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We just got a 25-year-old All-Pro at a crucial position on the defense.

This goes out to all my colt brothers and sisters to be safe during this time. We all bleed blue and in all honesty you guys are like a second family to me and I truly mean that. God bless.

Colts don't spend... We're losers.. Colts spend... Spent on Wrong guy... Colts trade... Don't like the trade. Can't win with our fanbase.. Lol

Life to return to normal so that there is football. Of course, more importantly, so people stop dying.

I like it a lot. I was wanting a DT at 13 anyway. Now we have a young pro bowl caliber DT. Plus we wont be taking Jordan Love Lol.

Finally an all pro difference maker at DT and only 25 yrs old. What's not to like? Or take a chance on a rookie with the 13th pick who has yet to play a down in the NFL. I'll take Buckner. Expecting a QB signing now.

Couple thoughts on this: 1. This clearly signals that Colts will sign Phillip Rivers and/or draft a QB at 34. 2. Buckner was named an All-Pro last year at DT. He's a great player and still relatively young at 25.

I watched alot of clips on Phillip Rivers over the years, both on the field and off. Personally, I resonate with his leadership style and personality. In my opinion he will represent the "horseshoe" super well. He is REAL, meaning that he shows his emotion and is an expressive, entertaining character. He is honest and no nonsense. Bottomline, he is very comfortable in his skin. He knows his football and will be a fantastic coach when he decides to leave football. I am rooting for him 1000%.

No offense, but I feel more like the fan base is just....meh. Ballard freaking rules. If I ever get to meet Jim Irsay, I'm high fiving him on this hire.

Sometimes all a player needs is a change of scenery. Hope it works out.

Who is Kent Sterling and why should we care what he says? Never heard of him. Was it racism that caused the Colts to trade for JB? Was it racism that caused the Colts to publicly call Brissett a top-20 QB? Was it racism that had Ballard say he wouldn’t trade Brissett unless he was overwhelmed by an offer? Was it racism that made Ballard say JB has ELITE leadership skills? Was it racism that had Ballard make Brissett the starter after Luck retired? We could have traded for someone. Was it racism that drove Ballard to give Brissett a two year contract worth $30 mill when JB was already signed to a contract? The Colts were under no obligation. Was it racism that now made Ballard keep JB as the highest paid backup in the NFL? The Colts could’ve cut him and saved good money. Look.... a nobody has a blog. But he doesn’t have the brains to back it up. Very disappointing. He’s clueless and he’s wrong.

What people aren't talking about that I think should be mentioned more is that Day and our new prize defender Deforest Buckner played (and even started some) side-by-side last year with SF. These two already know each other's games, and that should really help them both with consistency and comfort on defense! Great add!!

Last year was an anomaly year for Philip. I have watched every game he's played for our team and though I love him as a player I try to watch with a very clear eye. 1. This year was a freaky year for the Chargers. We had terrible injuries to the O-Line (that wasn't exactly top rated to begin with). I believe we had 20+ different configurations. The last bad interception year Philip had the O-line injuries were even worse. His biggest fault is trying to put the whole team on his back and make it happen. I'm guessing, but something like 6 interceptions were in the last few games. They were last minute in games where we were so far behind we had no chance, but he darn near pulled it off. 2. Melvin Gordon's useless, ill-advised hold out never let our running game get rolling. Rivers can throw the heck out of the ball, but really shines in a balanced offense where the D has to respect both sides of the ball. He never complains or makes excuses. He never throws a team mate under the bus or grumbles. He NEVER QUITS. If anything goes right he spreads the praise to everyone but himself. When it goes wrong he puts it on his own shoulders. 3. His arm is still good. He threw for 4615 yards last season, 4308 in 2018 and 4515 in 2017. Protect him and give him anyone with talent to throw to and he'll figure them out very quickly. His life time completion rate has always been around 65% and he won't hesitate to throw the ball away when he needs to. His interceptions have almost always been trying to make the game winning plays. 4. His best years have always come after really tough years. He went from 21 interceptions in 2015 down to 10. That's because he spends a lot of time in the film room after the season tearing apart his own game. You'll get the benefit of that dedication and ruthless self evaluation. I wish him the best, and that he finally get the ring he's been denied thus far.

Meanwhile .... “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released their estimates for the influenza season from October 1, 2019 and February 29, 2020. During that period, an estimated 34 to 49 million people have been sickened with the flu, with 350,000 to 620,000 hospitalized. The estimated deaths from the flu is between 20,000 and 52,000 people.” The panic over corona is relatively just so out of hand.

You don't like the length of the player?

