shasta519

But did Holder specify anywhere that more money means more gtd money? It could have just been more years of a contract with a lower AAV…like 3/$60M with $30M gtd. That’s technically more money on paper, but not really.

Different purpose. Different risks. He doesn’t say he’s wrong. He’s not sorry. Saying “I’m sorry what I heavily implied was happening…didn’t happen” is something toy would hear from a politician. Very carefully-worded. But I’m done with this. No clue how you defend this. And next time Destin breaks some obvious re-signing or some asst. coaching hire, I will give him an attaboy. That’s more info than I will ever have. But I will also hold him accountable for using his platform to be an insider and gain clout, when he’s wrong.

I’m not hung up at all. Knew he wasn’t reliable. But where do you draw the line? He’s not some random Colts Twitter account. He fancies himself as a Colts reporter and insider. If national guys confirm it being a done deal, then Destin gets immediate clout. If they don’t, he just skates from any accountability for jumping the gun? I don’t care about Destin one way or the other, I just found his “apology” to be weak. He deserves to own it, but he didn’t IMO. Instead, he said it was the fans’ fault for getting upset and that the NFL is what it is.

Right. He knew the risk in reporting it.

Agree. Not just a lesson for Destin, but for fans. But it was a crazy couple days on Twitter. And he was mostly fueling it. Would have been cool if he got it right though.

He said it was being finalized and heavily implied it was going to get done. He thought he had the scoop. If it had gotten done, he’d be doing victory laps. It didn’t. That’s the game. That’s why Schefter and Rappaport are who they are. His mea culpa is weak. He deserves any criticism he gets. And he will move on from it. And hopefully he does learn and get better.

True. But those are standard talking points for Destin. That’s fine. Never thought he was reliable. Just found the support for him to be goofy.

Was the deal done? No. He tried to be first and either got played or got unlucky. Doesnt matter…but this “apology” tweet sounds like a lawyer wrote it. I give him zero credit for admitting he was wrong. He’s spinning it like he was the victim…and the upset fans are victims of the same.

I don’t know. I’ve tried the “sorry I told you something would happen but it didn’t and sorry you’re upset because of that” apology before with my wife. It did not go over well. And there is a similar amount of accountability in this carefully-worded tweet from Destin. Either his source was wrong or he was wrong for jumping the gun to be first. Neither are addressed in this tweet.

Other teams do value their picks. But often they are also more selective on who they retain and typically more aggressive in bringing in outside talent. For me, Ballard’s “building through the draft” philosophy sort of breaks down into a few key components: 1. Draft, develop and retain your own players, even to 3rd contracts. This build a strong culture and locker room…and fosters a sense of loyalty to the org. The issue here is that you can end up paying more money for the same foundation of players. If you are a SB team (like Polian-era Colts), this might make sense, as you would want to extend the window as much as possible. But when you’re an average team, it’s hard to get your team to the next level doing this. Plus, eventually those drafted and developed players get old, as we even saw with those Polian teams. 2. Use draft to plug existing holes on roster. This often results in Day 3 picks starting/playing as rookies (as opposed to a vet FA), unless an established player has already been retained at that position. The issue here is that while they gain valuable experience and it’s more cost-effective, it can also be to the detriment of team performance, as we saw last season in the secondary. 3. Draft and develop better than everybody else. This is meant to give them a competitive advantage and help them win on the margins. The issue with this is it’s hard to draft better than everybody else. But also, in the NFL, you can’t really win on the margins. It’s only a 17-game season…there is just too much variance to gain a true competitive advantage like having a higher floor. Games are typically won by high-impact talent and playmakers, not having more above-average players. Ballard’s approach isn’t revolutionary. And it has proven to be successful for some teams. But for whatever reason, he hasn’t been able to replicate that success. And he doesn’t really seem to be open to adapting. So my biggest issue is that the process has seemed to become more important than the results.

Thanks. I missed that somehow.

