What's even been the speculation with him? I know the team is tight-lipped... has anybody (insider) offered an explanation?

Agree on Fields, and IMO Darnold is a MUCH bigger risk than Wentz was. Wentz was only bad in Philly his final year there. At least statistically. Although his stats there were probably better than his actual performance in Philly like they were here. Anyway, Darnold agree to a 3 years for $100M with SEA, so we don't have to worry about that.

Not only is he not interesting, but he's just objectively a bad QB. What has he actually done other than being drafted about 3 rounds too early by the Giants? I saw that OTC is projecting he'll get $13M for a 1 year deal, which I'll be super pissed if we give him anywhere near that.


Agreed. No brainer to cut him.

No doubt. Although I seriously doubt Ballard will make that move. Especially if he gets into any sort of bidding war.

No explanation from what I've seen.

Jones looking more likely. Darnold to SEA and Fields to NYJ.

Saw the Darnold deal earlier and now seeing Fields to NYJ for 2 years, $40M w/ $30M guaranteed. Hoping we dodge the bullet on Jones, or if we do sign him then it's dirt cheap.

You nailed the Bynum signing

Fields will start in New York rather than competing with AR here.

Unless the Colts were going to be willing to massively overpay, this was a no brainer for Fields. Same for Darnold in Seattle

I’m afraid Daniel Jones may be the best we can hope for.

I’d rather have Ridder

Or Minshew. At the very least both Ridder and Minshew will be cheaper than Jones.

Ridder has absolutely no upside!

And Jones does?

He has lead a terrible team to a winning record and a playoff victory. Ridder has done nothing and never will.

Jones had a mediocre year (3,200 yards and 15 TDs) on a team w/ a really good running game and a pretty weak schedule. Every other year he's been complete dog shit. So much so that the Giants ate $22M in cap space this year to run his worthless ass out of town. So while you might be right on Ridder, Jones isn't any better and will cost us more.

Ridder didn’t have the luxury of having Saquon Barkley at RB. Also Arthur Smith as a head coach isn’t known for lighting it up on offense. Ridders stats are nearly identical to AR all while playing the position longer and having more experience, only difference is one guy was given up on quickly while the other gets pacified and excused for making a mockery of the QB position with inaccurate passes, poor in game decision making, and stupid turnovers game after game because he’s “ young and raw”

25 games = 63% comp 16Tds 14int 5 rushing TDS - Ridder

15 games = 50% comp 11Tds 13INT 10 rushing TDS -AR

Put Ridder with Steichen and JT and I guarantee you’d see improvement, look how Minshew looked for the raiders this season compared to his season with Steichen

That's fair, but you are neglecting the 708 rushing yards and 7 rushing TD's w/only 5 int's.

Will Fries is headed to the Vikings for five years and $88 million

I am ok with the pickups of Ward and Bynum, but I am not really ready to say that they are great pickups. They certainly fill positions of need.

Ward I do think will immediately be our best outside corner, but he is already 29. Bynum looks similar to Blackmon, but I do profess not to know a huge amount about him, so happy to be proven wrong.

I am also meh about resigning Dulin, at 4m a year I want a good rotational offensive lineman, not a special teamer, who is 5/6th on the depth chart at receiver. He has proven to be a good special teamer, but with the new kickoff rules, i don't believe that this phase of the game is quite as important now. And it is not as if we were a great special teams unit last year.

If we can swing a trade for Raiders TE Mayer for a 5th rounder that fills that position. I don't want to take a TE in the later rounds, as that's exactly what the rest of our TE roster already is. Ogletree is a good inline blocker, Mallory is capable as a route runner, but a liability blocking, and then you have the weirdness that is Jelani Woods, is he able to develop into what he looked like he could become in his rookie season?

The rest of the roster doesn't have any glaring needs. Upgrades could be had of course, at LB, the tackle spot, the third DT and a backup RB and DE depth. But it allows the option of going BPA in the draft.

I am comfortable enough with our starters
Richardson
Taylor
Pittman
Pierce
Downs
Mayer
Raihman
Nelson
Bortolini
Goncalves
Smith

Ebukam
Stewart
Buckner
Paye
Franklin
Carlies
Ward
Jones
Moore
Cross
Bynum

But I would say we only have a few players beyond that, that I am truly comfortable with going forward, Dulin, Ogletree, Lewis, Latu, Adebawore, Brents, Womack.