Love it on 2 fronts 1. Player at a position of need 2. ends the QB talk

I was reading a lot of your guys post on Rhodes. I was hoping I could shed some light on his play the last 2 seasons. The Vikes run a very complicated Double A scheme. In 2017 it was super effective when paired with a lot of blitzes and **Press Man**. In 2018, more teams started running the double A due to our success (it is a copycat league after all). As a result, many offenses were prepared for the double a scheme and we saw a lot of schematic counters to the defense. What Zimmer then did to counter this was to blitz less, send more corner blitzes instead of sending our Lbs and switch our CBs to a weird fusion of off man and cover 3. Both corners are press corners. They excel by putting immediate hands on a WR and then running with them. Rhodes, unfortunately, has been banged up and has continue to add one muscle to his already large frame. He looks almost like a strong safety at this point. He is too big and off man already was a weakness of his. His previous injuries have robbed him of some foot quickness and change of direction ability. When paired with being heavier, it is a recipe for disaster. He really needs to get lighter and leaner. Not sure if he added on the pounds to be more stout in run support but it has been detrimental to his ability to shadow. The good news is, not all is lost. He is still one of the best press corners in the league, when allowed to press. If you DC puts him in a press role, he will improve and if he decides to shed all of that excess weight, he will return close to his old form. These are all big ifs though. If your scheme is off man or a lot of cover 3's/clouds, it is going to be Roads Open.

Hello everyone, first time here. I've followed Rivers ever since his freshman year at NC State. Became a Chargers fan in 04 when he was drafted, and now I'm here. Hope you all have room for me. Just wanted to say that the man can absolutely still play, and he has never had an OL as highly touted as this Colts team. I don't know the Colts as well as all of you, but if they are a QB away from being legit contenders, then you should be very excited. Rivers' below-average stats last season had nothing to do with age or deteriorating physical skill. His play style requires good OL play. The Chargers have had a bottom 5 OL for a decade (see PFF ratings), and this past season had no speed at WR. Couple that with a record-breaking bad running game, and you get 20 turnovers and a losing season. If Rivers has time to throw and/or a pocket to step up in, he can and will shred any defense apart. I understand the skepticism from those who have not watched him play or don't know anything about the Chargers' awful franchise, but some of you are going to be pleasantly surprised with the player you just got.

Hilarious!

Exactly. There should be no need for a discussion. AV should not even want to come back and he certainly shouldn't put the Colts in a position where they feel they owe it to him. He cashed in all his IOU's last season. I'll be pretty bummed if they bring AV back. Don't let Chase go. The kid is good. On XP's, he was 79/79 in college and is 26/26 in the NFL. From 50+ he was 3/3. Colts would be foolish to let him go and keep an over the hill lesser kicker.

That class was loaded, and he went #7 overall. He's entering his prime, and I assume (hope?) he's hungry, coming off the SB loss. He's missed one game in four years, and that was as a rookie. He's started every game he's played in. I'm sure the contract structure makes sense (and people expect the cap to jump $20-30m in 2021, then another big jump in 2022 because of the 17th game and the new TV deals) because Ballard and Bleum don't do poorly structured deals (so far). I have no problem with this trade, the player, or the contract. This is the kind of player you trade #13 for, IMO.

The amount that this will help Leonard and Walker can't be understated either. Buckner will demand a double team.

Do NOT be fooled by total number statistics. The official number looks small. This is a NEW virus. There aren't enough tests. Not everyone that has it gets tested... not even close. People usually don't go to get tested for random flu/cold-like symptoms(about 80% of coronavirus patients get a mild form that goes away), this is in addition to tests not being widely available. There will be more. Germany has estimated 60% of their population might get the virus by the end of the year. More conservative estimates are that between 20 and 60% of the world population will get it. Even if you take the lower bound. this is a serious issue. Stop comparing it to the flu. Flu has mortality rate of 0.1%. As it stands now coronavirus kills about 2% of the people confirmed to have gotten it, but the mortality rate is likely lower, again - because not everyone gets tested right now and a lot of mild cases go unnoticed. More conservative estimates coming from South Korea, where they've had it for a while and have the most advanced screening is around 0.6%. So yeah... this is likely somewhere between 6 and 20 times more deadly than the flu. One of the biggest factors for limiting the mortality rate is quality and availability of care. While huge majority of cases get the mild form(about 80%), there are significant number that require hospitalization(this includes younger people, not just old folks). This is the real problem here - the healthcare system can get overwhelmed if it spreads too quickly. This is not about panic and hysteria, this is about taking reasonable measures to limit and delay the peak of contagion. Wash your hands regularly, try not touching your face in public, avoid large gatherings, if you can work from home - work from home, if you are sick - stay home, etc. It's important to flatten the curve of contagion. One of the biggest problems right now is that this is a new virus and there are no vaccines for it and no approved anti-virals. This won't last forever. Next year we will probably have a vaccine for it and in a few months we might have effective anti-virals for it. This should severely limit the damage long-term and it might indeed turn into a flu-like disease. But right now - it is NOT. So yeah... don't panic but don't be dumb either. It's not the end of the world, but it's not something to underestimate either.

