AKB

i think we are gonna draft one first round

the texans actually got to see their guy play, now they are all in.

no, but he will fire him for not producing anything substantial. fan sentiment, especially in bigger markets, does have an influence though. especially with the power of social media these days. we are one of the few teams that would've stood by Ballard for this long. would another team hire him? sure, would most teams sit with him for as long as we have? nope

It's not doubt, its skepticism. This should come along with all rookie QBs, especially those who have limited snaps and just suffered a serious shoulder injury we've seen before in a great QB. I whole heartedly want AR to succeed, and I believe Ballard's job depends on it.

So I put a lot of thoughts into one simple sentence, that doesn't represent the complaint that most anti-ballard fans have. Sure, each year has its personality traits, but overall his BBB FA approach, combined with drafting to FILL needs, with highly athletic but not overall spectacular players. He does a very good job at drafting players that provide value, and he plugs them into spots where the roster appears deficient. (Ryan Kelly, Wentz, Nelson, Leonard, Franklin, Paye, Dayo, Buckner) all picks, some first round to fill a gap The first example you give is the Rivers year. That was the peak of our roster under Ballard, if Luck had not retired, and we had him grow another year with that team, that was our year. Hilton, Zaire, and Speed have all talked about it on his podcast. I disagree that his plan has not been the same for seven years. If we are gonna zoom in on the ridges and humps, we can find a difference between each season and strategy. But Ballard has not changed. He took his sweet time signing over-the-hill QBs and old QBs and avoided drafting a QB (which he has publicly revealed multiple times is because of the accountability that often follows taking a QB with your top pick), and now he's drafted a QB with very limited film, whom just suffered a serious shoulder injury, and we are now on to another .500 season most likely. I suppose if .500 and ALMOST making the playoffs, or ALMOST winning the division is what fans are into, then sure, Ballard is great. But overall I believe, and many other fans believe that Ballard hasn't changed much, if at all. And that the differences in each approach are more circumstantial than belief system-dependent.

has blackmon ever had a season without a big injury? or a season where he didn't miss X amount of games. that's gotta be the main issue with him

Unless his plan works. --> That seems to be the complaint. the plan hasn't changed and has remained the same for 7 years, bearing nothing. if we don't get a CB1, its likely that our defense is towards last in the league, for the 3rd straight year in a row. He has kept the same mantra of resigning his own, whilst filling holes in the draft. My prediction? We draft a late round, high RAS corner, and end up 28th again in PPG. That’s why I am just going to let things play out --> we do have the draft.. and some budget FAs left, so maybe we sign a guy and get some value, maybe we draft a corner in rd 1 or 2. But what happens when Brents gets injured again? We are back to a rookie and a 7th rounder at outside corner. . . if something like this happens again, which seems very likely given ballards MO, he will get fired. There's no way you can repeat the same mistakes over and over. The only thing that might save him from not solving the CB issue is if he scapegoats Gus Bradley, which might buy him 1 additional year. Which, by the way, Ballard has been a master at balancing action vs. nonaction to dictate expectations, and thus his expectation of performance. Not like I can do anything about it. --> fan sentiment does matter.

The anti ballard talk on other colts forums, in particular r/colts is becoming very toxic towards ballard and his FA approach. from what I'm hearing, a big portion of the fan base is gonna be chanting fire ballard if we fluke out this year. he needs to fix the secondary, otherwise it's gonna look real bad on him

so how did this shake out when we just cut Leonard? was it to our advantage?

well done. in short, they backloaded a lot of the 2018 draftees, buck had kind of an outlier of a frontload- and as our cap has been increasing, we've settled most recently into a middle-ground area.

does it have to do with what year the bonus gets applied?

finally

thanks.

bold the part where i said this "If we do not win the Division or don't make the playoffs, I doubt that Ballard's job will be any more in jeopardy than it was last spring." You can't, because I didn't say that. I noted that he has not achieved those things. But I did not say I think we need to accomplish x, y, or z for him not to be on the hot seat. this is what he needs for his seat not to warm up: A healthy season from AR, or at least a half season+, he needs the guys he just extended to play at their contract value, and he needs another .500 season. If he misses on any of those 3, the conversation for him to be fired will start up again. If you want to pretend that he's just gonna get free year after free year, you go on and do that. The discussion for him to be fired was strong when Reich and Saturday's fiasco happened. He got spared to have a chance with a QB, if this doesn't pan out, he's gonna get fired.

i think we are going to let cross play SS

how is not every season important? that's the better and more realistic question. every season is important for him, it has to be. but to answer your question, we have been in free fall since luck retired. last season was the first sniff of having 'our' guy again. with that being said, if AR gets injured again, or does not produce enough to look like a worthwhile pick, Ballard's strategy overall will come into question. He has not produced as a GM thus far. He has drafted nonvalue players at an above-average rate and happened to hit, he also hasn't won us a division title and has failed to cement a stable QB, even thus far AR included. If AR gets injured, we have another season, with a stop-bridge QB, either old or a QB someone else doesn't want. If that happens again.. the discussion for him to be fired will heat up again. Guaranteed.

i agree, and this perfectly explains my feelings since Rivers. the only thing I can say is that at least he finally drafted a QB

From what I've read from Stephen Holder, we tried for Sneed, didn't get him, and repaid our guys. Im assuming we get a couple more FA, maybe even 1 or 2 after the draft. But cheap budget guys, as Ballard has done for the last half-decade. So I think Ballard is doing what you want him to do, playing for the accumulation of wins over multiple seasons. it would be dishonest to ignore the fact that his seat is warming up. if he missed on AR there's a good chance he's gone. ofc that has yet to be seen. but this season is important for him

ok.. but did you see what he said?

lol doug. what?

i wouldn't be surprised if we took a WR in rds 1-3, I just expect it to be another 2nd or 3rd rounder

i think he was talking about AR, or referenced AR a lot when going on that tangent. I think he too will want to see what Pierce looks like with AR instead of Minshew missing him 1-2 times per game deep

almost... we paid pittman, drafted pierce, and drafted downs the third player in the CB trio is a 7th rounder, not a 2nd rounder...

depends on a lot of things, is it impossible? no. but I highly doubt we take a WR in the first unless an absolute baller falls to us, which I doubt. Its probably DE, CB, or Bowers if he falls.

i doubt we use our first rounder on a WR after paying pittman and drafting downs. maybe a 2nd