[sherck]

2018 Offensive Line Cap Hits:

$10.800m = OT Anthony Castonzo
$02.850m = OC Ryan Kelly
$00.836m = OT Le'Raven Clark
$00.718m = OT Denzelle Good
$00.690m = OG Joe Haeg
$00.556m = OC Deyshawn Bond

2018 Offensive Line Free Agents:

OG Jack Mewhort (UFA)
OG Michael Person (UFA)
OT Tyreek Burwell (RFA)
OG Jeremy Vujnovich (ERFA)
OG Kyle Kalis (ERFA)

Both Vujnovich and Kalis will be back for at least Training Camp since it will only cost the Colts around $00.550m to retain them until they make the squad or are beat out and cut.

Burwell and Person are JAG at the moment and neither should be signed prior to the "value" portion of free agency.

The question on Mewhort is what does the team think he is worth and will he be willing to play for that? He has only played in 45 of a possible 64 regular season games (70.3%) and while he is above average to good when on the field...

So, going in 2018, we have a starting lineup of Castonzo / Clark / Kelly / Haeg and Good which is underwhelming. Even re-signing Mewhort to replace Clark is only going to go so far. We HAVE to increase the talent level; not just add new faces to the mix.

Looking at the 2018 cap spending above, the only guy we are paying "starter" money to is Castonzo. We have the cap ($75m) to spend on free agents and I want the line fixed. I don't care if we overspend in 2018 and 2019 to find the right guys. I want the line fixed.

To repeat, I DON'T CARE IF WE OVERSPEND IN 2018 AND 2019 ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE.....I WANT IT FIXED!!!!!!

My plan?

1. Sign one Offensive Tackle in Free Agency (under 30; more than 32 games as NFL starter)
2. Sign one Offensive Guard in Free Agency (under 30; more than 32 games as NFL starter)
3. Use 1st round draft pick on OT. If one is worthy of the top ten pick, use it. If one is not, then trade down to collect more picks and pick best OT in the middle of the 1st round.
4. Use 3rd or 4th round pick on OG

That adds 2 OTs and 2 OGs to the mix of Castonzo, Good, Haeg, Clark, Kelly and possibily Mewhort to then find the best 5 guys (4 guys plus Kelly) to put on the field.

I DON"T CARE if we end up paying our OT3 $10.8m in 2018 to be a backup (Castonzo). If he gets beat out by 2 other guys for OT duties, then he gets beat out and he is quality depth. I don't care if we end up paying Mewhort $4m a year to re-sign him and he ends up being OG3. I want the best 5 guys starting AND quality depth behind them.

I DON'T CARE if we overpay the O-Line by $10m or $15m in cap space for 2018 and 2019 if it fixes the O-Line. A fixed O-Line protects Luck, improves our passing and running games and makes our team that much better!

FIX THE O-LINE!!!!

2nd round pick, one of 3rd/4th round pick and about $55m in salary cap space to help improve the defense. Yeah, we can do that.

Granted, a portion of that salary cap space will need to be spent on guys like Mingo, Desir, Melvin and probably Bostic but it will be money well spent. Mingo, Desir and Melvin are all playing well and my guess is that we cannot remake the ILB position in one off-season without including Bostic in the mix.

Walk Worthy,