Colts FA - no news is good news

[Case]

6 hours ago, DaveA1102 said:

I posted this in another thread but worth a repost......Ballard's quote from the recent Town Hall Event......

 

This realllllyyyyy grinds my gears. I get not going out and signing every big time free agent but if we drafted Norwell ( or signed him as an undrafted free agent) then it would be ok to pay him big money? Why does that have to be a prerequisite to pay someone big money? If they are good, pay them. Who gives a damn where they were drafted originally because these guys are 23 and 24. They arent old past their prime vets

[Four2itus]

4 minutes ago, MightyLucks said:

This realllllyyyyy grinds my gears. I get not going out and signing every big time free agent but if we drafted Norwell ( or signed him as an undrafted free agent) then it would be ok to pay him big money? Why does that have to be a prerequisite to pay someone big money? If they are good, pay them. Who gives a damn where they were drafted originally because these guys are 23 and 24. They arent old past their prime vets

If you take the time to listen to our GM, he has explained that you can't buy a locker room. Paying a FA the highest amount in the league at their position can affect the locker room. Does that explain?

[Four2itus]

2 hours ago, azcolt said:

Only someone who has a picture of Ballard attached to his posts would see wisdom in settling for two more years of misery without making any real efforts to significantly improve. Added to the previous three years of garbage, I guess we are on a five year plan. Sadly, you may be right.

That is your choice of perception. 

[gspdx]

11 minutes ago, MightyLucks said:

This realllllyyyyy grinds my gears. I get not going out and signing every big time free agent but if we drafted Norwell ( or signed him as an undrafted free agent) then it would be ok to pay him big money? Why does that have to be a prerequisite to pay someone big money? If they are good, pay them. Who gives a damn where they were drafted originally because these guys are 23 and 24. They arent old past their prime vets

He doesn't say "then we will pay our guys big money to retain them."  I think what he is really saying is "Your team is your draft."  He might treat our free agents just like he treats other free agents.  If he thinks someone wants too much money he will let them walk.  I think that is smart.  Consistently overpaying for free agents to build a team does not work in the long run.  Ballard is right.  Build your team through the draft - and keep building through the draft  - and then suppliment to fill holes when the time is right to make a run.

[Case]

1 minute ago, gspdx said:

He doesn't say "then we will pay our guys big money to retain them."  I think what he is really saying is "Your team is your draft."  He might treat our free agents just like he treats other free agents.  If he thinks someone wants too much money he will let them walk.  I think that is smart.  Consistently overpaying for free agents to build a team does not work in the long run.  Ballard is right.  Build your team through the draft - and keep building through the draft  - and then suppliment to fill holes when the time is right to make a run.

I am not saying build through the draft, I am saying do exactly what you just said, fill holes.

 

I do get the "you cant buy a locker room but it looks like the jags and eagles locker rooms were just fine this year.

[threeflight]

1 minute ago, gspdx said:

He doesn't say "then we will pay our guys big money to retain them."  I think what he is really saying is "Your team is your draft."  He might treat our free agents just like he treats other free agents.  If he thinks someone wants too much money he will let them walk.  I think that is smart.  Consistently overpaying for free agents to build a team does not work in the long run.  Ballard is right.  Build your team through the draft - and keep building through the draft  - and then suppliment to fill holes when the time is right to make a run.

No one is saying you need to over pay for a bunch of free agents.

 

But paying Robinson, Norwell, and the Dallas LB a little more than they got was certainly what I would consider to be in the ball park of what they deserve. 

 

Especially someone like Norwell.  Even Robinson who is still super young.  I see people saying what is the point in signing really good free agents to higher contracts now when we aren't any good.

 

Two things.  

 

We won't be good unless we get good players, and relying on the draft is a crapshoot.

 

And two, OL is wayyyyyyyyy different than almost any other position considering the status of Lucks health.  He is the franchise.  And the franchise is hurt and has been for 2 years.  I don't care if the rest of the team completely blows.  The OL needs to be GREAT at this point to protect Luck.  So saying we shouldn't pay high for the OL because the rest of the team sucks is absolute craziness.  If we don't have an OL, there will be no more Luck in 2 years.  Not to mention, when Luck is good, that creates good vibes and the team does better and that makes more FA's want to come here.  If he struggles or is hurt?  They don't.

