Yoshinator

The difference with Mahomes and AR to me is the timeline of the GMs on both teams. Brett Veach was only on the Chiefs for a year at this point before he started building around Mahomes. Ballard is the GM of the Colts for 8 years now and he isn't doing it. With Veach, you can argue it's because he was waiting for Mahomes to get better and he was relatively new as a GM. With Ballard, it's just how he is. The rosters are similar from that time, yes. I agree. I just think we are fooling ourselves by saying he's going to spend over and over and it never happens. We just come up with a new reason. I'm guilty of it too. I'm actually fine with the offseason besides Sneed. That was inexcusable not getting him IMO, but everything else is ok. We just have to do well in the draft. I think we will take a WR on day 2 or in a trade down (Xavier Worthy maybe). The draft is Ballards bread and butter, so I always know he'll do his best there to help the team.

He was aggressive on this front with Wentz and Ryan. Those were trades and not FAs though. Ballard generally will get his guy in a trade if he wants him (Sneed not withstanding). Free Agency is where I have the issue (where Ballard is competing with other teams with money). The funny thing is that I'm actually perfectly fine with what Ballard did in FA besides not getting Sneed. That was the only major error IMO. Everything else can be fixed in the draft immediately. I'm just not of the mindset that AR needs to prove himself first before splurging in FA. I think that's a mistake personally. Though this year, a lot of the best FAs were also guys that we re-signed anyway.

@VikingsFanInChennai Can you please make sure to count my pick on the spreadsheet? I don't want someone else to duplicate it when the last round begins in a few mins.

If you want to argue that we didn't have a realistic shot on Danielle Hunter, I agree. However, we could have easily gotten Sneed if we wanted (we just didn't want to pay the guaranteed money because of the injury concerns). When it's just members of the forum saying "we could have gotten X guy for Y amount", then there's not that much credibility to it. However, when it's an 8 year sample size in FA, and Ballard admits that's how he goes about things, it's a pattern. There's a lot of guys he goes after that he misses on, but there's even more that he could get for a realistic price that he has no interest in. In the end, he's not aggressive as a GM, and it's not necessarily a good thing. He never wants to overpay, but sometimes you have too. If he's building the team through the draft, you think he would allow himself to overpay a time or two in FA because he'd have the cheap rookie contracts he's hitting on to supplement the team and the cap. Just my two cents.

I have Turner, Latu, and Verse in the same top tier. IMO, Turner is probably the best athlete and highest potential of the three, but worst player. Latu is the best player of the three, but has injury concerns, Verse is in the middle, but a one-dimensional pass rusher. I don't personally feel there is much of a difference between the three overall where a GM can definitely tell who will hit and who won't. I'd probably go with Latu personally as I agree he might fall to 15, and the injury concerns seem to be behind him now. Mitchell IMO will possibly go to the Raiders. They are by far the biggest threat IMO. Broncos and Vikings are candidates to take a QB, and I don't see the Saints going CB. I think there's a good chance Terrion Arnold falls to 15, and that will be tempting to Ballard to grab him. Overall, I say we grab Mitchell, Arnold, or an EDGE. People want a WR in the first, but they will be disappointed IMO. We will take one on day 2 like Ballard is known for IMO.

I know. I'm just making a point that Ballard would never do something like giving up a future 1st for a non QB, and if he did, it'd take interference from Irsay for a guy that's probably seen as Colts royalty from Irsay. Just an extreme example.

I literally think the only player in this class Ballard would give up a future 1st for would be Marvin Harrison Jr, and that's if Irsay told him to do so.

Yep. it was the worst move of the offseason keeping Gus IMO. Even worse than not trading for Sneed when we had interest. If we don't get pressure more often, those sack numbers will not be sustainable either.

28th in scoring defense. I also added more to my post that you didn't see. Check that out as well. We'll add more to the offense in the draft, but the defense is the obvious weak point. AR may make the team better. We'll see on that. The defense is terrible though.

The Chiefs defense was absolutely elite last year and made up for a mediocre Mahomes (by his standards). Also, there are rankings to determine if defenses are good, bad, mediocre, and all that. You don't just get to say the large majority of defenses can be considered mediocre, stats and rankings prove otherwise. We don't go by the eye test anymore. The Colts had the 28th best defense last year. Those are the players we re-signed. I understand there were injuries and Stewart was out for 6 games (which hurt the run defense), but the secondary was terrible, and we should have traded for Sneed. You do need an elite defense in the playoffs. The Chiefs beat the Bills, Dolphins, and Ravens in the playoffs with their defense last year to get to the SB. The Colts won their only SB with Peyton Manning because of their defense. The Broncos had Peyton Manning in the SB Vs the Seahawks when he scored 55 TDs that year, and they got destroyed by the Seahawks defense in the SB. Defenses win Championships.

I actually think the 1st round is the only round where EDGE wouldn't be a reach. I see the class as much weaker throughout the draft as it goes on. Kneeland would be a great get in the 2nd if he fell, but that'd be a huge risk if we wanted an EDGE. We'll see where Ballard has his big board ranked. I think Quinyon Mitchell would be the dream pick, but the draft is deep at CB as well. Just remember, Paye and Dayo are FAs at the end of the season, so we could definitely take a successor to one of them.

