His 4.5 40-yard dash speed is significantly faster that Jamie Silva’s 4.78 time at the 2008 NFL Combine.
http://www.dailypress.com/media/photo/2008-10/43056820.jpg
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