Colts trade for CB Vontae Davis

Wow, Jimmy Irsay really told the truth. The Colts traded a second-round pick to Miami for CB Vontae Davis (5111/203/4.40c in 2009). It actually represents the team's fourth trade for a corner this offseason. But there's a big difference with this one. The other guys they acquired were fringe: Justin King was the worst-rated corner in the NFL least season, Josh Gordy was actually below King on the Ram's depth chart, Cassius Vaughn had lost the third corner job in Denver and DJ Johnson never really saw the field for Philadelphia. Davis, however, has been a solid starter in the NFL.

Don't get me wrong, Davis has not emerged as the Champ Bailey-like star the Dolphins believed he would be after they drafted him in the first round of the 2009 draft (just two picks before the Bill Polian-led Colts selected starting-but-still-iffy HB Donald Brown), but he has been solid and, even better, he has gotten steadily better.

There are no truly weak points to Davis' game. He doesn't have the softest hands around and will drop the odd pick, and some don't think he gives his all in the run game, but that's debatable and I'm on the pro side. He is a very solid tackler in my book. In fact, I think he's an even better overall corner than the Colts' current No. 1, Jerraud Powers. I think that Powers' seniority and popularity with ownership, the coaching staff, players and fans will keep him at No. 1, but Davis will be a hell of a No. 2.

Philosophically, ColtPlay is against trading a draft pick for veteran, especially a high pick like a second rounder, but this deal makes sense. Davis is young, signed for a while and is a far better talent than the Colts could find in the second round next year.

So, as of today, the Colts have two solid starting corners. ColtPlay still has major concerns about the depth, but it's far better place to ponder whether DJ Johnson or Cassius Vaughn will win the No. 3 job than if they will win No. 2.

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Coltplay is loathe to compare white players with white players simply because so many other media sources do so in a terribly inaccurate way. They will say things like Peyton Hillis is a lot like Danny Woodhead simply because both are white halfbacks even though they have nothing else in common.

Hillis should be likened to Brandon Jacobs and Woodhead to Darren Sproles.

But Coltplay has to break from philosophy (again!) because Griff Whalen could not be more like Danny Amendola. The sure hands, the wrestler's mentality, the sneaky quickness, it's all there. He's not like Wes Welker (who he will be compared to, trust me), whose game is based on the fact that his body is made of jelly, but he is almost exactly like Amendola, and I expect he will have a similar career.

Which, sadly also means injury. Amendola has missed significant time in his NFL career, not because he's not tough and durable, but because that kind of slot play exposes a player to injury. Whalen will probably follow suit. His preseason performance looked to ColtPlay like enough to make the team, but in his efforts, he fractured a foot bone and may be headed to the IR. That means, as you probably know, out for the season.

So if you count him and Austin Collie (concussions) out, that means the Colts have Reggie Wayne and draft Picks TY Hilton and :LaVon Brazill as sure things. You can also include veteran Donnie Avery, if he's healthy, for a roster spot as well. So who's the fifth if not Whalen? Is it Jeremy Ross who catches few but makes those few catches worthwhile/ Is is fan favorite Jabin Sambrano? Is it a waiver wire pick up?

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Speaking of injuries, the Colts have lost nose tackle Brandon McKinney to an ACL injury. ColtPlay had very high hopes for McKinney when he signed, but he didn't show much and was unable to unseat Mookie Johnson, who was iffy at best, from the starting spot.

This injury actually puts the all-important nose tackle position in a state of crisis. Mookie is marginally competent at best. McKinney, an experienced reserve at worst, is gone. Josh Chapman, a draft pick and future of the position, is nursing his own ACL injury and will probably open the season on the PUP list. That leaves Chigbo Anunoby as the only backup behind the supremely shaky Mookie. I know Colts fans like Anunoby because he's a fun-loving, immensely powerful guy, but there's a lot more to playing nose tackle than being able to lift a Smart car over your head. From what I've seen, Anunoby looks like a strong guy in a football uniform, not a football player.

Colt fans, beware, this is your team's weakest point.

***

And the roster got a bit smaller, here's ColtPlay's look at the cuts:

CB Cameron Chism
CB Antonio Fenelus
CB Terrence Johnson
CB Chris Rucker
Four slower-than-you'd-like corners. Johnson had some experience, but didn't impress. I liked Rucker a lot, but for some reason, the team's new brass did not. Don't be too surprised if he emerges with another team.

S Matt Merletti
S David Caldwell
Merletti is a disappointment because his college play impressed me; Caldwell played last season and did not impress.

LB Mike Balogun
Camp body.

