SB Nation - Mike Dragosavich

Colts trim roster down: Cut P Mike Dragosavich and LB Rufus Alexander

BigBlueShoe — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:54:20 -0000

This morning, the Colts had 87 players on their roster. They can only go to Training Camp with 80. So, between now and August 2 (the start of Training Camp), the Colts will need to trim down. today, they parted ways with punter Mike Dragosavich and LB Rufus Alexander.

Cutting Dragosavich essentially hands the starting punting job to rookie Pat McAfee. The Colts also have Tim Masthay on the roster, but let's face it. Unless McAfee truly stinks it up at camp, Tim Masthay is pretty much roster filler.

Rufus Alexander is a player we at Stampede Blue have kept an eye on for years now. But, with Freddy Keiaho and Tyjuan Hagler re-signed, it's unlikely he would ever play.

Breaking: Hunter Smith likely to get cut

BigBlueShoe — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:02:40 -0000

One of our own readers might have some insider info on the future status of Hunter Smith. As slider09 suggests, the Colts may cut Hunter in order to save cap space. Hunter costs $941,428 against Indy's cap in 2009, the last year of his current contract. I'm not sure if his 2009 money is guaranteed, but nearly $1 million for a punter is a lot.

Recently, the Colts signed P Mike Dragosavich. He spent some time with the Patriots and Browns last year.

Cutting Hunter would not be a move based on performance or anything like that. Indy has always brought in punters, looking for a cheaper alternative to Hunter. And every year, Hunter has beaten them out. He really improved his ability to punt with his coverage (instead of too far ahead of it) in 2008. Also, his FG holds for Adam Vinatieri are excellent, even when the snap is crap.

However, this year, the Colts may go with a cheaper, and possibly less effective, alternative to Smith. Remember, the crappy economy affects the Colts as well. Like several other teams, they may need to make moves just to save money as well as cap space.

Gold Star for Mangini's and Kokinis' First Transactions

Chris Pokorny — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:30:53 -0000

As most of you know by now, the Cleveland Browns released several players on Monday. Monday was the first day that teams were allowed to start disposing of their players, and Eric Mangini and George Kokinis made moves towards improving the future of this team. In other words, they didn't get it "wrong".

QB Ken Dorsey: After his performance at the end of the season, I don't think anybody would argue against Dorsey's release (except for Bernie Kosar, perhaps). He was only considered a mentor to Brady Quinn at first, but I think we're past the point of mentoring for him now.
QB Bruce Gradkowski: He had a limited amount of time to show what he was capable of. Unfortunately for Bruce, he failed miserably.

OL Eric Young: These type of guys come and go, with their only real chance of hanging on being if the head coaching position remains consistent.
LB Antwan Peek: By far, this is the toughest cut to brush off, but it was a necessary one. Peek has been plagued by injuries almost more than Courtney Brown was. On top of that, Peek was never a Pro Bowl caliber player in the first place. This cut also means that focusing on OLB in the draft and in free agency remains a high priority, since the chances of Willie McGinest being retained are not too strong.
CB Terry Cousin: The veteran defensive back definitely underachieved last year, as he was not the answer we had hoped for when DB Daven Holly went down. It's good to see Mangini dump him, considering he did take a crack at veteran DB Ty Law last season.
K Jason Reda: Who knows; you might see him back in training camp.
P Mike Dragosavich

SB Nation is in the process of compiling the most complete and accurate list of free agents in the NFL, as many sites have outdated or inaccurate reports. When that becomes available, I'll post it for everybody to see and discuss.

Cut Day Claims First Victims, QB Target Available?

Adam T — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:37:15 -0000

Yesterday teams started making roster cuts. I am sure this is no longer a complete list, but here are some of the early names. Since the teams that did the most cutting were the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions, we probably would not be interested in any of these guys for anything more than depth.

Adam Jones, CB
Bruce Gradkowski, QB
Terry Cousin, CB
Jason Reda, K
Mike Dragosavich, P
Eric Young, OL
Ken Dorsey, QB
Antwan Peek, OLB
Dan Campbell, TE
Jon Dunn, OL
Edwin Mulitalo, G
Leigh Bodden, CB
Dwight Smith, DB

The interesting news from yesterday is that Tampa Bay signed QB Luke McCown to a two-year deal. The deal is worth $14 million with incentives. Many believe this means the Bucs will part ways with Brian Griese and Jeff Garcia. Unless Garcia is insistent on finding a starter's gig, he could be the off season target Angelo brings in for competition.