Tarik Glenn Retiring?

The Indianapolis Star and ESPN are both reporting that Colts starting offensive tackle Tarik Glenn is planning to announce his retirement before the start of training camp.

WRTV in Indianapolis spoke with Glenn yesterday and Tarik apparently told them he was planning on reporting to training camp on time. He did, however, refuse to discuss his reported retirement with WRTV.

So, I guess the issue is still up in the air. The two obvious scenarios are that Tarik really is planning on retiring, or that Tarik is using his retirement as a ploy to get the Colts to sign him to a more lucrative long term contract. Glenn is only 31 years old. One of Glenn's teammates has apparently told the media that this is not a ploy and that Tarik is "burned out."

If Glenn really does retire this creates an enormous problem for the Colts. They do not have anyone else on the roster who is nearly as competent at left tackle as Glenn. They drafted Tony Ugoh this year to be the eventual replacement for Glenn, but Tony is nowhere near ready for that responsibility this season. Charlie Johnson is probably the best choice that the Colts have on the roster right now to replace Glenn. Charlie is a 6'4" 300 pounder out of Oklahoma State. Charlie did get some playing time last year, but it was mostly at right tackle. The good news is that Charlie did look pretty decent when he got playing time. The bad news is that Charlie isn't Tarik Glenn.

The next best option for the Colts would probably be to move Ryan Diem to left tackle, but this would probably mean that the Colts would have to spend some quality money on a backup quarterback. Why a backup quarterback, you ask? Because Ryan Diem is a piss poor pass blocker, that's why. If Ryan moves to left tackle, Peyton will probably get hurt a lot and Jim Sorgi isn't capable of replacing Peyton on a long term basis.

I have a feeling the Colts are going to start looking at some free agent offensive linemen.