So that's the 22 starters, 3 special teamers, and 7 others, a total of 32 players. The other 22 players all have yet to justify that they really belong in the NFL on a consistent basis. Even then the 7 others have hardly proven anyhing yet other than Lewis, Latu and probably Brents. There is a lot of work to do to get this roster depth up to standards, to be able to cover any sort of injuries to the starters.

Who is the remaining free agent you most want the Colts to sign?

Mine is Levi Onwuzurike.

According to Over the cap we currently have just under $12m, but some of that needs to be allocated to the rookie class. So we probably have around $7.5m left without having to redo any contracts.

I wouldn't mind seeing Jedrick Wills come in as a veteran tackle who can play both the left and right side. Hasn't lived up to his draft status, but has started 57 games for the Browns and would be a big upgrade on Blake Freeland as our swing tackle. Also wouldn't mind seeing Nick Chubb in the backfield subbing for Taylor. He isn't the 3rd threat we still need. But any contract for Chubb, would need to be a low deal ($3m) with large incentives.

The Colts should have a bit more cap space than that number.

Neither Overthecap nor Spotrac have the details on Braden Smith's re-worked deal yet.

Just signed Khalil Herbert to a one year deal. No issues with that one.

IMO, at the end of the day, we are all just treading water until the next Colts QB comes along because I just don't believe that AR is the guy. He is exactly what he has been since his High School days; a great guy with a great personality who has, up until this point, always been the best athlete on the field and succeeded because of that and not his ability to learn to play QB better.

I hope he proves me wrong this season and I get to come back at the end and say that I was wrong....but I don't believe that will be the case. At the end of the season, the Colts will be either looking at Daniel Jones as a long-term solution (which he is not) or heading back into the draft/free agency for our next QB.

All the rest is just.....fluff. Great, strengthen the team where you can and get younger but we are still waiting on our next QB who can win games in the playoffs and be consistently good in regular season.

If either don’t work out, & I agree with you that they probably won’t, we’ll have a new HC & GM.

OTC now has the Smith contract details. He took one hell of a paycut going to $8M w/ $0 guaranteed (although he gets a $2M roster bonus on the 5th day of the league year).

The revision will add roughly $9.35M to the Colts cap space this year.

Did this guy start smoking meth or kill a guy?

Yep. Forgot to add that we still have $21M in cap space. Maybe a little less as this number doesn't include Herbert, Schrader, or Ballentine, but I doubt any of their signings really change it.

Yeah, crazy how much of a salary hit he took. Although I don't think he had any guaranteed dollars left and if he makes the team and stays healthy he'll make $8M this year. Guessing he and his agent decided he wouldn't really get more than that on the open market :confused:

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In the NFL section, some breaking news .......



http://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198989

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Colts fans' definition of "shocking" regarding a QB retirement is not met.

Over 200 million in career earnings. Retired at age 34.

He’s set up for 40 years of doing whatever the hell he wants. Not bad.

Good for him.

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In the NFL section, a former division rival has signed a very lucrative extension with the Baltimore Ravens .......



http://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199147

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Colts Apologize to Tyreek Hill, Microsoft for Now-Deleted Video

(By Stephen Holder)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...-deleted-video

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Over in the NFL section, the 49ers believe in Brock Purdy ...... they just signed him to a $265 Million extension over the course of 5 years.


http://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/show...016#post325016




Now, if the Colts can somehow resolve l THEIR OWN l franchise QB situation sometime over the next 2 years ......

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This is one time I'll boo the Colts. Should have kept it.

The Colts brought back DT Eric Johnson. Claimed him off of waivers from the Cheats.

https://www.colts.com/news/colts-cla...-s-marcel-dabo

They also released S Marcel Dabo and designated TE Maximilian Mang, which is a UDFA out of Syracuse, the Exempt/International player.

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Tyreek Takes on the Colts

(By Alain Poupart)

https://www.si.com/nfl/dolphins/news...s-01jvax99apqj

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None of the photos appeared for me.