He should have been a Colt all along... I don't know how well he fits the defense, or why he fell off last year. I'll have to dig into what the Vikings were doing with him.

I mean, this is potentially huge. Buckner has had two great years in a row, is only 25, and is very likely more talented than who we may get at 13. 13th overall is a lot to give up, but Buckner is a fantastic player.

At this point, I want to say thanks to @csmoparand @chad72for putting all that work in this stuff and taking all that time to make this simulated draft possible as it is. It's a common distraction, especially with all that corona stuff around us.

He inherited a bad roster that had the franchise qb so beat to hell, he retired 10 years early. I don’t care if he rushed the qb spot or not, he was dealt a % hand and set back with Andrew on that. He’s built a roster that is set up for success long term, regardless who is under center, and he’s made moves to put this team in a contention mode for the next couple years while they figure the qb spot out. I think Chris has done an unbelievable job of finding talent at different levels, being approachable with the media. He handled the Pagano situation with class. He handled the McDaniels fiasco with class. He’s brought in high character players, and put high emphasis on that with Brian Decker leading the cause on that aspect. He put together a top notch front office with Ed Dodds, and previously Rex Hogan who left for the Jets. You also mention Irsay and the money spent. You do realize he has saved the Irsay family hundreds of millions in the last three years in payroll, right? That was his pitch to get this GM job from day one. A complete overhaul of the roster, with an emphasis on the draft and cheap rookie deals. Frugal spending in FA until the roster is built well to hit it hard, and then after several years of saving cap space and the organization money on payroll, we’ll push the chips in and sign our draft picks/some big FA and go for it. All in all, if you only point out the misses, as you did, and not the positive highlights that encompass the overall body of work, you miss big time... and your post missed big time.

Are you serious? Ballard has way improved our OL, this thread seems like a joke. People get mad when he doesn't spend during Free Agency, now people are mad because he spent money on a QB and DT which filled our biggest holes. Now on the Drafts, no front office hits on every pick its impossible, they'll have some good drafts and bad drafts the key is to have more good then bad.

If he 'backs up rivers' would he be considered a Dam?

DT was a MUST and getting a Stud for the 13th pick, I'll take it. For the ones that don't like it Why? QB was never the move at 13... EVER.. Listen to CB talk he wasn't going with one at 13.

Time to move on. I'm not buying the whole injury excuse. AV was horrible in week 1. If injury really caused this terrible season than it was an injury that existed before the season even started. Give him a ceremonial one day contract, announce his retirement and add him to the ring. We moved on from a HOF QB because it was the best thing long term for the team, we can move on from a HOF kicker because it's the best thing for the team.

What mobility? This is the most confusing off-season ever.

I don’t think we should fault CB for the QB situation just yet. Luck retired unexpectedly at a ridiculously young age for a QB. Being patient with JB is not a failure of his albeit how frustrating it has been for the fan base. QBs are not weeds growing in your yard that shoot up overnight. They are Japanese Maples. They take time, patience, and support to grow. Using Mahomes as an example is not the right way of thinking - he is the exception, not the normal. Solving the franchise QB problem is obviously not a trivial exercise - considering most franchises in the NFL do not have one. Throwing QBs at the problem hoping one becomes Mahomes is what the Jaguars and Browns have done for a decade and look how well that has worked out. None of the greatest GMs of our generation have a 100% hit rate. Occasionally you get a Basham. But getting a Leonard where the majority of the NFL and media were mocking him for taking a small school guy that high - and looking at him now - I will take that GM every day of the week.

Im sure the front office is worried about you're overreacting opinion

Just for laughs I hope it's for Dorsett

As much as I like the NFL and how it takes us away mentally from everyday problems this virus has to be contained at any cost. When you realize just how many people are effected with their jobs and getting the essentials of everyday life, the NFL is not a necessity. My age and medical problems puts me in the high risk category. It's scary for sure. Right now I am depending on my forum friends to help me pass the time and I appreciate all of you in here. When you look at the big picture the possibility of the NFL being suspended or canceled is pretty small potatoes.

Texans got worse and Colts better

There goes everybody’s mock drafts. lol

We know what his future is. It's Chase Mclaughlin.

