Halfback Dominic Rhodes felt good about accepting a minimum salary deal from Indianapolis because his former Colts teammates reached out to him.
Peyton Manning and other former teammates kept in touch with him once he was released by the Raiders and campaigned the Colts front office to sign him. Rhodes agreed to a one-year, $645,000 deal with Indianapolis Wednesday.
Rhodes never felt as though he was at home in Oakland. He signed a two-year deal with the Raiders last season, but he put himself on the hotseat by getting a four-game suspension. To stay in Oakland, he accepted a lower salary this year, but he was released for cap purposes on the second day of the NFL draft.
Rhodes, who came to the Colts as an undrafted rookie, made a name for himself as a quality backup runner who was good enough to start when needed. Now, he feels as though he's home.
What a difference a year makes for the Colts' backfield. After Rhodes left for the Raiders after the Colts' Super Bowl season in 2006, Indy's backfield had a lot of question marks. Behind
Joseph Addai were unproven runners such as
Kenton Keith and
Clifton Dawson. Heck, it actually was a Colts concern when they lost unknown backup
DeDe Dorsey to the Cincinnati Bengals last season on a waiver claim.
Now, the Colts have plenty of depth in the backfield. Rhodes and Addai are back together again, and
Mike Hart, the sixth-round draft choice from Michigan who has skills similar to Rhodes, is on board.
Alexander makes rounds: Former Seahawks halfback
Shaun Alexander completed his visits to New Orleans and Cincinnati and is going to think over what he went through this week. No visit is scheduled with the Denver Broncos. He's going to discuss his status with his agent,
Jim Steiner, over the next couple of days. It is not known if he received any offers.
Chiefs can afford rooks: In case you are wondering whether the Chiefs will have difficulty signing all of their draft choices, don't worry. They have $36.7 million of cap room. Their rookie pool is $8.2 million. They have plenty of room to operate.
John Clayton