[gspdx]

1 minute ago, MightyLucks said:

I am not saying build through the draft, I am saying do exactly what you just said, fill holes.

 

I do get the "you cant buy a locker room but it looks like the jags and eagles locker rooms were just fine this year.

I think we have too many holes at this point to be trying to fill holes.  We need the foundation first.  And overpaying for someone now is not going to get us to the Superbowl.

 

Just my opinion.  Bottom line for me is I like Ballard's approach.  Free agency to fill holes when you have a few.  When your roster is a series of holes you've got a lot of building to do.

[Case]

I know its not popular to go against anything Ballard says but sometimes you have to pay up for a great player. Norwell is a great player who plays a position that we desperately need help at. Our franchise QB would agree.

[Case]

2 minutes ago, gspdx said:

I think we have too many holes at this point to be trying to fill holes.  We need the foundation first.  And overpaying for someone now is not going to get us to the Superbowl.

 

Just my opinion.  Bottom line for me is I like Ballard's approach.  Free agency to fill holes when you have a few.  When your roster is a series of holes you've got a lot of building to do.

I think a lot of people on here would like Ballards approach no matter what. They afraid to question his decision making or disagree with it. I love Ballard btw but he is dropping the ball. Bright side is we wont have any WR to actually drop a ball.

[gspdx]

2 minutes ago, threeflight said:

No one is saying you need to over pay for a bunch of free agents.

 

But paying Robinson, Norwell, and the Dallas LB a little more than they got was certainly what I would consider to be in the ball park of what they deserve. 

 

Especially someone like Norwell.  Even Robinson who is still super young.  I see people saying what is the point in signing really good free agents to higher contracts now when we aren't any good.

 

Two things.  

 

We won't be good unless we get good players, and relying on the draft is a crapshoot.

 

And two, OL is wayyyyyyyyy different than almost any other position considering the status of Lucks health.  He is the franchise.  And the franchise is hurt and has been for 2 years.  I don't care if the rest of the team completely blows.  The OL needs to be GREAT at this point to protect Luck.  So saying we shouldn't pay high for the OL because the rest of the team sucks is absolute craziness.  If we don't have an OL, there will be no more Luck in 2 years.  Not to mention, when Luck is good, that creates good vibes and the team does better and that makes more FA's want to come here.  If he struggles or is hurt?  They don't.

 

I hear what you are saying.  I was upset with Grigson's lack of production with the oline to protect Luck.  But just because we pay guys in FA doesn't mean they will work out either.  Plenty of FAs have been a disappointment.  There are no guarantees.  

[gspdx]

1 minute ago, MightyLucks said:

I think a lot of people on here would like Ballards approach no matter what. They afraid to question his decision making or disagree with it. I love Ballard btw but he is dropping the ball. Bright side is we wont have any WR to actually drop a ball.

 

We all have our opinions and that is OK.  I am willing to give Ballard 4 years to turn this team into a contender.  Just the way it is to me.  You can't do it overnight.

 

One thing I hope this helps people realize how good Polian was until he tried to let his kid run the show.  It is incredibly difficult to build and then maintain a contender.

[deedub75]

I think Ballard's approach is what we needed during the 2012 rebuild and maybe we'd be a juggernaut by now.  There's no need to go out and overpay free agents right now because the team is far from competing.  We need to build through the draft and we're looking at this year's draft and maybe next year's draft to build a good team.  And that's if we can find impact players in those drafts.  

 

Ballard's action, or inaction, is telling me that we are in full rebuild mode.  It could also mean that though they hope Luck will be back for the season, they may not expect him to be at 100% for the entire season.  Many of you say that the organization is not lying about Luck's status to sell season tickets.  I don't think they are lying either but I do believe they changed their marketing strategy taking Luck's status into account.  