So the QB spot is still a mess and CB appears to have either poorly judged JB or panicked into a high signing price. Now he signed to Hoyer to a ridiculous signing last year to mentor and help JB in the film room now neither of them are the answer. Did he panic and bring Rivers here too under a 1 yr deal with what follow up plan? No option for if Rivers does well, we keep him. Was Rivers that highly sought after that we couldn’t do a deal that gave either team control of next year or lower money this season? I’m seriously questioning his talent for this QB search at this point. Add into this how confused many are at how Kelly was handled last season. On the 53 but never active, kept when we needed a spot and we had 3 QB’s with Hoyer being the bad option of back up. Now what do we have in him and if nothing, why in the heck was he kept at the end of the season games when we could have cut him and kept Cain or brought in someone else, CB or WR? im tired and don’t have energy tonight to look but CB has signed guys to decent contracts and they failed or cut right early or drafted and cut. Desir, he was talked up, given some money and cut this year. We have Basham, Banner (gone), Wilson, looks to be gone. Hooker, looks like an a great player except first year. Hairston gone. Cain was talked about like a 5 star guy and he is gone. The whole kicker ordeal last season. What’s Tyquan Lewis? his free agent picks? Hankins Simon Webb slauson I know I’m missing some and didn’t include our failed ones. he has had some nice draft picks for sure. Much like Grigs, he couldn’t fix the oline. Polian couldn’t fix the defense near his end. Now CB hasn’t been able to solve the QB situation and he seems like he panics with availability and he has overpaid and n other areas with contract concerns. If you overpay, better get some future control. Idk, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he has had bad luck with 2019 being an absolute disaster in every way possible, he didn’t make good choices imho. If JB is his guy but couldn’t play well because of the knee, IR him, use your high paid back up. If he can’t play because he is bad, try your project guy or bring in another guy. He didn’t manage that well. The WR spot just got nothing from it. Ty hurt, DF hurt D. Fountain hurt, Cain cut, Ebron quit, kept a WR that was special teams at best that eventually got hurt. Just misfortune. at any point, just a lot of very concerning choices and odd decisions made by CB. If I were Irsay, I’d be like dude, you’ve spent my money like a 50/50 pot was on the line. You’ve guessed wrong a lot. I need to see you do better here this year. I’ve cut you a lot of checks.

So while doing doing our forum mock draft and seeing Derrick Bown and Javon Kinlaw on the board at pick 13 it got me wanting to compare those two to Buckner. Javon Kinlaw 6'5 324 LB's 34 7/8 arms and unfortunately did not work out at the combine due to a knee issue flared up at the senior bowl. In 29 Games he had 42 solo tackles, 40 assist, for a total of 82 with 17 tackles for a loss and 10 sacks. Derrick Brown 6'5 326 LB's 34 1/4 arms 5.16 40 yard, 28 reps, 27 inch vertical, 108 broad jump, 8.22 3 cone, 4.79 20 yard shuttle In 46 games he had 89 Solo 81 assist for 170 total tackles with 33 tackles for a loss and 12.5 sacks. Deforest Buckner 6'7 291 LB's 34 3/8 arms 5.05 40 yard, 32 inch vertical, 116 inch broad jump, 7.51 3 cone, 4.47 20 yard shuttle In 53 games he had 109 solo 123 assist for 232 total tackles with 36 for a loss and 18 sacks. On paper Deforest looks to be the best athlete and prospect. It helps that during his time in the league he has secured himself as an all-pro talent. The people who were banging on the table for a DT at 13 should be ecstatic about Buckner because he was a better draft prospect and has put it all together.

If the Colts sign him will the headline be... Colts get a Walker for Old Man Rivers.

The argument is this: if the Colts were determined to improve at the 3T position, as it appears they were, then you are hoping that Kinlaw falls to you with the #13 pick (Brown will be gone by then). And Kinlaw was unable to play in the Senior Bowl or run at the Combine because of tendinitis in his knees. That's a dice roll right there. With no proof that Kinlaw, even with good knees, will ever approach All Pro status. So... the Colts instead traded that pick for one of the best 3T linemen in the NFL--a proven commodity and All Pro-- who is young with his best years likely ahead of him and now signed for 5 years. And the Colts still have plenty of cap space left while the cap itself is going to increase significantly in the next few years. Ballard waited and utilized that cap space to grab a star at a major position of need. How is this not an outstanding trade?

let's see....25 yr old proven Pro Bowl/All Pro player at a huge position of need. Ballard has literally said the 3-tech drives the defense and the Colts just got one of the best in the league who's just now starting to hit his prime and locked up for the next few years. Does giving up #13 sting a little? sure does, but that's the price you pay for proven elite young talent.

GO BALLARD! We just got a monster at DT! Love this deal! 2nd best DT behind Donald in the league!

Hope everyone can stay healthy, and quit buying up all the toilet paper DAG NABIT!!!!