Colts will likely overlook Rhodes and explore draft instead

By John Onan  |   Monday, March 20, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Indianapolis Colts
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After finishing his standout career at tiny Midwestern State, Dominic Rhodes made an immediate splash in his rookie year with the Indianapolis Colts in 2001. Starting ten games in place of starting running back Edgerrin James, who suffered a major knee injury, Rhodes gained 1,104 yards and scored nine times.

In the years since, a healthy James returned to the Colts lineup while Rhodes has hardly been heard from. With James leaving the Colts to sign as a free agent with the Arizona Cardinals, Rhodes temporarily becomes the incumbent at tailback. Yet with the NFL Draft coming up next month, he may be dropped down on the team's depth chart once again.

With Indianapolis being pretty much set as far as the rest of the offense and showing significant improvement on the other side of the ball, the pressing need for the team appears to be finding a capable replacement for James. Unfortunately, if the Colts plan to take care of this issue via the draft, they will have to wait quite a while. Due to the 14-2 record, they won't come up to the podium until selection #30. The top four runners will likely already be taken by then. However, the Colts could look to make a move up the draft board to grab Minnesota's Lawrence Maroney, who's stock has seemed to drop slightly in recent weeks.

If they stay put at the 30th slot, the Colts should still have a couple decent options, including a player like Joseph Addai out of LSU. Addai's history of knee problems may scare off other squads above Indianapolis, but this guy has excellent speed, can take hits, and is one of the better pass catchers out of the backfield.

Although we won't know for sure until late April, there is little doubt that the Indianapolis Colts will draft a running back in either the first or second round. Although Rhodes has shown he can be a capable fill-in, it does not look like the franchise sees him as the long-term solution.
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