A glimmer...of a nugget...of a 2022 silver lining....
 

Via PFF

Not much happened great for the Colts this season but the development of some of the rookies (Pierce, Raimann, Woods, Thomas II) and younger players (Franklin in particular but also Paris Campbell) is a up arrow when it comes to the 2023 Colts.

Looks like we may have found our Left Tackle. If so that is a nice pick up

I'm curious how much he'll weigh at camp after an off-season with some vets. He's like right at 300lbs. on a 6'6 frame, so he's got room to bulk up without losing his agility.

I hope he has a good trainer working with him that knows how to and muscle and bulk without losing speed.

The thing to remember about Raimann is that he has only played offensive tackle at this point for three seasons...two in college and one in the NFL. His performance is nothing less than incredible given how limited in experience he is.

I hope he progresses. It would be nice to have hit on a lower round solution to a critically important position. Not all quality starters in the NFL have to come from only the 1st or 2nd rounds of the draft.

o


We beat the Chiefs, and lost to the Eagles by one point ...... somewhere in there is a bona-fide contender, buried by late-game failures and an offensive line which has done a complete about-face since the 2020 Wildcard playoff game in which a 39 year-old, immobile Philip Rivers went the entire game literally untouched by the Buffalo Bills' pass-rush.

o

I remember watching a workout video a long time ago of Brian Cushing, Connor Barwin, and a young JJ Watt (maybe going into his second year). Watt was a big cornfed kid, but Brian Cushing was out-lifting him on everything (Cushing eventually got busted for PED's).

The point is that even Watt was getting his ass kicked in the weight room by some vets and he transformed himself into a monster. If Raimann can continue to handle the mental part, he's got similar physical potential.


It's the minutiae that isn't sexy to talk about. But you could go back and break things down and see that all of the "full rebuild" and "this team is nowhere close" talk is largely nonsense.

There's a reason why this team was the scary team in the league for a while last year. And there's a reason why virtually everyone (not just us fans blinded by bias) expected pretty big things from the team this past season.

Shit didn't work out and we have issues to fix... but a lot of those good things are still here or are coming back.

I hope he progresses as well. Not only to fill the need for LT, but also b/c we all know Ballard is just going to assume he'll continue to progress and work out fine and not bring in anyone as a backup plan in case he doesn't. So if Raimann doesn't progress or regresses then we're screwed just like this year.

It sounds like you think that this is a bad idea (counting on Raimann to be out starting left tackle). We will have a backup tackle but there will be a drop off, just like every other NFL team. I agree with this apparent plan.

I think penciling in Raimann as the starter at LT is fine, but due to the criticality of the position I think we should bring in at least a better backup swing OT in case Raimann doesn't progress/regresses or he and/or Smith get hurt. Could be either a decent FA (not a low level castoff) or a day 2 draft pick.

This is something Ballard has failed to do and not just at OT (DE, WR, etc.).

o


And now, both of those teams are in the Super Bowl.

This team has talent ...... but having talent and actually putting that talent into productive use for wins on the field are not the same animal.

o