[Mr.Debonair]

7 minutes ago, deedub75 said:

I think Ballard's approach is what we needed during the 2012 rebuild and maybe we'd be a juggernaut by now.  There's no need to go out and overpay free agents right now because the team is far from competing.  We need to build through the draft and we're looking at this year's draft and maybe next year's draft to build a good team.  And that's if we can find impact players in those drafts.  

 

Ballard's action, or inaction, is telling me that we are in full rebuild mode.  It could also mean that though they hope Luck will be back for the season, they may not expect him to be at 100% for the entire season.  Many of you say that the organization is not lying about Luck's status to sell season tickets.  I don't think they are lying either but I do believe they changed their marketing strategy taking Luck's status into account.  

What does Luck’s health have to do with making the team better?

[richard pallo]

Moncrief is going to the Jags.  Who is Andrew going to throw to?  Try outs next week a LOS.  24 hours into the tampering period and we haven't signed one player not even our own.  Adam doesn't count.  Seems like players are signing faster this year.  Did Ballard call in sick?  Just kidding I'm sure we've moved to plan B.

[JColts72]

Colts Have the pot of money but flawed roster could be keeping top fa away or ballard penny pinching?

[Case]

Everyone who is saying they are ok with Ballard not signing can’t complain when we go 5-11 and are terrible with no talent 

[coltsfeva]

7 hours ago, Introspect said:

I feel what you are saying but a free agent has proven he can cut it in the NFL. A draft pick can be a college star but it is a mystery if they can take their game up a level. 

The Super Bowl Champ Eagles are making moves and the worst team in the last 2 years is TRYING to make moves. We are sitting back like Peyton Manning is walking into the door.

 

Scared money don't make none. The NFL is a casino....You can't just look at the other guys play at the poker table, you gotta sit sometimes at the big money table and play. 

 

Just my observation and opinion of a non-football professional

  The Eagles have done well but they don’t have a 2nd, 3rd or 5th rounder.  They picked up Michael Bennett, who is 32 and they are talking about going after Nahda, who is also 32.

  IMO, it may come back bite them, in the end. They are also cutting some pretty good players, because of the signings. 

    I like that Ballard is being patient.

[Swan Ronson]

16 minutes ago, MightyLucks said:

Everyone who is saying they are ok with Ballard not signing can’t complain when we go 5-11 and are terrible with no talent 

Well wouldn't it just be awful if there were less people who could complain. 

[BOTT]

8 hours ago, jimmy g said:

Florida sunshine, a potential championship team, and no state income tax is hard to beat. Especially when the Jags overpaid.

Training camp in a southern Georgia swamp.....no thanks. I'll take the no state tax though.

[DaveA1102]

2 hours ago, MightyLucks said:

I think a lot of people on here would like Ballards approach no matter what. They afraid to question his decision making or disagree with it. I love Ballard btw but he is dropping the ball. Bright side is we wont have any WR to actually drop a ball.

 

Can we please wait until free agency actually STARTS before we judge Ballard? 

 

I understand the frustration, I do, as the big names have almost all been snapped up and they would all look great in Colts blue, but there are still a lot of cuts to come IMO and some decent players out there even now.

 

Let's all just take a breath, go have a nice cold beer and see where we are come the end of the week....

[Myles]

22 minutes ago, MightyLucks said:

Everyone who is saying they are ok with Ballard not signing can’t complain when we go 5-11 and are terrible with no talent 

Exactly.    Ballard has failed so far in free agency this year.   However, it is just the start.    Hopefully he can fix the O-line.   Norwell would have been a great signing.  

Immediate needs through free agency or draft:

WR

Pass rusher

RB

O-line

Secondary

LB

 

That is allot to ask for in 1 draft.  

[Case]

1 minute ago, DaveA1102 said:

 

Can we please wait until free agency actually STARTS before we judge Ballard? 

 

I understand the frustration, I do, as the big names have almost all been snapped up and they would all look great in Colts blue, but there are still a lot of cuts to come IMO and some decent players out there even now.

 

Let's all just take a breath, go have a nice cold beer and see where we are come the end of the week....

