Colts add vet depth to the DL - sign Al-Quadin Muhammad to 1 year deal
 

Per Schefter.

Muhammad comes back to the Colts after 1 year in Chicago.


https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/sta...38363737890825

Kwity, Dayo, Tyquan, Ebukam, Kareem, Avery, Leo and now Muhammad. That's a lot of DE's. Maybe one or more of them is injured or under performing.

I'm not counting Adebawore, as Ballard has said he will compete for backup 3-tech.

Some of them can step down inside to the DT slots

Still time, but I wish Ballard worked as hard to add OL depth as he has DL. Taking a stupid risk if they start the season where they currently are.

They have 13 plus one on injured list. There will be more available after camp starts

Good for a goaline anti run set.

Why would he want to do that? We all know that Raimann will continue to improve and be able to lockdown the LT spot, Nelson and Kelly will get back to their pre-'22 forms, Fries will make a huge leap in his 2nd year of starting, and Smith will be able to knock off the offseason rust earlier and play as well in the first half of the season like he does in the 2nd half. And of course no one on the OL will get hurt.

thats good to know.

It is good to know as it eases concern over arguably the most concerning position group going into the season. It also explains why Ballard has pretty much done the bare minimum this offseason with the OL.

After claiming he learned from the mistakes last year

Yep :rolleyes:. TBH I think the OL is in better shape than last year. If for no other reason than both Raimann in his 2nd year and Freeland have to be better than that worthless turd Pryor. Hell Witt is probably better than Pryor and he only has like 13 starts at Div 2.

I do think we need to add at least add a vet OG for depth in case Ekiyor isn't up to the task as a swing OG. A vet for depth at OT would be good too, but I'm guessing we wouldn't have a roster spot for that.

The Commanders released Andrew Norwell.

I can't believe the hate for this signing. AQ wasa decent player for us. It's not like AQ is short for Al Quaida. He may end up being a camp casualty anyway. Further, it is much easier to find defensive line depth than offensive line.

It is a great signing if the dude is a back up and plays a few snaps a game. Problem for some of us is we can't forget how this dude played what seemed like every down of every game for Eberflus. He sucked as a starter but still played on and on. He is a decent backup, better than last years (Rochelle ?) but I don't want him run out there like before. So while I don't hate the signing it sure as hell doesn't move the needle and it gets a meh from me.

I have nothing against this signing, I simply hate the teams OL depth and Ballard’s lack of transactions to shore it up. I see almost nothing more important to a QBs development than OL play. They finally have a young QB to groom and in my view Ballard is taking a hell of a gamble with the teams future.

Ballards lack of transactions doesn't mean he hasnt tried. There are so many variables, and EVERY team is looking for O linemen.

Not every possible free agent is chomping at the bit to sign in Indy. Richardson has a really good rookie year, watch what happens.

That...and it's impossible to evaluate OL during OTA's and mandatory mini-camp, when nobody is hitting anybody. Let's see what happens after a week or two of training camp.

I know - if it works out Ballard is a genius, if it doesn’t there was nothing else he could have done. Teflon….

And at that point you do what exactly? Say you learned your lesson and will do better next year?

I’m not positive the OL will suck. But after last years debacle (and previous ones at WR and DE) there is plenty of reason to be skeptical. And reason to point out Ballard doesn’t learn from his mistakes. He may be right this time. I still find it a shit way to build a team.

List the available players you think he should go after.

Another interesting question would be...

If the vets do in fact return to form and Raimann/Fries are worth-a-shit starters, and our OL is more along the lines of the caliber it was from '18-'21... how do we then look at the 2022 OL decision?

Then 2022 would be the freak, outlying aberration (that nobody saw coming) in an otherwise successful run as a unit.

I don’t play those games. I say a name and you tell me how much he sucks or why he was impossible to get. Ultimately that’s Ballard’s job and he’s had all offseason to shore up the depth with something besides rookies. He hasn’t. It’s bit the team in the ass several times at different positions. Unfortunately if it happens again with OL this year you are risking the health and development of the franchise. Let’s hope he’s right this time.

