Doyel: Why is Bjoern Werner going to make the Colts?

Bjoern Werner is going to make this football team. But, um, does anyone know why he’s going to make this football team?

No production. No untapped potential. No upside. No idea why Werner, the Colts’ No. 1 pick in 2013, is assumed to have a spot on the 2015 roster.

Understand, he’ll have one. You’re not reading a prediction that Werner will be among the cuts in the next 36 hours as the Colts whittle their roster from 75 to 53.

What you’re reading is a question: On a preseason roster that fourth-year Colts coach Chuck Pagano has called the best he has seen here in terms of talent, at a position that is the deepest on defense, why is one of the worst players all preseason presumed to be safely on the roster?

That’s not a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is one where we already know the answer. Like so: How many tackles did Werner have in the Colts’ 9-6 loss on Thursday to the Bengals?

Zero. But you knew that.

No, this question – why is Werner just sort of assumed to have a spot on the 2015 Colts? – is one of those where nobody seems to know the answer. Nobody but Colts general manager Ryan Grigson, who drafted Werner in the first round in 2013 and gave him a contract that is guaranteed this season with a $2.2-million cap number, and …

Oh, wait. You don’t think that’s it, do you?

You don’t think Werner is going to make this football team simply because it would look too bad, be too embarrassing, for Grigson to admit defeat and release him. Do you?

Thing is, Grigson has admitted other mistakes from that disastrous 2013 offseason, when the Colts signed offensive linemen Gosder Cherilus and Donald Thomas, safety LaRon Landry and defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois. Some couldn’t stay healthy (Thomas). Some couldn’t play (Landry, Jean-Francois). Some couldn’t do either (Cherilus). All four were released after last season. That’s a strong GM right there, unafraid to admit defeat.

And Grigson isn’t a bad GM, got it? Not sure how good he is, honestly, but I’m positive he’s not bad. A bad GM doesn’t put together a team that rallies from 2-14 the year before he got there to 33-15 and three playoff spots in the next three years. Quarterback Andrew Luck is the biggest reason for that turnaround, we all know that, and Grigson had no choice but to draft Luck No. 1 overall in 2012, but still … he also drafted T.Y. Hilton and Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener. And Jonathan Newsome and Jack Mewhort and Donte Moncrief. He signed Mike Adams and Erik Walden. He acquired Vontae Davis. No, Grigson isn’t bad.

But Bjoern Werner is.

And Thursday night was the confirmation, in every possible way. For one, Werner started and played into the second half. If you’re starting the final exhibition game, when most vital players are held out for safety’s sake, it’s a bad sign. If you’re still on the field in the second half? You’re a young roster lock needing work, like Clayton Geathers or Duron Carter. Or you’re a soon-to-be-released player filling out the lineup, like Kelcy Quarles or Erik Swoope.

Or you’re Bjoern Werner.

Wasting everybody’s time.

Last week Pagano was saying outside linebacker is the strength of the defense, and he was right. Look at the players there. All-time franchise sacks leader Robert Mathis. Longtime NFL standout Trent Cole. Preseason star Erik Walden. Rising star Jonathan Newsome. Young players with the possibility of upside like Cam Johnson, even Daniel Adongo.

And Bjoern Werner.

He was drafted to be a pass-rusher, but three years into his NFL career he has been moved to the other side of the field, into more of a run-stopping position, not because the Colts are sure he can stop the run – but because they’re sure he can’t sack the quarterback.

Other than tipping a pass by third-team Eagles quarterback Matt Barkley in the exhibition opener, which linebacker Amarlo Herrera intercepted, Werner hasn’t don’t anything this preseason. Preseason production is misleading, but we’re not talking about preseason production. We’re talking about the absence of preseason production.

Play as much as Werner has played this preseason, do as little as he’s done – against players soon to be released, because they didn’t have the good fortune of being drafted by Grigson in the first round – and that’s not a suggestion of failure. That’s a declaration.

Here are three Colts who have done nothing but make plays all preseason – and could be released in the next 36 hours anyway: Linebacker Junior Silvestre, safety Colt Anderson, defensive end Earl Okine.

Werner? No plays Thursday. He was stood up, repeatedly, by third-team Bengals tight ends named, let me see … Tyler Kroft and C.J. Uzomah. By stood up, I mean this: Werner was tasked with beating Kroft or Uzomah into the backfield, and couldn’t get there. Couldn’t get close. Engaged Kroft or Uzomah in man-to-man combat, and every time – I mean, every single time – was stopped in his tracks, reduced to standing upright and flailing away at the reserve tight end in his way. Runs, passes, didn’t matter. Werner was the invisible linebacker. That should be his position: ILB.

Another time Werner was given a free shot into the backfield and ran into fifth-string running back James Wilder – who is 25 pounds lighter and about to be released, and still destroyed Werner.

The last time we saw Werner in a meaningful game, well, we didn’t. He was inactive in the 2014 AFC title game against the Patriots. A healthy scratch.

Nice guy. Can’t play. Near as anyone can tell, he’ll get 16 more games this season to not play. And since his contract is guaranteed in 2016, with a $2.5 million cap number, he’ll get another 16 games to not play next season.

Werner played into the third quarter Thursday against Bengals’ second-, third- and fourth-teamers, and this is what he had to show for it: No tackles, no assists, no sacks. One quarterback hurry, which looks good on paper, unless you saw it in real life. And I did. Middle of second quarter. Third-and-1 for the Bengals. Werner blitzed from the left side and was picked up by nobody. He had a free shot at A.J. McCarron, but he couldn’t get there in time. The stat sheet gave him a “quarterback hurry.”

Best play Werner made all game, the only play that registered he was even on the field, and this is how it ended: with McCarron completing the pass to Brandon Tate for 48 yards.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel