Will David Thornton ever return to being a stud? (1 Viewer)

[Yao Ming]

I picked up David Thornton the year he broke out and played him week in and week out and counted my 8-12 points from him every week. Then Tony Dungy takes his best LB and moves him to SLB killing his fantasy potential. I was in denial all of last year knowing that Dungy would eventually come to his senses and move Thornton back to WLB, but it never happened. Now, we're in year #2 of Thornton being the SLB and there is no indication he will ever move back to WLB or even MLB. So will Thornton ever return to stud status? Or is it time to accept he's a SLB and probably always will be as long as he's in Indianapolis. By the way, what is his contract status, could he move on soon and prosper on another team?

 

[inbreeder]

I picked up David Thornton the year he broke out and played him week in and week out and counted my 8-12 points from him every week. Then Tony Dungy takes his best LB and moves him to SLB killing his fantasy potential. I was in denial all of last year knowing that Dungy would eventually come to his senses and move Thornton back to WLB, but it never happened. Now, we're in year #2 of Thornton being the SLB and there is no indication he will ever move back to WLB or even MLB. So will Thornton ever return to stud status? Or is it time to accept he's a SLB and probably always will be as long as he's in Indianapolis. By the way, what is his contract status, could he move on soon and prosper on another team?

I believe Thornton was a restricted free agent this past offseason. NFLPA records show him playing under contract for 2005 only at 1.43 mil. The Colts seem to let starting LBs go every offseason rather than pay them (Mike Peterson, Marcus Washington), so the precedent is there for Thornton to move on. However, the Colts won't have anyone ready to step into Thornton's shoes as in prior years unless they address that position in the draft. And, if they haven't given up on those same question marks to move Thornton back to the weakside, it stands to reason that they likely never will.