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INDIANAPOLIS – The vast majority of difficult decisions have been made.
The Colts have formed their first 53-man roster of the 2019 season, with a position-by-position breakdown laid out here.
What are the takeaways from Chris Ballard’s decisions?
1. Quarterback Move Still To Come
For now, the Colts are rolling with just Jacoby Brissett as their starter, as they waived Phillip Walker, with Chad Kelly on the suspension list for the next two weeks.
We know the Colts have already done some homework on the rather barren free agent quarterback market. And you know they will soon gauge the waiver claim group at quarterback, with the likes of Brian Hoyer (Patriots), DeShone Kizer (Packers) and Paxton Lynch (Seahawks) popping up there.
It’s still shocking that for the first time since 1997, the Colts’ first 53-man roster of the year doesn’t include Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck at quarterback.
2. Major Injuries Avoided
Some of the best news from Saturday sees the Colts putting no starting caliber player on injured reserve. That’s not something you typically see at the end of the preseason.
But, clearly, Jabaal Sheard’s knee injury that has sidelined him for the past month will not keep him out for the regular season. Unless, Sheard goes on IR this week, the Colts came out pretty clean in the injury department for the month of August.
Amidst all the Andrew Luck craziness, it probably got lost that the Colts had a pretty healthy preseason.
Are Sheard and Jordan Wilkins the only likely Week 1 inactives we know right now?
3. Colts Keep Sixth Wideout
As the month of August rolled along, the debate at wideout looked more and more like the Colts would keep six wide receivers, and not five.
Zach Pascal is the 6th guy. Pascal provides kick return ability, a reliable fill-in at receiver and some injury insurance for Parris Campbell (hamstring) and Devin Funchess (back).
At some point this season, keeping 6 wideouts might be something the Colts can’t afford as injuries pile up at other spots during the season.
4. Defensive Turnover Continues
It’s been the biggest undertaking since Chris Ballard became general manager in 2017.
He has totally overhauled this defense systematically, and personnel wise.
With Saturday’s moves, the Colts have just 2 defenders left from the Ryan Grigson era (S-Clayton Geathers, CB-Chris Milton, who is only on the roster because of his special teams impact).
The three levels of the defense have plenty of Ballard draft flavor: Defensive line: 4 Ballard draft picks, Linebacker: All 6 are Ballard draft picks, Secondary: 5 Ballard draft picks.
5. Hale Hentges Continues Streak
The 20-year streak has made it to 21.
Undrafted tight end Hale Hentges beat out Ross Travis for the 4th tight end spot, so that extends the Colts’ streak to 21 years of having an undrafted free agent on their Week 1 roster.
In terms of rookies, the Colts had 7 of their 10 draft picks make the 53-man roster.
These 3 draft picks from 2019 did not make it: 7th round OT-Javon Patterson on IR, 7th round OT-Jackson Barton cut, 6th round DE-Gerri Green cut.
6. Searching For Offensive Line Depth
It was a bit surprising to see Chris Ballard keep just 8 offensive linemen on the 53-man roster.
That number should/will grow over the weekend, with a waiver claim. Ideally, Ballard wants 9 or 10 offensive linemen on his roster.
What this weekend’s moves showed you up front was how poor the current depth is on the offensive line. Le’Raven Clark, Joe Haeg and Josh Andrews are your only backups up front right now.
In all likelihood, the Colts will be adding a quarterback and an offensive linemen this weekend, so that will take two guys off from the current 53-man roster.
