Peyton Manning started last season slowly as he was recovering from major knee surgery, but, he finished strongly and appeared to be at full strength the 2nd half of the season.  Manning has never missed a start in his NFL career even playing with a broken jaw.  The offensive line is pretty solid for the Colts which helps keep Manning upright despite his lack of mobility.  The Colts will be without Marvin Harrison this season but they expect Anthony Gonzalez to step up and the offense not to miss a beat.  Still, Manning is not happy with the new coaches to this point and they must gain his trust soon.  Manning has a very quick release and he can still rifle spirals all over the football field.  The main reason that Brett Favre wants to keep playing is to make it hard for Manning to catch his all-time records.  Jim Sorgi will be the #2 QB this season for the Colts but the team would be in trouble if he were forced into action.  Despite having solid career stats backing up Peyton Manning most of his success is because of the supporting cast of the Colts.  Rookie Curtis Painter could battle Sorgi for the backup job this season.  More than likely the Colts will bring him along slowly.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON:  A+

The Colts have re-signed 26-year old linebacker Freddie Keiaho.  Keiaho is a bit undersized at 5′11″, 226 pounds but he’s still a steady tackler on the inside of the defense.  He played in 14 games for the Colts last season making 105 tackles.  In his three seasons with the Colts, Keiaho has played in 39 games in which he has made 207 tackles, defensed 1 pass, has 1/2 a sack, he’s forced 2 fumbles and intercepted 1 pass.  Don’t expect a lot of big plays out of Keiaho but he is a steady player.

The Colts needed help on the interior of the defensive line and they got it in the second round by drafting DT Fili Moala.  Moala is 6′4″, 303 pounds and he has trouble when he doesn’t keep low.  But, he’s fast and can get down the line to make plays when motivated.  Moala played 4 seasons for USC and he appeared in 52 games (38 starts) in which he made 90 tackles, 23.5 tackles for a loss, had 9.5 sacks, batted down 5 balls and he recovered 2 fumbles.  This is a boom or bust pick for the Colts.

The Colts have done it again filling a need position in the NFL Draft.  Donald Brown is 5′11″, 210 pounds and he runs a 4.55 40.  Brown is a good all around running back as he’s a willing blocker, decent receiver and a outstanding runner.  He will push Joseph Addai for carries as a rookie this season you can bank on that.  In 3 years at U Conn, Brown played in 37 games (22 starts) in which he carried the ball 698 times for 3,800 yards (5.4 ypc) with 33 TD runs.  He also caught 48 passes for 276 yards (5.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs in college.  This was a outstanding pick for the Colts.

31-year old punter Hunter Smith has left the Colts to sign a 1-year deal with the Redskins.  Smith played in all 16 games for the Colts last season and he punted the ball 53 times for 2,345 yards (44.2 avg).  He only had 2 touchbacks (3.8%) and he pinned the opposing team inside the 20-yard line 23 times (43.4%) which are both outstanding stats.  Smith never missed a game in 10 seasons with the Colts starting all 160 of them.  In those 160 games he punted the ball 577 times for 25,040 yards (43.4 avg).  He had 61 touchbacks (10.6%) and pinned the opposition inside the 20-yard line 193 times (33.4%) in his career.  The Colts now have to think about taking a punter late in the draft tomorrow.