and I'm not even talking about Peyton turning 35 in March.  Let's assume he plays another 5 years.  Over the past few years the Colts average roster age is usually among the youngest in the league.  However, I think that's misleading anymore with the way this roster is constructed.  The age of the "core" Colts is beginning to make me wonder how much longer the window will be open.  Just for context I consider a "core" Colt to be a player worthy of a multi-year 2nd contract, which frankly not many players get.  I wanted to lay this out to see how much longer we can expect them to be productive and who a potential replacement could be.  

Offense

Reggie Wayne- 32 on 2011 opening day (turns 33 next season), signed through 2011.

Dallas Clark- 32 on 2011 opening day, signed through 2013.

Jeff Saturday- 36 on 2011 opening day, signed through 2011.

Ryan Diem- 32 on 2011 opening day, signed through 2011.  

Defense

Dwight Freeney- 31 on 2011 opening day, signed through 2012.

Robert Mathis- 30 on 2011 opening day, signed through 2011.

Gary Brackett- 31 on 2011 opening day, signed through 2014.  

Bob Sanders- 30 on 2011 opening day, signed through 2012.

So the "core" colts under the age of 30 are Antoine Bethea and Kelvin Hayden.  I'm excluding specialists like Snow and Vinatieri.  So the question is how does all this production get replaced as these players exit their prime in the next couple of years?  

Reggie- Unfortunately next year could be his last year with the Colts if he's looking for one more big contract (which I think it's safe to say he does).  Gonzalez' lack of productivity really hurts here.  He's not likely to get a 2nd contract.  Hopefully Collie can come back and Garcon can perform every week like he's playing the Jets.  Still, w/o draft help it won't be the stable that Peyton is used to.

Dallas- 18to88 did a big write-up on this but I'd say it would be overly optimistic to think Clark is at a Pro Bowl level until age 34.  Maybe another year or two ?  Tamme is a nice player but Dallas Clark he ain't.

Saturday- You could make the argument that he already needs to be replaced.  Who's going to replace him?  Pollak? Richard?  Ugh and Ugh.

Diem- Could be cut this offseason for Linkenbach.

Freeney and Mathis- I'll lump these two together.  Doubtful Freeney gets a big extension thrown at him by the Colts at age 33.  Mathis is unhappy with his contract already and could be on his way out of Indy after next year.  Jerry Hughes?  Barring a huge leap this isn't a pretty picture.

Brackett- I'm doubting he plays this contract out until age 34 when speed is so essential to the Colts D.  Maybe two more years of high production hear.  This is one position where we do have some young talent stocked (Angerer and Connor).  

Sanders- Enough said.  Re-sign Bullitt.  

There appear to be "serviceable" players to fill in everywhere except DE but it's pretty apparent that there's a significant talent drop off with all of these replacements.  Without Freeney/Mathis finding a way to remain with the team and remaining productive well into their 30's the D could be in real trouble.  We saw how less explosive the O is this year w/o an elite TE and with a depleted receiving Corps.  

I think the draft misses/potential misses of Gonzo, Brown, Ugoh, Pollak, Hughes are really going to show soon.  

The team (if healthy) should still be able to compete for a championship next year but I'm not sure how much long after that.  Someone please prove me wrong.  How does this window stay open?

I generally read PK's Monday column so I can affirm my dislike of him and laugh at how cool he seems to think he is because he can trade text messages with 75% of the league's players.  Today he included the following thought that he thinks he thought he might have been thinking when he wrote his column:

"I think I keep hearing Marvin Harrison is finished. He's not being pursued by any teams now, and I think he'll never play again. He's too proud to be someone's third receiver, he doesn't love the game enough to play third or fourth receiver somewhere, and he has no interest in limping through a season for $3 million plus incentives".

Given that the owners' meetings are this week and PK is undoubtedly there smooching any cheek he can get his lips this info is likely coming from what many of the owner's/team executives are telling him.  It frankly wouldn't surprise me if Marvin didn't want to play as the 2nd/3rd receiver (and realistically maybe that's all he has the opportunity to be now) and he definitely doesn't need the money.  I would love to hear this from a write I respect a bit more but it doesn't sound that far fetched.  Maybe we've seen the last of Marv.