FanHouse MattGiordano

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The Indianapolis Colts are one of the league's marquee franchises in the present tense. In 2008, they won 12 games -- their baseline figure for the past six seasons. No one else in the NFL can stake that claim. In fact, they've made the playoffs in nine of the last 10 seasons overall, another league-high in that span.

The problem, as has been the case far too many times for these Colts, was that they came away empty-handed in the postseason.

The Indianapolis Colts have re-signed Matt Giordano, a safety whom most football fans have probably never heard of, but who I think is the NFL's fastest player. Take a look at the acceleration he shows in this video:

That was an interception that Giordano turned into an 83-yard touchdown in the Colts' opener against the Saints last season, and once he broke into the open field, no one even got close to him. And Giordano almost caught Devin Hester from behind in the Super Bowl. If you can gain ground on Hester, you're ridiculously fast.

Giordano's 40-yard dash times coming out of Cal in 2005 were good but not great, but on the field, I haven't seen a faster player in the NFL in the last couple of years.

No contract details have been released, but Giordano is believed to have signed the one-year, $927,000 tender offer the Colts gave him as a restricted free agent.

After the Super Bowl I wrote a post headlined, Matt Giordano: NFL's Fastest Man? in which I noted that although Chicago's Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, Giordano, an Indianapolis defensive back, almost caught him from behind.

Last night we had our first meaningful NFL game since that Super Bowl, and Giordano still looks like the fastest player in football. In the fourth quarter of last night's 41-10 victory over the Saints, Giordano picked off a Drew Brees pass and ran it back 83 yards for a touchdown.

And he didn't just score, he scored easily. He accelerated when he broke into the open field, and by the time he reached the end zone, no one was even close. He was the fastest player on the field by a huge margin. He might be the fastest player in the league.

Devin Hester returned the Super Bowl's opening kickoff for a touchdown, putting an exclamation point on a great rookie season for one of the most dynamic players to enter the league in a long, long time.

But watching the highlight again this morning, I was reminded that a curious thing happened at the end of the return: Colts safety Matt Giordano almost caught Hester from behind. Over the last 50 yards or so of Hester's return, Giordano gained nearly 10 yards on him. Given that Hester has been outrunning people all season, this raises a question: Who is Matt Giordano, and is he the NFL's fastest man?
Coming out of Cal in 2005, Giordano was clocked in the 4.5 range in the 40-yard dash, which is fast but not extraordinary for a defensive back. But I'm more interested in a player's speed on the field than on the track, and on the field, Giordano is really, really fast. It wasn't just that kickoff return; he also made some big plays on defense, including closing in a hurry to knock a pass out of Desmond Clark's hands on a fourth-and-9 in the fourth quarter, which pretty much sealed the win for the Colts.

Giordano isn't a great player, and he'll never be a household name. But when you watch the highlights today, ask yourself: When was the last time you saw someone gain ground on Devin Hester?

According to the IndyStar, rookie safety Antoine Bethea is making a serious push for the safety starting job opposite of Bob Sanders.

Last year, Bethea was starting at Howard University, a I-AA team. Pretty large swing of events I'd say.

"He's played very well,'' coach Tony Dungy said of the team's sixth-round draft pick. "He's been an eye-catcher in practice and in summer school and all the way through, and it's continued on.''

Bethea had stellar stats at Howard. In 31 games he had over 300 tackles, 7 interceptions, and 3 sacks. In his first preseason game with the Colts, Bethea lead the team in tackles and in his second he recorded an interception and a fumble recovery.

His competition? That would be Mike Doss (who has been suffering from a lingering calf injury) and Matt Giordano.

Don't be at all surprised to see Bethea in the starting lineup on opening day.