The Colts, like the rest of the NFL teams, whittled their roster down to 53 players today, and some of the cuts were a little surprising. The complete list of those whacked today is below, with some comments after the jump.
QB Dan Orlovsky
RB Javarris James
WR Chris Brooks, Taj Smith, David Gilreath, Marshall Williams, Larrone Moore
TE Tyson DeVree, Michael Matthews
OG Kyle DeVan, Jacques McClendon
OT Mike Tepper, Michael Toudouze
C Jake Kirkpatrick
DT Tommie Harris, John Gill, Ricardo Mathews, Ollie Ogbu
DE John Chick
LB Chris Colasanti, Kerry Neal, Nate Triplett, Vuna Tuihalamaka
CB Brandon King
S Al Afalava, Michael Hamlin
P Travis Baltz
As you can see, I missed in most of my predictions of the borderline cases. Almost invariably, when I zigged, the Colts zagged, but I guess that’s why I’m blogging and not running an NFL team, right? Still, those close-call whiffs were not really all that surprising, because I think they could have gone either way. The unexpected releases for me were Tommie Harris, Kyle DeVan and Jacques McClendon.
Harris was one of the Colts’ few experiments with big-name free agents, and he seemed to have performed well enough during the preseason to nab a roster spot. Apparently, there were concerns about his willingness or ability to lead and play with injuries, so he was jettisoned.
DeVan was a starter most of last season, which is not really a ringing endorsement, given the “success” of the O-line, but he brought experience and some versatility. McClendon is a big body with seemingly loads of potential who let the Colts move toward their stated goal of more beef on the line. I guess they decided he was still too much of a project for this hometown Super Bowl season.
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We’ll have more analysis of the Colts’ moves as the roster shakes out and hardens over the next few days.