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A look at the Indianapolis Colts offense entering 2009 Mandatory Minicamp
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With the Indianapolis Colts scheduled to begin their 2009 mandatory veteran/rookie minicamp Friday at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center in Indianapolis -- and with 2009 organized team activities ongoing -- it's a good time to examine quickly the roster as it stands with a little less than two months remaining before training camp.
We'll do this in more detail on Examiner as training camp draws closer, breaking down each position, but for now, let's start with a quick overview of the offense:
QUARTERBACK
With Peyton Manning a three-time Most Valuable Player and nine-time Pro Bowl selection, the Colts are obviously in as good a shape here as any team in the NFL. The OTAs are an important time for Manning, a time during which he likes to work extensively with receivers with whom he's not in complete step. It's likely he focus on getting further in tune with third-year veteran Anthony Gonzalez, who will enter next season as a full-time starter for the first time. Also, rookie wide receiver Austin Collie, second-year veteran Pierre Garcon and third-year veteran Roy Hall will be competing for the third receiver position in training camp, so Manning almost certainly will focus on them. Behind Manning, the Colts like six-year veteran Jim Sorgi as the top backup and Curtis Painter -- a 2009 sixth-round selection from Purdue -- will begin his development process as a quarterback who could potentially backup Manning in the future.
Synopsis: Position is as good as any in NFL if Manning is healthy.
RUNNING BACK
The OTAs are the first chance for Donald Brown -- the team's first-round selection in the 2009 NFL Draft -- to begin working his way into the offense. Look for fourth-year veteran Joseph Addai -- a Pro Bowl selection following the 2007 season -- to maintain his starting role, but the addition of Brown will give the Colts two elite-level running backs for the first time in the Bill Polian era. That should greatly solidify a spot that came under criticism last season, finishing the season 31st in the NFL in rushing. A major question of the offseason will be the third running back, where second-year veterans Mike Hart, Chad Simpson and Lance Ball will compete for time. The team likes Hart, a sixth-round selection from Michigan in 2008, but he missed the last three months of the season with a knee injury. Simpson and Ball also played last season, and the feeling here is no matter who makes the roster, the Colts are pretty deep at the position.
Synopsis: Brown's addition will give the Colts a lift -- and should help Addai return to his 1,000-yard form of 2006 and 2007.
WIDE RECEIVER
This has been an area of huge interest among observers because of the departure of veteran wide receiver Marvin Harrison, but the concern here is not necessarily replacing the eight-time Pro Bowl receiver, but what to do deeper in the rotation. Reggie Wayne, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has been the Colts' No. 1 receiver since at least 2007 and there's no reason he shouldn't flourish this season. The same is true of third-year receiver Gonzalez, who caught 57 passes for 664 yards and four touchdowns last season while starting twice. The question is whether the Colts will get significant production from the third receiver position, where Collie, Hall and Garcon will spent the offseason and training camp competing.
Synopsis: Wayne is as good as any in the NFL, and Gonzalez could develop into 1,000-yard receiver. Question is at No. 3.
TIGHT END
The question here isn't about the top level, but the depth. Dallas Clark has been on the cusp of the Pro Bowl the last few seasons, and with Anthony Gonzalez switching conferences from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Atlanta Falcons, this could be the year he gets to Hawaii . . . er, Miami. The Colts like to run two tight-end sets, and last season that meant Clark and Gijon Robinson playing in the formation. It was Robinson's first season playing, and while he missed blocks at times, he fared well at other times and coaches say he developed through the course of the season. The players to watch during OTAs and training camp are Jacob Tamme and Tom Santi. Tamme, a fourth-round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft, is a talented receiver who could earn more time with a solid offseason and Santi -- a sixth-round selection -- was playing a key role as a reserve last season until a season-ending injury. If Tamme and Santi emerge in their second seasons, this is a solid, deep position.
Synopsis: Could be a breakthrough year for Clark, but Santi and Tamme development will be key.
OFFENSIVE LINE
There may be no more-scrutinized area in the offseason than the offensive line. No one around the line was pleased last season when the team finishing 31st in the NFL in rushing, and Colts center Jeff Saturday called that "embarrassing." Saturday: We didn’t do our part to get this thing done last year. . . . From our side, from my position especially, playing in this game as long as I have and being as successful as we have been, this was not we do. We have to get it changed and corrected. We have to be better. Saturday re-signed this past February, and that was a huge step toward solidifying the line. Ryan Diem and Tony Ugoh will almost certainly start at tackle, with six-year veteran Ryan Lilja and second-year veteran Mike Pollak starting at guard if Lilja is healthy. But that's a big if, with Lilja missing all of last season with a knee injury. If Lilja doesn't play, second-year veteran Jamey Richard could start, or the Colts could keep four-year veteran Charlie Johnson at the starting position he manned last season.
Synopsis: If Lilja is healthy, this re-emerges as a strong area. If not . . .
OTHER EXAMINER COLTS TOPICS . . .
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- Why Colts QB Peyton Manning is primed for another big season
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- Preseason dates and times
- Former Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy essays on Michael Vick
- Uncertainty over timing of Mudd, Moore return
- New Era Gets Really, Really New
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- The Top Five Myths Surrounding the Colts
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- Top Five Breakout Players for Colts in 2009
- Loss of Moore, Mudd would be end of an era
- Ex-Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy meets with Michael Vick
- Re-signing DT Ed Johnson makes DT situation even better
- Top Five Nonissues facing Colts in 2009
- Peyton Manning Top 10 underrated moments.
- Breaking Down the 2009 Colts Schedule
- Colts Rookie Minicamp
- Top 10 rookie free agents in the Polian era
- On the re-signing of LB Freddy Keiaho
- Too early to quit on Addai
- A recap of the Colts' 2009 NFL Draft
- Colts had to do what they did with RB Dominic Rhodes
- Signing of S Matt Giordano solidifies position
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