I like both Jackson and Hart a decent amount. They are interchangeable for me. I think Hart is more of a Ballard fit with the measurables, so I took him for the sake of this mock draft. We don't have a huge need at RB, but the difference between Estime in the 4th, and the other RBs later is big enough IMO where I'm willing to take an RB in the 4th round here. It's worth it to make the RB position elite with AR as the QB. Plus, I don't like when Taylor goes down and we nothing else at RB. I want to nip that in the bud. I agree on Mustapha, he just stands out at that point in the 5th to me. Even if he's a backup to Blackmon, Blackmon is a bit injury prone, and he's under a 1-year contract. One of those situations where BPA and depth could be the right move.

To add to this, I just did my 2nd version of a mock draft where I took EDGE first round. Check it out if you are interested!

Now that I've made all my picks for the Gavin Mock draft this year, I'm going to do my 2nd version of a mock draft for the Colts. This one will be a bit different than the first. There will still be no trades in this one (I will do trades in my final installment), but I will be drafting a different variation of what I think Ballard may do. Round 1.) Laiatu Latu, EDGE, UCLA Round 2.) Ricky Pearsall, WR, Florida Round 3.) Cam Hart, CB, Notre Dame Round 4.) Audric Estime, RB, Notre Dame Round 5.) Malik Mustapha, S, Wake Forest Round 6.) Dylan McMahon, IOL, North Carolina State Round 7.) Jordan McGee, LB, Temple So I'm feeling that Ballard may go EDGE in the first round possibly with the dropoff after the first round. Latu has the best combination of athleticism and performance IMO, and despite the injury concerns, I feel Ballard may go for him at 15. Pearsall played with Richardson in Florida for a year, and I actually like him a lot anyway, could be a target in the 2nd round. Cam Hart has the measurables that Ballard likes and could start right away. Estime has the potential to be the top RB in this draft IMO. Mustapha is a nice sleeper S in this class, and since no one really separates a ton, he's a good get in the 5th round. McMahon can be a backup C for Kelly this year, and take over as soon as next year IMO. Finally McGee is a nice lottery ticket at LB that has a solid RAS score. He could be the next Zaire Franklin in a couple years and provides good depth.

I'm actually leaning towards Ballard going EDGE in the first round more and more now. Besides Marshawn Kneeland, there doesn't seem to be any top EDGE rushers outside the first round. I could see Ballard going Latu or Verse at 15. Then he grabs a WR and CB in either order in the 2nd and 3rd round.

I honestly believe Ballard could have $100 million in salary cap more than every other team, and he still wouldn't spend in FA. He'd find a way to pay his own more or make a big trade or two and pay a guy he'd like on another team like Buckner. It'll just never happen. He thought AR was the best player in the draft last year, we drafted him at 4, and the following year in FA, Ballard just re-signed his own besides two FAs that were mid card guys and decided to run a mulligan. Ballard will never be a spender in FA.

With the 221st pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs select, Dylan McMahon, IOL, North Carolina State.

Same here. Been a long day. I will make my pick before the day ends here @VikingsFanInChennai for the Chiefs.

I like this extension quite a bit. Our DT position is set, and we don't have to worry about it now in a weak draft class for DT. I feel besides CB and S now, we can go BPA at positions of need. Mostly like where we are at now, though we need to get a bit of luck on our side in the draft. Good job on this one Ballard!

Bears select Olu Fashanu

Yeah, Nuggets were a lot of fun to watch last year. Jokic is incredible. Nice to get Murray back after that ACL tear. This year he is 100% and the team is doing well. Pacers are a fun team to watch as well. High octane offense but somewhat of a poor defense. That have a chance to make some noise in the playoffs. Siakam was a nice get for you.

I told my best friend that if the Cubs sign Bellinger, then I have them winning the NL Central. Still believe that. Could be a tough division, but i like your team. Found myself drafting a lot of Cubs stacks in bestballs this year. I'm definitely a lot calmer on sports teams now as well. Except for maybe the Colts. Seeing Richardson and Strider now go down for the year back-to-back is upsetting, but I've won a few championships recently, so I'm not as mad as i would be otherwise. The Colts are the team I root for that frustrates me more than anything because of the lack of aggressiveness combined with injuries that always seem to keep us from competing. Just want a fair opportunity to win and make the playoffs.

Yeah, I saw that. Have Justin Steele in two $10 bestballs. Been a tough year for me so far. Lucky I've won 3 times in the last month at the casino, cause I'm going to probably lose $50 in bestball with the rate I'm getting hit with injuries in baseball. Also not fun when Strider is one of them. I'd be even more upset if the Braves hadn't won a WS in 2021 recently.

Oh I'm pretty mad. Glad we got Sale obviously. I'm guessing we are going to trade for Paul Blackburn of the A's. There were rumors that they wanted Owen Murphy from us in a 1 for 1 swap.