It wasn’t a freak aberration, it was classic Ballard. He counted on a career backup guard and a 3rd round rookie (who had only played OT for 2 years) to man LT and protect one of the oldest, least mobile QBs in the league. It was a bad decision then and it will still be a bad decision even if Raimann ends up in the HOF.

Sure. But back to hypothetical-land... if the OL straightens up and we have, say, another four-year stretch of great OL production... what's the sum?

We'd have had four years of great OL, a weird/shitty year, and then another four great years. What would that tell us about the philosophy?

I remember a while back looking up the Eagles' OL rankings for the past 10 years or so and they were consistently really good (top 1, 2, 5) for several years with a couple random years where they were like 19th or 23rd or whatever with largely the same personnel.

Just pointing out that it's possible we look back at '22 as a true WTF season. It's also possible that we never have it as good as we did from '18-'21.

Well said. It's not our job the make the Colts better. It's Ballard's. If the OL is a complete shit show again this year then he needs to be shown the door.

Translation: There are none, but I like to whine like a little girl.

Well apparently I also like to whine like a little girl. It seems to me that somewhere during this past post season we could have found one or two guards and an offensive tackle with some experience to, if nothing else,push these guys just a little. We have zero depth in any position except center, if an injury occurs (what is the chance of that happening?) we are fucked, may be fucked even without an injury at guard and left tackle with no backup plan-just like last year. And I don't know their freaking names, not my job to know lineman at this depth. Maybe there is no one available now but there was in March.

Nah man - the roster is constructed in the only way possible. Anyone not signed was awful and wouldn’t have came here anyway. And if the line sucks or an injury occurs that we can’t adequately fill in season, it was impossible to foresee and any criticism will be deemed hindsight.

Ballard’s the greatest, most bestest GM ever and this is surely a SB winning season. Right Racehorse?

I don't know how any of can know what is going on behind the scenes. Ballard could've reached out to multiple vet O-Linemen, but either couldn't come to terms on a contract, wanted to be guaranteed a starting position, didn't want to go through the rigors of training camp or any multitude of reasons.

I'm not going to sweat it until Ballard makes the fateful mistake of not going into the regular season w/o vet depth.

Entirely possible Ballard tried and failed to sign someone - we seen how much he values non superstar vets (Denico Autry). I hope he makes some additions before the start of the season. Regardless, getting to this point says he doesn’t value it the way I believe it should be valued. After watching this line last year and watching Luck’s career end the way it did, I’m honestly surprised so few seem to care. But Ballard has always been Teflon. We’ll see how it all plays out.

I am not sure what you mean here.

The Colts reportedly made Autry an offer that was similar in length and overall money to the contract he accepted with Tennessee.

The main difference between the two offers was that Tennessee was willing to guarantee a small portion (~$2M) of Autry's salary during the second year of the contract whereas Ballard wanted all the guarantees to be in Year 1 (except for the signing bonus which is prorated over the length of the contract).

I think the bigger issue for Autry was that he felt a bit disrespected that Ballard didn't make it a priority to extend him during the season like Grover Stewart and that the Colts were willing to wait until the off season for the negotiations. If that is what you mean by not being "valued" - OK, sure. But I am not sure the answer is to offer in season extensions to nearly every vet on the team either - even if you intend to re-sign them.

Since he didn't draft Autry maybe he just wasn't "our guy".

That is an awful strawman you developed there.

Maybe Ballard did reach out to some OL, but it sure seems like he didn't prioritize the OL in either FA or the draft. Which after the complete disaster the OL was last year he really should have added something. Even if he had to overspend a bit. Hopefully he's able to find some depth off of the waiver wire, etc., but I'm not going to hold my breath.

It's ok. I read that Ballard's crystal ball has assured him that no one on the OL will get hurt this year, and that it is indeed a new crystal ball. Ballard wisely sold his his old, shitty one in a garage sale after it told him that Pryor and Pinter would work out ok.

1.08 mil for the year. I like it.