Jump to content
Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum

Chris Ballard message to Colts fans


Steamboat_Shaun

Recommended Posts

Not the consistent dominating type you'd like to see in a team....Sure it was a one year wonder he won the GM of the year award, based on what?.....Needed consistency by evaluating talents, drafting the right pieces, identifying key free agents and signing undrafted free agents.  These things were not followed by Grigson, took it for granted that he could duplicate the success.  Well, unfortunately the feud started with the Coach, disagreements, etc...Something that could have been resolved with the two people GM and Coach. communicating as their first priority...Non existent, result non-playoff appearances...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 91
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

Cherilus was the highest paid RT in the history of the league, actually. But so what? Nice soundbite, but completely irrelevant. He got $6.9m/year, Andre Smith got $6m/year, Vollmer got $6.75m/year. There was nothing ridiculous or outrageous about his contract.

 

Landry and RJF pretty much going rate for second tier starters at their positions. Toler got less than $5m/year as a starting CB. Nothing outrageous about any of those contracts. The problem with all of them is that they failed to live up to their contracts -- which could easily happen with everyone the Colts have signed this year.

 

Andre Johnson was in Year 4. Different strategy, not pertinent to this conversaton. And it was reported that he had offers for $2-3m/year more than what the Colts gave him.

 

Grigson signed Walden for $4m/year. Ballard signed Simon to play the same position for $4.5m/year. Not cheaper. Schwenke got $3m, Donald Thomas got $3.5m. Sheard got more than any free agent Grigson ever signed. 

 

For the most part, Ballard is signing second and mostly third tier guys who aren't intended to do anything more than fill gaps in the short term. Of course he's not giving them huge contracts. Hunt is a cast off, RJF was a courted FA (and RJF was better in 2012 than Hunt was in 2016). 

 

Ballard's free agency strategy is basically the same as Grigson's was in the first couple years. If his signings work out better, then his execution will have been superior.

 

I will say this -- Ballard is setting himself up for potential comp picks in two years. If some of his one year players play well and get nice deals from other teams in 2018, then the Colts potentially get comped in 2019. This is why I would have been okay with a one year rental of Poe, at the right price. I don't know if that's part of the plan, but it wouldn't surprise me. If it works out that way, I'll give Ballard major credit. 

I hear you but I think he jumped the gun on a lot of those contracts. Going rate is usually for players at a position who are good. I don't think you pay going rate for a RJF. People hated the signing then and it still looks bad now. I just don't think you pay going rate for bottom tier players. At least good GMs don't. I would have bashed any GM had they signed Toler to a 3 year $15 million contract. We all bashed the Osweiler signing even though that was technically the "going" rate for QBs. And he was at the time still a guy with upside. But the lesson from that is that regardless of going rates and needs, sometimes you have to walk away and say "It's not worth it". But had he had a philosophy more like the Packers (draft and develop/raise your own) he never would have had to make a lot of those decisions.

 

Their strategies are way different. We'll see more as time goes buy. This year was weird because he had a bunch of holes to fill and couldn't just leave it. That's on The previous GM though

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

Rock bottom? Really? I can list quite a few other teams that finished worse than 8-8

 

Im my post, I was directly referring to the defense which statistically was one of the worst in the team's history this past year. Your two previous attempts to troll me have failed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Restored said:

 

Im my post, I was directly referring to the defense which statistically was one of the worst in the team's history this past year. Your two previous attempts to troll me have failed.

No where did you say you were referring to just the defense.

So responding to you is being a troll? I am sorry I pointed out that what you said wasn't exactly truthful in the context as you stated it. But if you feel you are being trolled because I am suppose to know what your meaning is without you being specific in what you are saying, I guess I am guilty.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many comparisons between Ballard and Grigson.

 

The difference will be, and yet to be seen, is if the players we did bring in are better fits for our scheme who actually perform for the Colts at least the mid-level they are capable of. In other words, strategy and price may be similar, but the choices in players is a variable that cannot be discounted. We don't know yet if Ballard did a better job of fitting free-agents into this system.

 

And they are certainly younger. At least that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

No where did you say you were referring to just the defense.

So responding to you is being a troll? I am sorry I pointed out that what you said wasn't exactly truthful in the context as you stated it. But if you feel you are being trolled because I am suppose to know what your meaning is without you being specific in what you are saying, I guess I am guilty.

