Colts release of 5 players
I've never done any of these articles before, so I'm not sure if this is proper format, but here goes.
According to ESPN, we have now released Gary Brackett, Dallas Clark, Joseph Addai, Melvin Bullitt and Curtis Painter:
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7667545&categoryid=2459789
This is a huge blow to our chances of fielding a competitive team for the next year. While this should not be our main concern, as we are in a rebuilding state, it will certainly feel to all of us Colts fans that we are throwing the "Manning era" team members under the bus, so to speak. This may be a necessary maneuver, but I must say that I do not understand the release of all these players after the re-signing of Robert Mathis.
I'm not sure which of these players' release hurts the worst, but it is hard to see an almost complete dissimilation of the team we've all grown to love over the past decade. I had yet to see an article on here about it, so thought I would post one of my own so that I could see how everyone else felt. I can only hope this makes more sense after the draft and any offseason moves.
I am pretty sure these moves were coming either way-- its just a shame that the real cap benefits won't come till next season. Is anyone else hoping our non-draft shopping list is OLine, Oline, WR and then what ever pieces we can afford for the Defense? This team just needs to protect Andrew Luck next year and make sure he has at least one WR to get the ball too.
@gbearrin I guess the O-Line piece we need the most is a center, as I doubt that we're going to be re-signing Saturday given his advanced age. We'll have Constanza and Ijalana that we drafted last year at tackle, and I guess Diem and Pollak at guard, with Linkenbach fitting in somewhere, too. We'll definitely need to build in the middle of our line if we want to improve.
@7IHd I don't think Diem is back, and I am pretty sure if Pollak is back its at Center. I would love it if the Colts could get at least two interior linemen, and a WR-- that is, infact, what I hope they get with their first three non-Luck picks
Yeah, Ijalana is still largely untested, but he did have a great skill set in college so I'm hopeful with an actual offseason this year that he'll be set to go for some of the season. Do you know if Linkenbach is going to factor into the starting line? I guess only if Ijalana doesn't cut it or there's some injury?
@gbearrin Yeah, I had heard that we might move Pollak to center as he's the only viable player on our roster at the position without Saturday. I'd forgotten if we had already released Diem?
Mathis is an impact player at an impact position who has been consistently productive and injury free. He just signed a big but market rate contract for an impact pass rusher and he fits the new defense, at least on paper. I guess until you see him do it we wont know for sure. Compare that with the guys just cut. Clark has been injured the last two years as has Brackett. Bullitt too and with a shoulder that promises to be an issue as long as he plays.Addai was brought back out of necessity but is paid too much to be a part of a rotation. I dont think Mathis has anything to do with the other decisions. The part that is hard to swallow here is that these cuts really wont pay off until next offseason as they create a lot of dead money this year. But it has to be done if you are serious about rebuilding
@19>18 Thanks for the explanation. All of that makes sense, and I don't disagree at all with some of the cuts. It just feels like we're clearing house, though, and the shopping of Freeney along with these moves only adds to that feeling. I'm just wondering about how we're planning to be able to replace these players (in the upcoming drafts and otherwise) in order to be able to field a competitive team in the future. I fervently hope we have a good plan set in order to be able to restock and that we are able to get young talent/picks out of a Freeney trade. I'm nervous about how our roster for next year is going to shape up with so many holes to fill and not a whole lot of cap room created for filling them.
just my view. Obviously nothing official. I think next year is about installing systems, hoping to find a few gems in the rough, and the real heavy lifting will be next off season. I think there is a plan but it isnt as ambitious as the fans will like.
@19>18 Yeah, from the sounds of it, we should have big cap room to flex for next season. I just hope we can post up a line that will be able to adequately defend Luck during his rookie season. The last thing we need is to have the centerpiece of the new offense injured before he even has a chance to get off the ground. Just going to be hard to fill all our needs under cap, but I guess that's why I'm not GM haha.
I'm not certain if the post states anywhere, but if not, I was the one to have posted this here. I saw the video posted on ESPN and no information of it anywhere on here, so I thought everyone who follows this site as religiously as I do in these volatile times for our franchise might want to know of the latest moves.
Phil
