Moss, Burress, Owens : Why are Colts fans so intent on landing a big-name receiver?

Ever since the NFL lockout ended and free agency descended upon the league and its fans, there have been rumors surrounding the Indianapolis Colts’ supposed impending acquisition of some big-name, but aging and/or troubled, receiver or another.   Randy Moss is coming here … Plaxico Burress is coming here … Terrell Owens is coming here!   No wait … Randy Moss is coming here.   Some of these rumors seem to have legs and some are completely made up (trace back through the re-Tweets and the @s, and you can clearly see that they are fabrications), but the real question is why do Colts fans seem so eager for one of these guys to suit up with the Horseshoes?   It’s not like the Colts don’t already have a deep receiving corps, and that doesn’t even count the catching contributions out of the backfield.

Look, the Colts clearly have had some concerns at receiver over the last couple of seasons.    Austin Collie was decimated by concussions last year, Anthony Gonzalez has played just three games over the last three seasons and Reggie Wayne will turn 33 this season (though Hall of Fame receivers tend to hang around a bit longer than that).  In addition, Dallas Clark missed the last 10 games last year after wrist surgery, and the Colts really missed his production at TE.  All of these guys are expected to be at full-speed this season, though, and quarterback Peyton Manning also has capable targets in WR Pierre Garcon and TE Jacob Tamme.  The Colts signed a few free agents at WR and TE this off-season, too, so do they really need another receiver?

Of course, adding a legitimate stud WR to the mix would give Manning an even more exciting offense to tinker with, but the free agents most often mentioned in connection with the Colts are all on the down slope of their careers, and Moss even retired, though it may be Favre-fetched to say that he’s really done.   For my money, I’d prefer that the Colts stick with their current stable of talent among receivers, but I’d be OK if they wanted to dabble a little more in fixing up the defense and the offensive line.

Of course, I’m enough of a Colts bandwagoner/homer that I’d welcome Moss or TO to the fold with open Tweets.  After all, it would be fun to see Manning-to-Moss in the hometown Super Bowl, especially if they run over the backs of the Jets and Patriots to get there.