Indianapolis Colts LB Gary Brackett (Eric Gay/AP Photo)
THE DAILY DIGEST | Indy Football Report Editor John Oehser takes a look at what they're saying about and what's going on around the AFC Champion Indianapolis Colts . . .
The story is a familiar late-February refrain for the Indianapolis Colts. The start of free agency draws near, and focus has narrowed to one critical player, with this year's player being middle linebacker/defensive captain Gary Brackett.
On schedule late last week, the first inkling of news . . .
"March 5 is slipping nearer and with it impending unrestricted free agency for Gary Brackett, but the Indianapolis Colts linebacker's agent, Brian Mackler, and Colts president Bill Polian are speaking," Indianapolis Star writer Phil Richards writes, quoting Mackler as saying on Friday:
"Gary has expressed his great desire to retire a Colt. I'm going to do my best to honor his wishes and Bill and I are going to continue to talk."
Richards writes, "Brackett is a seven-year veteran and the Colts' defensive captain and signal caller, but the Colts historically haven't paid top money to keep their linebackers. Mike Peterson, Marcus Washington, David Thornton and Cato June have left as free agents since 2003. Brackett signed a four-year, $10.1 million contract in 2006 that included $3.5 million in bonuses.
Mackler pointed out the factors leading the Colts to negotiate with Brackett.
"When you have a situation with Gary's presence in the locker room, what he means to the community, that he's been fortunate to play in two Super Bowls, won a ton of games, it's a great opportunity, a great place for Gary to finish," Mackler told Richards. "But it's really up to Bill and I to get this thing done."
Polian said shortly after the Super Bowl that the Colts would do work within "all reasonable bounds" to re-sign Brackett, and while Richards noted that the Colts do not discuss player negotiations, it's reasonable to think something will get done on this front.
Here's one reason why:
The Colts have remained one of the NFL's elite francise over the last decade for many reasons. And while Colts QB Peyton Manning is is clearly one, the willingness of the front office -- i.e., Polian -- to let veteran free agents leave once they cease to make salary-cap or move past the point where they can contribute is a huse reason.
But while the Colts indeed have allowed popular linebackers such as Peterson, June and Washington to leave, and while those players might have helped had they been re-signed, the Colts never seriously tried to re-sign those players before free agency began. That's not to say Polian didn't value the players, and that it wasn't difficult for him to let them leave. He did, and it was. But once the team determines a player is to not be re-signed, the Colts typically have let that player go without much discussion and conversely, once the Colts decide that it's going to try to re-sign a player, they just as typically have been able to get something done. When looking back over the last decade, it's hard to find a case in which the Colts have wanted a player back and opened serious negotiations and not gotten something done,sense is a big reason.
The Colts clearly have decided Brackett's worth the effort, and if that's true, it's hard to see him not being re-signed. . . .
One writer, Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com, sees the bigger Colts free-agency story -- or at least the most important free agent -- a bit differently than most.
On his list of the Top 32 free agents, Prisco lists S Antoine Bethea as the No. 19 available player, saying of Bethea, "He's a rangy safety who doesn't get the credit he deserves in the Colts secondary. He is the glue back there."
True. As Prisco points out, though, Bethea is a restricted free agent, which means he's a lower-risk option to sign elsewhere. The Colts can certainly retain him by extending him a reasonably solid tender offer, which they almost certainly will. . . .
Finally, don't know if this is the first Mock Draft, but it's one of the first I've seen.
Allen Wilson of the Buffalo News weighs in a week before this weekend's NFL Scouting Combine, and he has the Colts picking Florida guard/center Maurkice Pouncey, saying, "President Bill Polian called out the offensive line for the Colts' Super Bowl loss, so it would figure he'll look to bolster the unit with a versatile interior blocker."
Not a bad theory, but don't know if the Colts will go first-round at the spot. It wouldn't fit their usual pattern in the round. Long way off, though.
Let the speculation begin. Not that it hasn't already.
DAILY DIGESTS:
WRAPPING UP POST-SUPER BOWL TALK: HERE
A REFRESHINGLY ACCURATE READ ON PEYTON MANNING. HERE
ON TEAM OF DECADE AND ED JOHNSON. HERE
OFFSEASON PRIMERS:
THE QUARTERBACKS. HERE.
THE RUNNING BACKS. HERE.
MORE COLTS NEWS
POLIAN: THE PAST IS PROLOGUE. HERE.
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