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Old 01-08-2018, 02:04 PM
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sherck sherck is offline
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Default Weakness #2 – Offensive Line = Offensive Tackles

Currently on 2018 Roster:
Anthony Castonzo / IND / 30 years old
Denzelle Good / IND / 27 years old
Joe Haeg / IND / 25 years old (will also be listed at OG)
Le’Raven Clark / IND / 25 years old

Potential Free Agents:

Tier A:
Nate Solder / NE / 30 years old
Cameron Fleming / NE / 26 years old

Tier B:
Byron Bell / DAL / 28 years old
Austin Pasztor / ATL / 27 years old
Cornelius Lucas / LAR / 27 years old

Castonzo had a good season this year in both the run and passing game. He is not a top ten OT but he is definitely one of the top 20 or 25 OTs in the league and is honestly not the problem on our O-Line. He is a starting caliber NFL O-Lineman which cannot be said for too many of our O-Linemen in 2017. If we end up drafting an OT in the 1st or 2nd round who ends up beating him out for the Left OT spot and forcing him to slide to Right OT, I will not cry but there are a lot of teams out there that would take Castonzo at Left OT and consider themselves lucky.

Reality is that I like both Good and Haeg as offensive linemen; I just don’t like them well enough to hand them starting jobs next season even with a revamped (and hopefully more intelligence) offensive system and/or a better offensive line coach. If we bring in quality competition and Good and Haeg still win starting jobs, then great. But, ideally, Good and Haeg are, at best, O-Linemen #6 and #7 on our team after free agency and the draft and represent quality depth rather than starting offensive linemen because they are the very bottom of skillset that I want on the O-Line in 2018.

Clark? Bust. Move on.

The problem is that there are not a ton of OTs that might make the free agency market to pick from that are better than Good and Haeg. The Tier B guys are probably only lateral moves at best from Good and Haeg and would not represent known upgrades. So, the Tier A guys…..

If Solder gets to free agency, he is basically a Castonzo clone. 1st round pick in 2011, full time starter at OT since day one, considered good but not great at his position. PFF grades Solder as better than Castonzo in his first 3 years in the league but has Castonzo graded higher during the last four seasons. However, all graded seasons but one (2015 where Solder was injured and went on IR after 4 games and is graded much lower) are within points of each other every year. Having two top-20/25 tackles on the team would not be the worst thing in the world even if neither are top ten tackles. If Solder gets to free agency, I think the Colts should back the money truck up on his doorstep and dump a pile of it on him. Locking down the tackle positions with Castonzo and Solder with Good/Haeg/Draft Pick as depth would make the position much, much better for the next couple of seasons.

Once NEs starting Right OT went down (Marcus Canon), the Cheats first turned to LaAdrian Waddle to fill the spot and he failed greatly. They then turned to 4th year, 4th round draft pick Cameron Flemming to start at Right OT and he did well starting the final 6 games of the season. This follows a 2016 season where he started 5 games in spot duty and played solid. I am not sure that Flemming is more than “on par” with Good and Haeg but he appears to be a guy who did not do much during his first two years in the league and has been ascending over the past two seasons. If we cannot sign Solder, then Flemming would be an interesting name to look at as competition with Good and Haeg.

Otherwise? None of the Tier B guys inspire confidence and I would probably rather roll with Good and Haeg than toss the dice on someone else with the same or inferior NFL resume that comes from another team.

This look at free agency for Offensive Tackle, along with the previous one at OLB[RUSH], leads me to believe that the Colts need to use their top two draft picks regardless of round on those two positions. There will be a VERY limited supply of superior talent on the open market (no certainty any of the guys on my Tier A list from either positon make it to the open market) and there are 30 other teams that might be bidding for their services if they do make it. There are many more free agency possibilities at our other critical need positions (OG and ILB) and there is a conversely greater chance that we can sign good players to fill our needs there. I will be looking at OG and ILB next but for OLB[EDGE] and OT? Yeah, we probably need to draft the immediate help at those spots.

Walk Worthy,
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