WR Quan Cosby
Cosby has NFL skills. Run him out there at receiver and he'll give you 40 catches. Make him your return man and he will give you a 20.0 average. And he will never do better than that. He's not what a rebuilding team needs. He's the kind of guy you call when you're 6-6 and a receiver or return man gets injured.

HB Alvester Alexander
He has size and speed, but is not an NFL player.\

G Jason Foster
A severely undersized Rhode Island left tackle treying to make it at guard.

P Brian Stahovich.
Did anyone really think a punter other than Pat McAfee would make this team?

Colts trade for CB Josh Gordy

I guess the important thing now for the Colts and fans is the Austin Collie situation. As always, ColtPlay is on the side of common sense when it comes to medical issues and I think Collie should throw it in. If he does, the Colts hope Donnie Avery can take his spot outside. There is a serious talent/experience shortage in the receiving corps if Avery cant step up. If Collie does not retire, we'll all cringe every time he goes down.

Next on the agenda has to be the trade for Josh Gordy (5105/195/4.40pd). Obviously I like the move, Gordy's not truly special in any way, but is a pretty competent corner, and an upgrade over much of the depth chart. But the fact that they felt a need to go get him indicates how very dissatisfied they were with the other corners on the roster. Aside from starter Jerraud Powers, they are a pretty unimpressive group. It looks like free agent signee Justin King will start on the other side. But neither DJ Johnson and Cassius Vaughn (both trade acquisitions) have stepped up, and the veterans prompted the emergency in the first place. Chris Rucker, who ColtPlay had high hopes for, remains mired at the far right of the depth chart. Vaughn, in particular, has been a disappointment.

And now a few observations from the second preseason game:

* It's pretty easy to walk all over the Rams, but a motivated Steelers team is a whole 'nother thing.

* Vick Ballard's numbers were not good, buy his hard running and quick starts made me think he's still well ahead of Delone Carter on the depth chart.

* The draft picks at receiver (TY Hilton and LaVon Brazill) came down to Earth a little, but I think both are pretty much what I expected, very talented but with a lot to learn about the pro game. I had wondered why Griff Whalen had such an enviable spot on the depth chart, but saw him look very smooth, quick and tough when he finally played. If he can stay healthy, he could very well turn out to have a long career as a slot guy.

* The offensive line looked bad, but they often do in preseason, especially when there are new starters. That said, I was shocked to see Seth Olsen stand out. My previous viewings of his work indicated that he had little or no NFL future. Maybe the new coaching staff has made a new player out of him.

* Mookie Johnson is not the nose tackle the team needs. It's annoying that Brandon McKinney has not mounted more of a push for the starting job. It's clear that the team sees Josh Chapman as the future at the position, but he won't be healthy for a while.

* Mario Addison impressed me quite a lot. Jerrell Freeman did not. 

* The less said about the DBs, the better.

Colts sign ILB MIke Balogun

The Colts added more ILB depth (at least for camp) when they signed Mike Balogan (6000/240/4.80pd in 2010). It's hard to have much faith in a guy who's played for seven teams in two leagues over the last two seasons, but you never know. From what I've seen, he's a typical short-area throwback Mike type who is not a natural in coverage.

To make room for him, the Colts put corner/returner prospect Buddy Jackson on the injured/waived list.

Colts sign HB Alvester Alexander, put Scott Lutrus on IR

Because of minor injuries to HBs Mewelde Moore and Vick Ballard, the Colts have filled the empty roster spot that opened when ILB Scott Lutrus went on IR with HB Alvester Alexander (5103/209/4.39pd).

Alexander is a fast little halfback who is stronger than his size would suggest and has a fine ability to catch the ball. Still, he's not very creative with the ball in his hands and lacks the vision and wiggle to be special. He has some limited kick return experience.

In all likelihood, he is just a camp body; but the team will look at him closely as a practice squad guy and/or injury replacement.

Colts post second depth chart

I guess the big news is that they listed former CFL star Jerrell Freeman as the starter at WLB (4-3).WILB (3-4). Although Freeman did play well in the first preseason game, I still have my doubts. Moises Fokou is listed as his backup (he was last in line at SOLB on the last depth chart), but I think that's mainly because Fokou is still fairly new to the system.

Let's take a look:

QB 12 Andrew Luck, 5 Drew Stanton, 8 Chandler Harnish
No surprises here

HB 31 Donald Brown, 26 Mewelde Moore, 33 Vick Ballard, 34 Delone Carter, 32 Darren Evans, 39 Deji Karim
Or here. I think the first three are locks and the last two are in trouble unless Karim just destroys on kickoffs.

