Once more into the breach(ed)

Colts GM Ryan Grigson laid out his draft strategy for the media yesterday, and you'll be pleased to know that, if foolish consistency is indeed the hobgoblin of little minds, the Colts are already well-stocked for Halloween.

Which is to say, there are hobgoblins aplenty lurking about.

This after Grigson basically said his draft strategy hasn't changed, even though it's produced a deeply flawed team to date. The Colts may still need offensive linemen -- virtually any warm-blooded mammal with a pulse will do at this point -- but Grigson isn't going to go out of his way looking for any. He's still tight with that whole best-available-athlete thing.

And so, bring on another wide receiver who can't play, presumably. Or ... hey, look! A quarterback! We could use one of those, right?

Drafting for need, Grigson believes, is weak, which is why parts of Andrew Luck kept falling off last season. The Colts desperately needed O-linemen, but Grigson didn't take one until the sixth round last year. And so they wound up with the Seven Blocks of Spackling, and Luck wound up getting hit, knocked down, hit again and knocked down again. He spent more time climbing off the deck than this guy.

But at least he had Phillip Dorsett to throw to while lying on his back, right?

Dorsett, a wideout from Miami, was Grigson's first-round pick a year, and he lived up to the billing by catching 18 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown. No, not in his first game. In his first season.

That, and a quarterback starring in weekly re-enactments of a mine cave-in, was what the Colts got for Grigson's best-athlete drafting strategy. You'd think they'd have learned something from watching Luck trying to keep his kidney from falling out as he limped off the field back in November, but, no. Best available athlete it is!

You have to wonder, listening to Grigson say full speed ahead, how much more of this Luck (or his body) will be willing (or able) to stand. That he's been hit so much so early in his career bodes nothing good for the rest of it; eventually, if the Colts don't get serious about protecting their most valuable asset, their most valuable asset will no longer be valuable. Or he'll flee to a team that is serious about it.

Luck, an inordinately loyal sort, won't do that willingly. But sooner or later, if things don't change, he may not have a choice. This is, after all, a business. And in this particular business, time tends to be a-wastin' like it does in few others.

In the meantime, enjoy the draft, Blue Nation. And mind those hobgoblins.