Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star
Nashville —
Now that the preseason is over, the decision making process begins in earnest for the Indianapolis Colts coaching staff and player personnel department.
The Colts, much like the other 31 teams in the National Football League, have been in evaluation mode since the start of organized team activity practices last spring. Every play, every drill from those workouts — as well as two-and-a-half weeks of training camp and four preseason games — have been videotaped.
With NFL teams obligated to trim their rosters to the regular-season maximum of 53 players by 4 p.m. Saturday, the professional fate of 15-16 players will now be decided by a select group of Indianapolis officials that includes team president Bill Polian, general manager Chris Polian and coach Jim Caldwell.
Bill Polian said recently that the popular perception that only a few spots are up for grabs each preseason isn’t a correct one.
“The fact of the matter is that there are not 48 positions determined before we go to training camp. There are probably closer to 38 than 48. And when you’re talking about a 53-man squad and [an eight-player] practice squad, which by the way counts, the fact of the matter is that when you go to camp there are probably 38 spots that you can count on, absent injury. And injury always occurs. So when you’re really talking about it you probably figure that you have 35 spots for a 53-man team,” he pointed out.
“That is a lot of evaluating to do and a lot of practicing to do. Now having said that, if they go to 18 [regular season games], we’ll have to figure out another way. The fact of the matter is you need training camp, you need evaluations, you need padded practices. You need that work not only to get ready to play football, which is your number one objective. But [also] to find football players, which is objective number 1-A. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job of it over the years.”
The determining factor on whether to keep or release a player is a relatively simple one, according to Caldwell. It comes down to performance — both in practices and in games. One area does not necessarily outweigh the other.
“I do think through the evaluation process an individual does make his claim in either direction. His performance is the indicator. I think although it’s a difficult time, it’s really based upon how an individual actually performs is what really counts,” the Colts coach said.
“It’s more of a body of work. You take everything into consideration. You try to make an assessment of how they’ll fit in and if they make your team stronger and that type of thing. We look at every single aspect.”
• Tough calls — Some players, who may have been on the proverbial roster cut bubble heading into Thursday night’s preseason finale with the Cincinnati Bengals, could get a second look by the coaching staff after better than expected performances.
“There’s always some [players] that we’ll have to look at and re-visit and examine for the next 24 hours or so,” Caldwell said Friday morning, adding that the team’s injury situation could play a role in determining who may or may not get a reprieve.
“All of it plays a part. Sometimes we might feel we need a little depth [at a particular position]. Sometimes an injury may have occurred at certain positions where you need to fortify it a little bit more. So that’s two of the considerations that we’ll have to certainly examine closely.”
The offensive line, which has played most of the past month without starters Jeff Saturday (knee) and Charlie Johnson (foot), will certainly be one area where the Colts will take a long look at the players available.
But there will also be tough calls deciding on a fifth wide receiver, a fourth running back, a fourth safety, a fourth cornerback as well as who will be the team’s primary kickoff and punt returners.
“It’s good when they make our decisions tough because it shows us that we have a lot of depth. And that depth is going to strengthen us however it turns out,” Caldwell said.
• Looking ahead — Once the roster cuts are made today and a practice squad is assembled, the next order of business will be to begin preparations for the Colts’ Sept. 12 season opener at Houston.
“We think that we’ve made some improvements [on the team] almost in every area a little bit, albeit somewhat incremental. But the true test comes next week. That’s when we can really start to gauge exactly who you are. That’s when you can make an assessment. I think, in a lot of areas, we got a little bit better,” the Colts coach said.
“[The preseason] went exactly as we had planned. Not exactly in terms of all the mishaps [injuries] that went on during the course of it, but of the finished product at this stage [of the year]. Going into our game week preparation with Houston, we’re right where we need to be.”