WR 87 Reggie Wayne, 15 LaVon Brazill, 84 Griff Whalen,10 Jeremy Ross,14 Quan Cosby
WR 17 Austin Collie, 11 Donnie Avery, 13 T.Y. Hilton, 85 Jabin Sambrano, 7 Kris Adams, 16 Jarred Fayson

Hmmm, I wouldn't get used to that lofty spot Mr. Avery. For a guy so far down the depth chart, Cosby got a lot of reps in the first preseason game.

TE 80 Coby Fleener, 86 Kyle Miller, 81 Andre Smith
H-B/FB 83 Dwayne Allen, 46 Dominique Jones
No changes here, but I think Jones made a strong case to make the team.

LT 74 Anthony Castonzo, 66 George Foster, 65 Ty Nsekhe
LG 76 Joe Reitz, 73 Seth Olsen, 68 Jason Foster
C 64 Samson Satele, 62 A.Q. Shipley, 60 Zane Taylor
RG 75 Mike McGlynn, 67 Mike Tepper, 61 Hayworth Hicks
RT 69 Winston Justice, 72 Jeff Linkenbach, 78 Steven Baker, 79 Justin Anderson
The big change here is that the competition at left guard is over, Reitz has won the job and Linkenbach has been exiled to backup right tackle. That's displaced Tepper to backup guard, which I think makes both positions stronger.

LDE 90 Cory Redding, 91 Ricardo Mathews, 68 James Aiono
NT/LDT 99 Antonio Johnson, 96 Brandon McKinney, 78 Chigbo Anunoby, 61 Josh Chapman
RDE/RDT 95 Fili Moala, 94 Drake Nevis, 65 Jason Shirley
Mookie surprised me with some great play on the nose. I thought he'd only been given the spot through seniority, but he really looks like a starter there.

SOLB 98 Robert Mathis, 92 Jerry Hughes, 58 Tim Fugger
SILB/MLB 53 Kavell Conner, 49 Greg Lloyd, 54 Mario Harvey
WILB/WOLB 50 Jerrell Freeman, 45 Moise Fokou, 59 Larry Lumpkin, 51 Pat Angerer
WOLB/RDE 93 Dwight Freeney, 97 Mario Addison, 57 Jerry Brown, 55 Justin Hickman
Ooooh, things do not look good for your Mr. Hickman.

LCB 21 Justin King, 42 Korey Lindsey, 37 Brandon King, 29 Antonio Fenelus, 39 Camerson Chism
RCB 25 Jerraud Powers, 43 D.J. Johnson, 20 Cassius Vaughn, 23 Terrence Johnson, 36 Chris Rucker, 40 Buddy Jackson
I don't see why Vaughn's been dropped to the third team, it could just be because they want to see new faces in there. And, yay, Rucker's pick moved him out of 11th place into 10th.

SS 28 Tom Zibkowski, 26 Jermale Hines, 30 David Caldwell, 47 Latarrius Thomas
FS 41 Antoine Bethea, 35 Joe Lefeged, 38 Mike Newton, 27 Matt Merletti
No changes here.

P 1 Pat McAfee, 3 Brian Stahovich
PK 4 Adam Vinatieri, 1 Pat McAfee
H 1 Pat McAfee
LS 48 Justin Snow, 45 Matt Overton
KR 15 LaVon Brazill, 13 T.Y. Hilton, 39 Deji Karim, 35 Joe Lefeged, 26 Mewelde Moore, 20 Cassius Vaughn, 28 Tom Zibkowski
PR 15 LaVon Brazill, 13 T.Y. Hilton, 84 Griff Whalen, 28 Tom Zibkowski
Or here

With Angerer out, someone has to step up

The Colts say Pat Angerer is out for about six weeks with a fractured foot. That will take him into the regular season. In the same game, reserve inside linebacker Scott Lutrus tore his ACL and is out for the season. Earlier, the Colts also lost AJ Edds for season.

It would be impossible for the Colts to replace Angerer's talent and football-readiness in-house, but there are plenty of candidates to fill his shoes in the short-term.

Moise Fokou
The only candidate with NFL starting experience, Fokou has other good attributes including a quick first step and ability to diagnoses very quickly. The knocks against him are that he lacks bulk and strength, and that he's not instinctive in coverage.

Greg Lloyd
Lloyd's sort of the opposite of Fokou. He lacks his teammate's quickness and diagnositic ability, but he's bigger, strong and — to my eye at least — better in coverage. 

Jerrell Freeman
This former small-school strong safety went to the CFL, where he was all-everything. But he's much smaller than you'd like to see. He has lots of good qualities but I just don't think he can stand up to teh wrestling matches he'd see play after play in the NFL.