It hasn’t started, you are correct, but all these free agents we are talking about have agreed to deals. It has unofficially started. 

[Case]

1 minute ago, Myles said:

Exactly.    Ballard has failed so far in free agency this year.   However, it is just the start.    Hopefully he can fix the O-line.   Norwell would have been a great signing.  

Immediate needs through free agency or draft:

WR

Pass rusher

RB

O-line

Secondary

LB

 

That is allot to ask for in 1 draft.  

Right. That’s a lot to ask in 3-4 drafts. Every draft pick won’t make the roster or be a starter. So that’s 3-4 more years of lucks prime down the drain.

[DaveA1102]

1 minute ago, MightyLucks said:

It hasn’t started, you are correct, but all these free agents we are talking about have agreed to deals. It has unofficially started. 

 

Yeah I agree with you. It has been a free agency year like no other, the amount of transactions has been unreal and actually really enjoyable to see.

 

I just think we need to wait and see what the plan is, as you know Ballard has one. It might suck, but let's give the man some time to show his hand.

[DaveA1102]

7 minutes ago, Myles said:

Exactly.    Ballard has failed so far in free agency this year.   However, it is just the start.    Hopefully he can fix the O-line.   Norwell would have been a great signing.  

Immediate needs through free agency or draft:

WR

Pass rusher

RB

O-line

Secondary

LB

 

That is allot to ask for in 1 draft.  

 

He has failed in free agency which hasn't started yet! 

 

Unreal.

[Introspect]

1 hour ago, deedub75 said:

I think Ballard's approach is what we needed during the 2012 rebuild and maybe we'd be a juggernaut by now.  There's no need to go out and overpay free agents right now because the team is far from competing.  We need to build through the draft and we're looking at this year's draft and maybe next year's draft to build a good team.  And that's if we can find impact players in those drafts.  

 

Ballard's action, or inaction, is telling me that we are in full rebuild mode.  It could also mean that though they hope Luck will be back for the season, they may not expect him to be at 100% for the entire season.  Many of you say that the organization is not lying about Luck's status to sell season tickets.  I don't think they are lying either but I do believe they changed their marketing strategy taking Luck's status into account.  

I really believe this also. We are saving cap space and will not sign any player of value this year.  I believe we will be top 5 of the 2019 NFL draft.

 

Feel bad for Luck.

[Case]

3 minutes ago, DaveA1102 said:

 

He has failed in free agency which hasn't started yet! 

 

Unreal.

It has though. It started Monday. Or did i imagine the 43 free agents that have agreed to terms. Do agree it’s way too early to tell if he’s failed though. 

[Case]

We are in rebuild mode. 

[JColts72]

The inaction is mind boggling. Tank mode without playing any games yet.

[Myles]

26 minutes ago, DaveA1102 said:

 

He has failed in free agency which hasn't started yet! 

 

Unreal.

It has started.

He has failed so far.   He can redeem himself, but at this point the team has more holes than the Swiss cheese it was last season.  

[GoColts8818]

3 hours ago, MightyLucks said:

I know its not popular to go against anything Ballard says but sometimes you have to pay up for a great player. Norwell is a great player who plays a position that we desperately need help at. Our franchise QB would agree.

I don’t think Ballard minds paying up for a great player.  I think what he doesn’t want to do is pay a guy more than they are worth.  Also we don’t know if it was money that made the decision for Norwell.  There was a report last night the Colts were in the final three.  It’s possiable their offer was close if not equal to what he ended up signing but he just choose the Jags because he felt they were closer to winning a championship.  

[threeflight]

39 minutes ago, Introspect said:

I really believe this also. We are saving cap space and will not sign any player of value this year.  I believe we will be top 5 of the 2019 NFL draft.

 

Feel bad for Luck.

If that is the case and I was Luck?  I would ask for a trade.

 

He carried this team for his first 5 years, and then broke down like a $2,000 claiming race horse his last 2 years because the front office couldn't build a solid OL.  To ask him to go through more rebuild, and risk his future doing so?