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(From the Article)


Say what you want about Tyreek Hill, but the Miami Dolphins wide receiver can take a joke.

He also can deliver one.


That was on full display in the aftermath of the "controversy" involving the Indianapolis Colts' schedule release video, particularly the very start highlighting their Week 1 game against the Dolphins at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The video took a jab at Hill with a Minecraft cartoon showing him swimming (dolphins, remember) and then getting arrested by the Coast Guard — a reference to Hill getting detained by police prior to the Dolphins' 2024 season against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium.

Eventually, the Colts deleted the video Wednesday night and released a statement Thursday morning: "We removed our schedule release video because it exceeded our rights with Microsoft and included an insensitive clip involving Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill. We sincerely apologize to Microsoft and Tyreek."

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Colts reached out to Hill's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to pass along their apology.


Hill later took to X to actually defend the Colts' shot at him.

Tyreek Hill: ) Should’ve left it up @Colts ...... this was funny.


https://x.com/cheetah/status/1923044058865230224


But then Tyreek took it a step further with his own jab at the Colts' social media team, and we've got to give him props for a good joke.

Tyreek Hill: ) The only W the Colts got. ��


https://x.com/cheetah/status/1923091...s-01jvax99apqj

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2025 NFL Offseason ...... AFC Teams’ Best and Worst Deals, Picks, More

(By Bill Barnwell)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...s-superlatives



Indianapolis Colts

The Superlative: l Most likely to focus on tackling drills in training camp.


It's not a huge stretch to suggest that subpar tackling might have cost the Colts a postseason spot in 2024. According to Pro Football Reference, the Colts whiffed on 157 tackle attempts last season, 23 more than any other team. They faced the fourth-most defensive snaps, which explains some of that chasm, but the tape backs up those numbers. I'm not sure any team had a worse 60 minutes of tackling than the Colts did against the Giants in Week 17, when they allowed 45 points to Drew Lock & Co. and were officially knocked out of the playoff race.

Nobody should be surprised, then, that general manager Chris Ballard's offseason moves aimed to address those tackling woes. At safety, Indianapolis is swapping out Julian Blackmon, who has whiffed on 12% or more of his tackle attempts in four of his five NFL seasons, for former Vikings safety Cam Bynum, whose career missed tackle rate is 7.1%.

At corner, Samuel Womack III (12.2% missed tackle rate) will be replaced by Charvarius Ward, who has the lowest missed tackle rate of any player since entering the league in 2018, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Linebacker E.J. Speed, whose missed tackle rates over the past two seasons were both north of 10%, wasn't re-signed. Jaylon Carlies, who started six games a year ago and should be in line for the full-time job in 2025, missed only 5.3% of his tackles as a rookie.

Will better tackling make the Colts a great defense? No. But this was a team that ranked 30th in third-down conversion rate (44.4%) a year ago, in part because Colts defenders couldn't make tackles short of the sticks. Better tackling will get them off the field.

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100 Days to the 2025 NFL Season: Things to Know, Predictions

(By Ben Solak)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...thoughts-lists




11 Jobs With Question Marks


Colts GM Chris Ballard


The Colts have not made the playoffs in the past 4 seasons, and have not won a playoff game in the past six seasons, all under Ballard's direction. They have poured plenty of resources into the passing attack over the past few off-seasons. Aside from drafting QB Anthony Richardson, the Colts spent early picks on WR Josh Downs (3rd round), WR Alec Pierce (2nd round), WR Adonai Mitchell (2nd round), and TE Tyler Warren (1st round). They extended Michael Pittman Jr, and they signed Daniel Jones.

If the Colts cannot figure out a passing offense this season, this time next year is ripe for a hard reset at all key positions ...... quarterback, head coach, and even general manager.


Colts QB


It's rare to see an actual open camp battle at quarterback, but that's what we've got here in Indianapolis. The camp battle format ...... throws against air with no live tackling or pass rush ...... skews toward Daniel Jones, who also has the advantage of being the new kid on the block. But Anthony Richardson still has the potential to be the future of the franchise, whereas Jones would be a stop-gap. Be sure to put your notifications on for Colts reporter Stephen Holder, because this is going to be a barn-burner !!!

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