• The Colts placed safety Melvin Bullitt on the Injured Reserve list, thanks to a shoulder injury.  Obviously, he is gone for the season.
• LB Gary Brackett joined Bullitt on the IR.  Guess we don’t need to worry about that brewing MLB controversy, and Pat Angerer can stop looking over his shoulder.
• The Colts also signed former Patriots LB A.J. Edds.
• The Colts cut QB Mike Hartline from the practice squad.
• LB Caleb Campbell was also waived from the practice squad.
• Conversely, WR Jeremy Ross and OL Matt Murphy were added to the practice squad.
• CB Justin Tryon was waived.
• The Colts signed S Jermale Hines, who was drafted by the Rams this spring.
• Late in the day, there was apparently a run on 2012 calendars in several Indianapolis book stores.

Kyle DeVan SHOULD be smiling ... he landed with another contender!

Snicker if you will.   Tell me that I look at the world through Blue and White glasses.     Picture me typing these words blindly, with my head planted firmly in the sand.   Because, regardless of the Colts’ shuffling offensive line or sore necks or bend-and-bend-some-more defense, I still have visions of a home-field Super Bowl in February, and that dream won’t dissipate until some other team stomps the Colts into the turf, leaving them officially and terminally eliminated.  Until then, all Colts news is filtered through the lens of championship hopes, and I’ve noticed lately that my screen is collecting several chunks of trivia centered about a common theme:  cut Colts sticking with other contenders who could club their former team along the path to destiny.

First, after the Colts cut safety Bob Sanders last winter, the 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year signed with the San Diego Chargers.   The Chargers?!?!?   If Sanders had signed with the Patriots, the potential for a classic Greek tragedy could not have been any greater.

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Bob Sanders chose sunny San Diego for his yearly rehab spot in 2011.

The NFL free agent season finally seems to be on the horizon, with the continued rumblings about a new labor deal, and the compressed time frame promises to lead to some excitement in the next couple of weeks.  The Indianapolis Colts have their own stable of free agents to address (Joseph Addai, Melvin Bullitt, Clint Session, etc.), and they may look in the open market for help at left offensive tackle or defensive end or maybe even at running back.   There is one free agent signing, though, already done and sealed, that could eventually have some impact on the Colts:  Bob Sanders to the San Diego Chargers.

This is the first time since 2008 that Colts fans aren’t wringing our collective hands over Sanders health at the beginning of a season, but that’s just because he was finally released this past winter.    There was some talk at the time that he could eventually be picked up again in free agency, but San Diego snatched him up before the ink was dry on his walking papers.   While Sanders has proven to be exceedingly fragile, thanks to a combination of his reckless-abandon style and his diminutive size, he is undoubtedly supremely talented, having snagged NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2007.   It’s no wonder that San Diego took a flyer on him.   I think a lot of Colts fans felt that we’d seen the last of Sanders in the NFL.

So now, the team that has become a constant thorn in Indy’s side potentially has a new way to cause pain for the Colts offensive attack.   Sanders is presumably healthy, for now, and probably very motivated to make an impact this year.  The Bolts don’t appear on the regular-season schedule, but these teams always seem to meet in the playoffs, and that’s where the real trouble begins.   It would be extremely painful to watch Sanders seal the Colts’ next elimination with a late pick, particularly if Melvin Bullitt walks.

Thankfully, San Diego would probably need to ice him right now for that to happen.