The Edge

Free agency starts this Friday. Dark days are ahead for the Colts.

Edgerrin James will be a free agent. The Colts don't have the money to sign him to a long-term contract and they won't slap the franchise tag on him for a second season in a row. This was looming over the entire season. The consensus was that the 2005-06 season was the best chance for a Colts' Super Bowl championship. They finally had a decent defense and James would be gone after 2006. It's 2006. James is leaving.

Sure, there is a remote to non-existent chance that James could return. The Collective Bargaining Agreement mess will probably make for a slow free agent period this season, but there are enough teams out there with sufficient potential cap room and great big holes in their running game that James will be headed elsewhere.

What does this mean for the Colts?

First, the vaunted trio of Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James becomes the unremarkable trio of Manning, Harrison and Dominic Rhodes. It has the feel of the late eighties Broncos. You know, those teams that won so many championships.

Second, it puts Peyton Manning on the hot seat. Well, he's already on the hot seat. It puts him directly in the ninth circle of hell. All the weight will be on his shoulders. Unfortunately, this is not when Peyton is at his best. Manning will press all season trying to make up for the loss of James. His touchdown numbers will go up, but so will his interceptions. We'll see a lot more of pouty Peyton on the sidelines in 2006-07.

Third, it puts pressure on Bill Polian. He has to find a replacement for James if the Colts are to win a Super Bowl in the Manning era. He dealt Marshall Faulk when Faulk was untouchable and managed to replace him with James. He chose James over Ricky Williams in the draft. It paid off. He doesn't have much time. The Colts have locked up Manning and they need to keep Dwight Freeny. They've got some young talent on the offensive line but the leaders, Jeff Saturday and Tarik Glenn aren't getting any younger. Move quickly, Mr. Polian. None of us are getting any younger.

Doom, doom, doom. Death, death, death. Woe is Colts. There won't be much optimism from the Colts fans going into this season. Many feel like the best shot the Colts had and will ever have was last season. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't.

I do know that the 2006-07 Colts team will not be as good as last season's Colts team because Edgerrin James won't be in the backfield. I don't know that the Colts will never have another shot at the Super Bowl. I think this season will lay the foundation for that possibility.

Author's Note: I'm working on making updates to the template to make it more Colts friendly. At the very least I'm going to make it blue.