 

I would start looking at my options.

[Four2itus]

1 hour ago, Swan Ronson said:

Well wouldn't it just be awful if there were less people who could complain. 

Pure Gold my friend. 

[Narcosys]

Honestly, idk wth is going on. We're sitting here with upwards of $75M of cap space, and we haven't done jack squat. I understand not over paying, but not getting anyone at all is absurd. 

 

 

[VaAllDay757]

I mean seriously we lost out on a player who went to the chiefs who barely has enough money to sign 2 players

[southwest1]

10 hours ago, Jaric said:

Yeah if you're not a playoff team you have to make it rain if you wanna get big name free agents and there are no rain clouds in Chris Ballard's world.

 

Spoiler alert, bad teams throwing huge money at a couple big name guys almost never works.  It gets fans excited in March and sells jerseys, but tends not to translate in to long term success.  (Remember when everyone was all aflutter about the Dolphins throwing more money than the GDP of some small countries as Suh?  How'd that turn out?)

 

I mean come on people.  Bill Polian was our GM for like 15 years, we should be used to not being major players in free agency.

Good post especially the part I bolded. Yep, INDY has always been sign our guys, build through the draft, & not go bananas with free agency break the bank singings. 

9 hours ago, ÅÐØNϧ 1 said:

 

So another wards the same O same O . 

 

Exactly Adonis, big names seldom lead to Championships in 2018. We all know this rebuild will take 3 yrs at least to pull off. 

[threeflight]

21 minutes ago, Narcosys said:

Honestly, idk wth is going on. We're sitting here with upwards of $75M of cap space, and we haven't done jack squat. I understand not over paying, but not getting anyone at all is absurd. 

 

 

I am telling you flat out what this is.

I am a pretty good judge of character, and I can tell from watching Ballard that he thinks he is the cats meow.  That he is smarter than everyone.  So he thinks he can sit back, not spend jack, and get scrubs for "value" that he thinks will turn into world beaters.

 

He is just one of those guys that thinks they are better than everyone else.  Grigson was too, but he did it in a much more apparent way and non authentic way.  He did it partly because he was insecure and deep down didn't really believe it.

 

Ballard actually believes it.

[jskinnz]

12 minutes ago, threeflight said:

I am telling you flat out what this is.

I am a pretty good judge of character, and I can tell from watching Ballard that he thinks he is the cats meow.  That he is smarter than everyone.  So he thinks he can sit back, not spend jack, and get scrubs for "value" that he thinks will turn into world beaters.

 

He is just one of those guys that thinks they are better than everyone else.  Grigson was too, but he did it in a much more apparent way and non authentic way.  He did it partly because he was insecure and deep down didn't really believe it.

 

Ballard actually believes it.

 

That post is a hot mess.

[Calmack]

19 minutes ago, threeflight said:

I am telling you flat out what this is.

I am a pretty good judge of character, and I can tell from watching Ballard that he thinks he is the cats meow.  That he is smarter than everyone.  So he thinks he can sit back, not spend jack, and get scrubs for "value" that he thinks will turn into world beaters.

 

He is just one of those guys that thinks they are better than everyone else.  Grigson was too, but he did it in a much more apparent way and non authentic way.  He did it partly because he was insecure and deep down didn't really believe it.

 

Ballard actually believes it.

Huh. First part of your second sentence does not match with everything you spewed out afterwards.

[Introspect]

24 minutes ago, threeflight said:

I am telling you flat out what this is.

I am a pretty good judge of character, and I can tell from watching Ballard that he thinks he is the cats meow.  That he is smarter than everyone.  So he thinks he can sit back, not spend jack, and get scrubs for "value" that he thinks will turn into world beaters.

 

He is just one of those guys that thinks they are better than everyone else.  Grigson was too, but he did it in a much more apparent way and non authentic way.  He did it partly because he was insecure and deep down didn't really believe it.

 

Ballard actually believes it.

 

Your post is close to truth. 

The truth is often SEEN but rarely HEARD.

(People can see it with their own eyes but don't want to hear a person say it)