Roster Cuts & Injuries Mean…

A new roster prediction!  Yeah!

In case you haven’t heard, the Colts had to dump 5 players by today.  The sad part is that two of them weren’t cut but placed on the Injured Reserve.

TJ Rushing and Zac Herold both were placed on the IR today.  Rushing hurt his right knee in the Buffalo game, and Zac Herold’s injury cause did not come up on a Google search.  Herold was not going to make the roster, so that’s not a big problem.  However, Rushing was really improving as a returner.  The other players in contention for returning are Pierre Garcon, Courtney Roby, Chad Simpson and Devin Aromashodu.  Here are the stats from this preseason so far:

KR: Returner/# of Returns/Yards/Yards Per Return/Long/TDs

PR

I took out TJ Rushing for both types and Keiwan Ratliff for punt returns, as it is doubtful that he would return anyways.

Right now, I would put my money on Courtney Roby making the roster as the kick returner and Pierre Garcon returns punts.  Roby had a great 66 yard return on Sunday that almost went all the way back for a score.  Pierre Garcon runs out of bounds too much on his kick returns, and I haven’t seen enough of Aromashodu and Simpson to include them.  Garcon is a natural punt returner.  His cutting ability is one of the reasons why he will make the team.

The players that got cut were K/P Adam Crossett, RB Clifton Dawson, and LB Marcus Richardson.  Crossett is not a surprise.  He’s been a good punter and an adequate kicker, but the only way he would play for the Colts during the regular season would be because of injury.  Richardson was a recent addition after Danny Verdun was cut.  Neither of those should shock anyone.  Clifton Dawson did surprise me, however.

Dawson has not been great during the preseason, but if you were to ask me who the three worst players on the active roster were, Dawson would not even be in contention.  I thought that Dan Davis, Sam Giguere, or Antonio Smith would be cut before Dawson.  Dawson isn’t even the worst running back.  That dubious title goes to Kenton Keith.  Maybe he was cut but refused to leave the Colts complex parking lot, and Polian just said, “Ah, screw it.  He can stay.”  In fact, I will just assume that’s what happened.

So with these cuts and injuries, a new roster prediction is necessary.  Here is my full roster prediction:

QB
Peyton Manning
Jim Sorgi

RB
Joseph Addai
Dominic Rhodes
Mike Hart

H-B
Gijon Robinson

WR
Reggie Wayne
Marvin Harrison
Anthony Gonzalez
Devin Aromashodu
Roy Hall
Pierre Garcon
Courtney Roby (KR)

TE
Dallas Clark
Jacob Tamme
Tom Santi (injured)

LT
Tony Ugoh
Dan Federkiel

LG
Ryan Lilja
Jamey Richard

C
Jeff Saturday (injured)
Steve Justice

RG
Charlie Johnson
Mike Pollak

RT
Ryan Diem

LE
Raheem Brock
Robert Mathis
Josh Thomas

RE
Dwight Freeney
Marcus Howard
Curtis Johnson

NT
Ed Johnson
Collin Ferrell

UT
Keyunta Dawson
Eric Foster
Darrell Reid

SAM
Clint Session
Tyjuan Hagler (injured)

MIKE
Gary Brackett
Philip Wheeler (injured)

WILL
Freddie Keiaho
Jordan Senn

CB
Marlin Jackson
Kelvin Hayden
Tim Jennings
Dante Hughes

FS
Antoine Bethea
Brannon Condren

SS
Bob Sanders
Matt Giordano

K
Adam Vinatieri

P
Hunter Smith

LS
Justin Snow

IR
CB Michael Coe
CB/RS TJ Rushing
TE Zac Herold

Practice Squad
RB Chad Simpson
WR Onrea Jones
OL Corey Hilliard
OL Tala Esera
DL Ben Ishola
LB Kyle Shotwell
DB Brandon Foster
DB Jamie Silva

5 To Sign In Case Of Injury
QB Quinn Gray
OL Michael Toudouze
DL Jeff Charleston
LB Ramon Guzman
DB Melvin Bullitt

Order of other 9 cuts
1. Keiwan Ratliff
2. Kenton Keith
3. Victor Worsley
4. Jared Lorenzen
5. Sam Giguere
6. Tyrice Thompson
7. Darren Marquez
8. Joe Bradley
9. Dan Davis