Defjamz26

Also who took Coulson for the Colts? I don’t even care that it’s who I wanted for the Eagles, but why did we have them going LB that early lol?

Eagles select Austin Booker, Edge Kansas

My bad. I must not have looked at the Google doc good enough. Give me a minute

Eagles select Junior Coulson, LB Michigan

Yes I’m fine with it

Same proposal but I’m flexible on the 5th round picks because the Eagle have 3

Would love to get up to where the Rams are. I’m offering my round 4(pick 120) and two 5th round picks (171 and 172).

I PM’d my pick but realized the Eagles don’t have a 3rd. I would like to move up.

Well when I say trade up, I meant back into the 1st round. You have holes at CB, pass catcher, and edge. Instead of trying to hit on all 3 of those in the same draft, or trying to solve that over 3 drafts, get 2 in one go. Take your receiver at 15 and then go back and get your corner or vice versa. While good QB play can upgrade position groups, we need to be looking at ceiling players. Can Pierce be better with AR? Yes. But does he have a better ceiling than Brian Thomas Jr? No. Can Jaylon Jones be better when the offense can sustain drives and stay on the field? Yes. Would you pass on Quinyon Mitchell because of that fact? Probably not. Can Jelani Woods be a game changer at TE if he stays healthy and has AR? Yes. Should that stop you from drafting Brock Bowers? Absolutely not. Another way to give the team a boost is not settling for complacency. The young talent can be better, but you should always push to try and acquire better players or have an overload of talent. As someone mentioned in an earlier post, outside of maybe Nelson, Buckner, and JT, none of our players are talked about as the best in the NFL. The Texans had what I thought was a great receiving core with Collins, Schultz, and Dell. They decided to add Diggs on top of that. Dont let AR elevating the team stop you from stacking up talented players at key positions.

Agree with this here, because this is what we’ve seen with CJ Stroud. Made a team that had as many holes as any team in the league look way better than it was. No one thought Nico Collins was a number 1 receiver before Stroud get there. In a perfect world, you’d see that same effect with AR on Pierce. So we’re in agreement that the roster needs a boost. My argument that the boost needs to be from FA and not the draft though going forward. There are certain positions like RB, TE, and guard that you can easily fix in the draft. But DB, Edge, and WR aren’t positions where you should look for a rookie to be the boost you need. However, if you are going to go that route then you need to get the best rookies if you’re looking for day 1 and most guys. So the aggressiveness that you subvert in free agency, you can apply to the draft. Package your picks and go get two impact players in the first round. Instead of trading back and stockpiling day 3 picks so you can draft the Titus Leo and Eric Johnson’s of the world doesn’t really do anything for you. Thats what I would like to see change with this strategy. Instead of trading down for more picks to use on players who won’t move the needle, trade up and get impact players.

You figure that anyone drafted between rounds 4-7 is a long shot to make the roster. So that gives you picks 1-3. It’s likely that one of those players won’t work out so you’re down to two. And again, if the two players that you’re targeting are the traits based players, you’re less likely to hit.

Thats a good point that i forgot to make. It puts a lot of stress on hitting on every pick. And hitting on every pick is hard when the priority is put on guys with traits and upside. Again, this is why you should supplement your team with proven players. His big thing is that there’s a lot of misses and bad contracts handed out in FA, but you’re probably more likely to miss in the draft. We see 1st round picks flame out all the time.

He’s been fully healthy for two full college seasons consecutively.

I’m fine with him constantly bringing guys in via the draft. That’s what you should do. My issue is that with the current pace to improving the roster (not really using FA) we’ll always be in the same spot. Having enough talent to be competitive, but never enough to make a run, because the rookie class is always going to make or break the team. By the time your young players become vets ready for extensions, you’ll have another 3-4 core players who will be on the way out. For example, it’s great if JuJu Brent’s becomes a lockdown corner in year 3, but by that time you’re back needing a new center and WR1. This business model of relying exclusively on young players to perform early isn’t sustainable because it’s a constant chasing of the tail. You basically always have holes.

