Random Thoughts

[AnAngryAmerican]

Interesting read here from ESPN's Bill Barnwell. He lists all 32 teams and picks some current players' HOF chances from "locks" to "work to do."

Currently active players he lists as "locks" are - Ben Roethlisberger, J.J. Watt, Von Miller, Patrick Maholmes, Jason Witten, Adrian Peterson, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Aaron Donald. 

I don't argue with anyone on that list. But I do find it curious that he lists Gronk, Russel Wilson and Julio Jones only as "likely." He does issue the caveat that Gronk's chances are 99% but IMO Gronk is as much of a lock as anyone on his "locks" list. 

Curious as to others' thoughts on the list?

 

[BroncoBruin]

16 minutes ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

Interesting read here from ESPN's Bill Barnwell. He lists all 32 teams and picks some current players' HOF chances from "locks" to "work to do."

Currently active players he lists as "locks" are - Ben Roethlisberger, J.J. Watt, Von Miller, Patrick Maholmes, Jason Witten, Adrian Peterson, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Aaron Donald. 

I don't argue with anyone on that list. But I do find it curious that he lists Gronk, Russel Wilson and Julio Jones only as "likely." He does issue the caveat that Gronk's chances are 99% but IMO Gronk is as much of a lock as anyone on his "locks" list. 

Curious as to others' thoughts on the list?

 

The three you listed are locks IMO. Maybe Julio isn’t first ballot (the other two are) but he definitely gets in. 

Curious that he has Witten as a lock but not Gronk. I know Witten was a Cowboy but those two aren’t even close.

[AnAngryAmerican]

20 minutes ago, BroncoBruin said:

The three you listed are locks IMO. Maybe Julio isn’t first ballot (the other two are) but he definitely gets in. 

Curious that he has Witten as a lock but not Gronk. I know Witten was a Cowboy but those two aren’t even close.

Especially considering all the rings Gronk has. Witten is a lock IMO hands down but Gronk was the superior player.

At his peak, Gronk was the most dominant TE I've seen in 38 years of watching football. 

[germ-x]

5 hours ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

At McKee or MCR? Loveland is where I live. 

Not even sure actually, I’ll have to ask.  

[germ-x]

@AnAngryAmerican I was told she is at the UC Health in Loveland and was corrected by my sister that she is not on an active Covid floor but a covid recovery floor.  

[broncos_fan _from _uk]

To me a lock means they could have a devastating injury tomorrow and still get in. Not sure Mahomes fits that. Will he likely end up in the hall, and is he currently playing at a HOF level? Absolutely! Didn’t make him lock yet 

[AnAngryAmerican]

20 hours ago, germ-x said:

@AnAngryAmerican I was told she is at the UC Health in Loveland and was corrected by my sister that she is not on an active Covid floor but a covid recovery floor.  

The UC Health facility in Loveland in MCR, Medical Center of the Rockies, it’s held in very high regard up here.

My daughter was born at McKee and I was twice treated there for my pancreatitis. I was very pleased all 3 times but I have heard some things from others about bad experiences at McKee.  

Edited August 6, 2020 by AnAngryAmerican

[AnAngryAmerican]

On 8/6/2020 at 5:15 AM, broncos_fan _from _uk said:

To me a lock means they could have a devastating injury tomorrow and still get in. Not sure Mahomes fits that. Will he likely end up in the hall, and is he currently playing at a HOF level? Absolutely! Didn’t make him lock yet 

That’s a good point and something I thought about. A “lock” is someone who could retire tomorrow and get in. That’s probably not Maholmes. But it’s also ESPN we’re talking about. Barnwell has Burrow and Mayfield on the list and one hasn’t played a down yet and the other has had one half of an above average season in 2 years in the league; all about SEO. 

Edited August 7, 2020 by AnAngryAmerican

[AKRNA]

9 hours ago, broncos_fan _from _uk said:

To me a lock means they could have a devastating injury tomorrow and still get in. Not sure Mahomes fits that. Will he likely end up in the hall, and is he currently playing at a HOF level? Absolutely! Didn’t make him lock yet 

Yup, only 2 seasons doesn't quite get it.

[broncofan48]

Reading the camp observations;

 

Peyton Manning was there and at one point commented “we could have a good team”

Its always jumped out to me how he seems to embrace Denver more than Indy.  Is that just me?

[paul-mac]

7 hours ago, broncofan48 said:

Reading the camp observations;

 

Peyton Manning was there and at one point commented “we could have a good team”

Its always jumped out to me how he seems to embrace Denver more than Indy.  Is that just me?

Yeah he’s always hanging around at our training camp isn’t he? If Elway calls it a day in a few years it wouldn’t shock me if Manning walks into his role.

[broncosfan07]

I mean would you rather raise your family in Denver or Indianapolis? 

[paul-mac]

If the Colts could have their 2012-time again, knowing what we now do about Andrew Luck’s career, would they prefer to keep Peyton and trade the #1 pick for a huge ransom to build a SB team around Manning? 

[broncofan48]

1 hour ago, broncosfan07 said:

I mean would you rather raise your family in Denver or Indianapolis? 

Considering I’ve only been to Denver and not Indy I’d have to say yes haha

[broncos_fan _from _uk]

5 hours ago, paul-mac said:

If the Colts could have their 2012-time again, knowing what we now do about Andrew Luck’s career, would they prefer to keep Peyton and trade the #1 pick for a huge ransom to build a SB team around Manning? 

Fun thought. Let’s say they did keep Peyton. They Would have traded likely with Washington (who gave up 3 1s and a 2. I figure to get to Luck would take an extra 2 2s) they still would have drafted a backup in the early middle rounds. They were switching to a 3-4. They had arguably the worst CBs in the league. The Cupboard was bare at offensive skill positions. The OL was below average. 
 

So taking that into consideration and looking at predraft rankings of players (not fair to see who was a surprise player and who busted) and keeping the same picks where applicable I think Indys next 3 drafts would have looked something like this: 
 

2012:

#6: Morris Claiborne, CB,LSU: by far the highest graded CB going into the draft that year. 

#34: Dwayne Allen, TE, Clemson: rumor was he was their #1 TE (which is why they took him when he slid to the 3rd) but took Fleener at this spot due to Lucks comfort with him. No Luck= no Fleener. They still needed at TE though.

#39: Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford: Manning always preferred athletic tackles 

#69: Nick Foles or Kirk Cousins: After manning missed a year they would take a high upside backup in a similar mold (that’s why they wouldn’t have taken Russell Wilson)

2013

#22 Björn Werner, DE, FSU: the colts had no one and loved this dude for some reason

#24 leveon bell, RB, MSU: they had no one and RB and reportedly loved bell. Especially in a manning offense. After he was selected in the second the colts traded back instead of taking Lacy. 

#51 Jaime Collins, LB: with Freeney moving on they had a big hole at OLB and Collins is the best on the board. 
 

2014

#2 Kalil Mack, OLB Buffalo: the pass rush remained a huge need for the colts. Collins was ok as a rookie but couldn’t be relied upon as the main focus

#26 (since I they now have bell they didn’t need to trade for Trent Richardson so they keep this pick): Jimmie Ward, S, NIU: S was arguably their biggest need 

#34: Joel Bitonio, OL, Nevada

#59: Allen Robinson, WR, Penn St

 

Obviously with manning they would have won more games so they would have had their own picks later but this gives a general idea. I don’t know if manning would have went to 2 more SBs but I think he still probably gets 1 more ring