The 2010-11 NFL season is rapidly approaching and teams around the league are gearing up for training camps, set to take flight in late July and early August. While several teams have yet to solidify a starting lineup and with a few big names left in the free agency (think Terrell Owens), the upcoming football season is anything but predictable at this point.

When it comes to offseason shuffles, signings and changes, the Indianapolis Colts are hardly ever flashy. So it was for this offseason, with the Colts quietly rebuilding within their own ranks after a disappointing 2010 Super Bowl loss to the New Orleans Saints. How will this Colts team stack up against last year’s Super Bowl team?

In large part, that depends on the power of strong safety Bob Sanders. When he’s healthy, Sanders is a monster to opposing teams’ quarterbacks – the problem is keeping him healthy. The Colts have paid Sanders a large chunk of money to keep the bench warm over the last couple years, and the injury-ridden safety has yet to play a full season with the team that drafted him in 2004.

Colts fans are losing faith in Bob Sanders, who was absent in the lineup for all but two games last season, and it’s no coincidence that the only accolade this Pro Bowl safety landed last year was a place on Sports Illustrated’s All Injury-Prone team. Sanders has only played in more than six regular-season games twice during his seven-year career in the NFL, and sentiment in Indy is leaning toward saying good riddance to this beast of a player if he’s injured again this year.

It’s easy to dismiss Bob Sanders when he’s hurt, but when he’s on the field the strong safety is an absolute animal. It’s that simple. Sanders is a player who sells more Colts jerseys and Indianapolis Colts tickets than most other players, and all it takes is the flash of a bicep to get Colts fans riled up at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Adding to the positive side of keeping him around, Sanders is actually going into training camp this season injury-free. Early team reports say that Sanders is healthy going into training camp for the first time since 2005, a promising revelation to help his case.

According to Colts.com, Colts coach Jim Caldwell recently spoke of Sanders, saying, “He feels good about where he is physically, and when he feels good about himself physically, obviously he can relax and play the game the Kamagra Gold way he knows how. All of us realize when he cuts it loose, some big things are bound to happen.”

The Colts have built their defense around the fact that Bob Sanders isn’t always reliable, and that has been another key aspect in the team’s successes over the last couple years. Sanders is one of the best safeties in the league when he’s healthy, but even if he is bound for more time on the bench, the Colts still have two solid safeties behind him.

Safeties Antoine Bethea and especially Melvin Bullitt have stepped up in Sanders’ absence. Bethea, a Pro Bowler in his own right, is one of the only players in the Colts’ defensive backfield that hasn’t missed many games over the last three seasons, and he’s golden going into the 2010-11 season as well.

While Bethea is guaranteed a starting place in the Colts’ lineup this year alongside Bob Sanders, that squeezes Melvin Bullitt to the secondary. Bullitt joined the Colts as a free agent out of Texas A&M in 2007, and he has really stepped up his game in the absence of Sanders.

There’s no doubt Bullitt is good enough to start with any NFL team, and it will be interesting to see what time he gets on the field now that Bob Sanders is supposedly healthy. Sanders has a lot of catching up to do with his team this year, especially as he’s hardly played under new defensive coordinator Larry Coyer, and learning to blitz is just one strategy change he’ll have to pick up this season.

How will the Bob Sanders situation play out in Indianapolis this season? Colts fans are crossing their fingers to get their secret weapon back for a healthy year, but only time will tell if Sanders is worth the big bucks in Indy or if the team will come to rely on other less flashy players like Melvin Bullitt.

Author Bio: This article was sponsored by StubHub.com. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling Indianapolis Colts tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

Category: Recreation and Leisure/Sports/Football
Keywords: Indianapolis Colts, sports, tickets, football, NFL