Those players are on my list because they’re all up for contracts soon. Kelly’s in the last year of his deal. Nelson is a UFA in 2027, same for Pittman. Smith is a UFA in 2026. I know he brought everyone back this time but the question is will he be able to again? Especially if AR and Raiman work out. My point is what will this team look like in 2-3 years? How long does Kelly really want to play. Same with Nelson. We’ve seen players play for 9-10 years and then retire more frequently now. In 2-3 years if we hit on AR and Rainman, this time will not be able to bring everyone back even if they want to stay. We could have needs at OL, corner, and Edge just like we did in 2017. This is a team that could be rebuilding in a few years. Even if AR works out, say in 2027 you’ve extended him and Raiman. Who will really be left who is likely to still be playing at a high level? And would Irsay trust Ballard for another “rebuild” even if we have the QB and LT this time? I think so but only if he’s made and won a few playoff games. Basically he needs to be Mike Tomlin.

I understand patience but it does raise an important question. How many other GMs in the league or ones who were GMs when Ballard started in 2017 can have zero division titles and 2 playoff appearances and 1 win in 8 years and keep their jobs? Rick Spielman got 9 years in Minnesota and had AFC Championship games on his resume. Tom Telesco got 11 years with 3 playoff appearances going 2 playoff wins. I understand that everyone wants to excuse him for 3-4 years because of the Andrew Luck retirement, but you can’t cry over spilled milk forever. It’s fair to say that Ballard does need to produce some results relatively soon. Especially considering in 2-3 years you’ll have a lot of key pieces up for contracts and possibly eyeing retirement -Ryan Kelly -Braden Smith -Quenton Nelson -Deforest Buckner -Michael Pittman -Jonathan Taylor if they’re not back and he hasn’t found replacements, you’re looking at another rebuild and then you’re back to square 1. I don’t think he’d get another 8 years.

Man I may have to withdraw. I’ve missed two picks already. My apologies

I didn’t expect him to buck his usual trend, but I did expect him to maybe do what he did last year and take a shot on a middle of pack vet or two. He did with Davis but I expected that type of move at safety and corner.

Pouring raining lol. Lightning and Thunder. Just hope it doesn’t ruin Wrestlemania for me.

Grigson loved that line too. Betting on the rookies you drafted the year prior making a leap and the incoming rookie class being the solution to last seasons problems is playing with fire IMO. It worked with LT and RG this year as Raiman and Fries took big leaps, but that’s not going to work every time. And betting on the draft fixing your issues is also a gamble when our GM likes traits based players. And that’s kind of been the identity of this team. Always 2-3 years out because we’re waiting on players to develop. I heard a quote once that said you use free agency to plug holes, and the draft to supplement FA. It’s seems Ballard is doing it in reverse. It just seems like a lot to put all your money on your 1st and 2nd year players to improve the team.

To me if the Colts aren’t going to take Bowers, they shouldn’t draft any TEs. We’ve actually got too many as is. So I’d pass on Sinnot in round 4. Also you won’t be able to get Cam Hart in round 4.

I’m here

Ballard needs to respond in the draft. He needs to get Quinyon Mitchell and then trade back up into the first for Brian Thomas Jr. This passive stuff isn’t going to work anymore.

I think he moves better than you would expect for someone of his size, but if you’re looking at bigger receivers, Thomas Jr., Mitchell, and even Baker are much more fluid laterally. Heck even Keon Coleman moves better laterally. Also it’s not just Lance who is low on him. PFF has him as WR13. Here is their brief write up on him: Legette is a late bloomer. He was used mainly as a schemed-up yards-after-catch receiver in 2022 and was not trusted to win as a route runner. This past season was a much different story. Legette ascended to WR1 in South Carolina’s offense and gave us a season of “wow” moments due to his athleticism while standing 6-foot-3 and 227 pounds. He has some of the most impressive contested catches of any receiver, and he can hit a top speed that most his size simply can’t. Route running is the separating factor though. Yes most teams are running zone, but when they run man or switch to man, route running is the difference between having your best receiver taken out of the game. That’s what the Colts did to Ridley in the first game. He ate up our zone in the first half, then in the 2nd half they put Kenny Moore on him and he had 1 catch for 9 yards the rest of the game. Aside from Tyreek and D.K., the top receivers all can run great routes. Jefferson, Adams, Diggs, Wilson, Kupp, St. Brown, Nakua, Lamb, etc… all consistently win because of their ability to run routes. That wins consistently in the league regardless of the coverage most times. Im not anti-Legette. I need that to be clear. I think he’s a fine guy to bet on if you don’t already have a guy like Pierce on your team. And if you’re telling me the Colts trade Pierce on draft day or after, I’m all for it. But he’s a WR4 on the team today.

Actually very happy with that pick. I would have gone corner anyways. What I’ll do is PM my pick around 4 PM ET if I don’t think I’m going to make it