Mario HarveyUnlike the better-known options, Harvey is big, fast AND strong. But that's where his resume kind of peters out. He hasn't show much understanding or feel for the game, and seems like a special-teamer at this point.

Larry Lumpkin Lumpkin has some qualities that make him an interesting long-range prospect, but I think depending on this rawest of rookies for a major role, even temporarily, would be a huge mistake.

Some wags have been throwing around the idea of the Colts re-signing veteran Gary Brackett, but I don't see it. He'd be as new to the system as everyone else was months ago, and signing him would increase ties to the old Polian regime — something Grigson is loathe to do.

The Colts will, of course scan the waiver wires, but depth, not a starter. Until Angerer can come back, it looks like the job is Fokou's to lose unless someone like Freeman plays well enough to force him to the bench.

Colts beat Rams 38-3

Okay, I’m a total Andrew Luck believer now. Not that I was ever a doubter, I just didn’t realize exactly how far along in his development he was. His pocket presence is phenomenal, but what really stuck out was his accuracy. Yeah, he went 10 for 16 (62.5 percent), but I saw three obvious drops. His receivers are showing great potential, but aren’t at his level yet.

You could make the case that Luck’s first pass (a 63-yard score to Donald Brown) was really just a five-yard dump that Brown stretched, but that’s how football goes, and even if Brown were downed after he caught the ball, Luck still would have had an incredibly encouraging debut.

And don’t think Luck wasn’t being tested. While I realize the Ram’s secondary is not that impressive, their pass rush can be fierce, and he was having to be creative to keep from being sacked repeatedly.

Jerry Hughes had two sacks, that’s twice as many as his career total. I’m not entirely sold, obvious, after seeing his lack of instincts and maturity in his first two seasons, but it is very encouraging. Heck, he even looked like he knew what he was doing in coverage.

Yeah, Delone Carter had a very nice leap for a one-yard touchdown run, but I was much more impressed with Dominique Jones picking up a key first down with a rumble from the fullback position. In truth the backs (aside from Vick Ballard, and I’ll get to hm) didn’t show much when it came to running the ball except that they could get a tough yard here or there when they had to. Expect that to be a trend. Although the Colts would love to establish the run to keep defenses from focusing on Luck, I don’t think they have the horses in the backfield nor the big guys up front to do so. Think about it, would you rather have the ball in the hands of Reggie Wayne or Austin Collie or Brown?

Quan Cosby had some catches today, but he’s a long shot to make the roster, especially after that ugly drop. I think he is around as a low-upside, high-downside insurance policy against the youngsters not working out. But they appear to be working out. LaVon Brazill also had a drop, but was particularly impressive overall, and is making a strong bid for the third receiver spot.

Ballard, long a ColtPlay favorite, showed a great deal more initial quickness than I had expected from him. Yeah, it was against the Rams’ second team, but he’s not expected to be any better than the Colts’ second team. It will be interesting to see how his duel with Carter works out. I think Darren Evans really put himself in jeopardy with that fumble.

It’s clear the Rams were showing a great deal of disrespect for Justin King, who played horribly for them last year. But I think he stood up fairly well. He doesn’t look great, but adequate was better than I expected.

Jerrell Freeman stepped up and looked quite good inside. I’m not sure I’d depend on that all season, though.

Joe Reitz started over Jeff Linkenbach. My guess is Link starts Game 2, but if he doesn’t, the job is probably Reitz’s to lose. I also liked seeing Reitz go out on a pattern, something ColtPlay suggested earlier this week.

The DNPs were Donnie Avery, Jarred Fayson, Justin Hickman, Scott Lutrus, Tim Fugger, Josh Chapman, Justin Anderson, Griff Whalen and Cory Redding. No surprises.

I knew the depth chart was a lie; Moise Fokou played inside as expected. But with injuries to Pat Angerer and Scott Lutrus (and, of course, with AJ Edds out for the season), that could have been out of necessity.

I liked what I saw from Mario Addison and Fokou, but the other prospect linebackers were kind of invisible.

Drew Stanton looked sharp throwing, but lacks a starter’s ability to sense and escape the rush. Still, he represents a big upgrade over previous Colts backup quarterbacks. Chandler Harnish looked even better, but the Rams were so dispirited by then, the Colts were just playing catch.

Anyone surprised by Pat McAfee kicking field goals shouldn’t be, he has mentioned a few times that he fully expects to be the Colts’ kicker after Adam Vinatieri retires.

Only three penalties. That’s a great sign.

So nice to see Chris Rucker get that pick. They’ve treated him fairly shabbily, so he deserves something.