 

 

 

The poster I quoted was referring to the defense and subsequently, so was I. No where in my specific post did I refer to the team's record either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Free agency is two and a half weeks old and Chris Ballard is a man of his word.

Ballard, who was entering his first ever free agency as an NFL general manager, stressed the need to add competition throughout his roster earlier this offseason.

He's done that with 10 outside free agent signings, the most the Colts have had in team history. The free agents brought in address every position except quarterback and cornerback. How active were the Colts this month? Consider that from 2003-11, the Colts signed a grand total of 10 free agents.

While Ballard didn't hesitate in trying to re-tool his roster, the GM stayed away from any mega contracts.

Short-term deals were a theme of the 10 newcomers, front-loading contracts with prove-it deals, and shying away from serious bidding wars with bigger named free agents.

Nearly two months into being the Colts General Manager, Ballard sat down with Inside Indiana Business to explain what it's like being the guy now making the decisions.

"When you are in kind of the medium sized chair underneath, you don't have the day to day little things that pop up," Ballard explained of now being a GM. "All you are worried about is scouting, finding players and then managing little parts that the GM wants you to manage.

"Now, when you are in the bigger chair, you've got to manage these kinds of duties which are good, but other things (pop up) in the building. That's been the biggest task for me---figuring out how to delegate my time correctly. Because at the end of the day, my biggest job at the end of the day as GM is talent acquisition. And we have to make sure we have enough talent. I never want to lose sight of that. But being able to spread my day out and making sure I still have my eyes on players has been the most difficult thing."

Ballard hasn't seemed to miss much time evaluating talent inside and outside of his roster.

The busy month of March for Ballard initially began with a key re-signing.

A day before the start of free agency, Ballard brought back Jack Doyle.

"Jack Doyle was an important guy," Ballard said of the new three-year deal for the team's top tight end. "He stood for everything we want to stand for. He worked. He earned his way. And had a really good season last year.

"I thought that deserved to be rewarded. And that's what I want our players to understand. When you do the right things and you produce, you're going to get rewarded for it."

Doyle is a major part of an offense that Ballard feels has a "good young nucleus" led by Andrew Luck.

Ballard continues to see promise in the offensive line. A pro's pro remains at running back in Frank Gore. T.Y. Hilton is a "star" in Ballard's eyes, with young talent waiting to fully evolve in Donte Moncrief and Phillip Dorsett.

With the offense welcoming three new faces in the past few weeks, the defense has received the bulk of the attention---with six newcomers.

"Defensively, we had some work to do," Ballard said. "The roster was a little bit older. It happens. We wanted to get younger.

"So we've targeted players that we felt were good fits in the defense, that were still in the prime of their career with the arrow going up."

Ballard is out in Arizona this week for the League's Annual Meetings.
 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/20/2017 at 2:47 PM, Steamboat_Shaun said:

 

Totally agree, I love the transparency, availability, and sincerity of Chris Ballard so far. He doesn't strike me as one who's going to lurk behind the scenes and shy away from interviews with the local media, which I thought was one of Grigson's worst missteps during his tenure.

 

Yeah, Polian didn't either. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On March 20, 2017 at 3:35 PM, braveheartcolt said:

After an underwhelming bout of free agency, we get this little ditty. I'm not buying any of it yet. But I do remain hopeful.

Yes, I realize what Ballard was driving at--Becoming friendly with a new fan base & not much else yet. 

On March 21, 2017 at 0:33 AM, braveheartcolt said:

I think most of the Ballard whoopie-do is more a reaction to Grigsons departure than anything significant he has done himself, so far.

 

Perhaps that is fair.

Exactly, just knowing that Grigson is gone makes all the difference in the world. No one is even judging the new GM's chops yet. Chris said nothing inspirational to me either. He just introduced himself to Colts Nation through the official website. That's it. 

On March 21, 2017 at 2:02 AM, AustinnKaine said:

I don't think I've observed a singular positive post from you since I've began frequenting the forum. 

 

BHC is 1 of the most devoted & loyal INDY guys I know. I think some fans misconstrue/misinterpret his sarcastic humor for unfounded criticism or animosity. Nothing could be further from the truth. BHC wouldn't undermine this franchise at all or take pleasure in this organization's team struggles IMO. 

 

You are entitled to your point of view naturally AK, but I perceive BHC completely different than you do. Are we talking about the same person? You could have fooled me, but this Scottish gentlemen is stellar in my book & I'd share a pint of guinness in France or Europe anytime. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...