And PC was here from 2019-2022 and had R2 draft capital. Would it have made sense to draft a similar WR type early or sign one in FA? And before PC, they brought in Grant, who was more a slot WR. Funchess was an attempt to get an X WR, which they found in MPJ a year later. The rest are a mix of traitsy, athletic pass catchers like Cain, Fountain and AP, Woods, Ogletree, etc. This has become Ballard's calling card recently for all players he drafts. Granson was def a Reich pick though. He was meant to be a Trey Burton type I think.

But PC was the first early draft pick investment they made at WR though. And he was on the roster through 2022. And then they drafted Downs to replace him last year. Outside of that, they were looking for an X WR until they found MPJ.

In this case, I guess they would have like Daniels and Maye...much more than the next tier. Prob would be happy with both. I think LAC is going to draft Nabers, unless ARI does something silly and past on MHJ. I just don't see them moving off that pick. Some have Nabers over MHJ. Mike Will is gone and Allen is getting near the end of his career. Herbert is the franchise, so he's a young franchise WR. And Nabers is insta-offense. They have a new GM, so he probably doesn't care that they drafted Johnston.

MIN could have gotten JJ, Nix or Penix from #11. They are shooting higher. This move to get #23 feels like they are eyeing #3 (assuming CHI and WAS aren't open for business). Might even have the framework in place.

MIN going to trade up to #3 for Daniels? The next move will be #11, #23 and next year's 1 for #3. That MIN offense is loaded...Jefferson, Addison and Hock. Good OL. Good coaching. This is a huge gamble, but I love it. Great example of building the roster and then going all out to get the franchise QB. And that rookie QB deal should give them some flexibility in FA. Makes sense for NE. They are so bad, so why not just rebuild the roster.

Agree. Don't have to be like some of the east coast media, but there's almost no balance. And it's not like they only do this because that's what Colts fans want to read/listen. They went hard after Wentz, Reich and then Saturday. They will be negative when there's other scapegoats. And in the past, the local media went really hard after Grigson. They won't even mention him, but the podcasters and bloggers still vilify him. There was even criticism of Polian (and his son Chris) near the end of that era. If pods and social media were around then, I am sure there would have been a lot more criticism. This does seem to very much be a Ballard thing. Since he got here, he has repeatedly talked about his process/the culture. And because the media, pods, Colts Twitter mostly love him, they have evangelized Ballard's way to the fanbase. And the result is that process has become as important, if not more important than the results.

It's going to be WR going 4-6, unless LAC talks themselves into Bowers. I don't think we have ever seen this before either. This might actually be one of the more predictable top 10s that we have seen in a long time. Praying that Verse or Turner falls to #15.

I wasn't suggesting do whatever it takes to be successful. But winning the right way is still winning. And until the winning happens, there should be some pushback, not just positive spin. But there isn't really a voice like that among the Colts "media" for whatever reason.

I hope that's not the case. That's what makes internet forums great...you can enter a conversation/debate without interrupting or talking over people.

I am all for it if they would trade him cheap. He certainly has all the makings of a change of scenery type. And even beyond being a chess piece, having someone that can push Downs or just having two good slot WRs out there (instead of AP) wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

That's true. And I don't think a totally negative slant would work at all. But I don't think trying to spin a positive narrative out of everything or hyping up every player is it either. There should be some type of balance. You are probably right though...most of the readers/listeners want that positive spin. And that's a bit of a problem on its own because while we want to cheer on our team, winning should always be the thing that matters most.

I loved him. Wrote essays here about how he was much more likely to be a good WR in the NFL than Pierce. Moore had great tape and route running. He was an early declare from a non Power 5 school. Only other guys to do that are Davante Adams and Courtland Sutton. And his analytics were great as well, with a 45% dominator ranking and breaking out at age 20. So far, I was incredibly wrong about this, well about Moore anyways. AP is not a good WR either. Given they both aren't good, those posts are wasted minutes of my life I will never get back No idea what has happnened in KC, but he's not been able to make the leap. And it can't be because Reid doesn't like young WRs, we saw Rice force Reid's hand as a rookie. It's especially concerning too, given his draft capital, KC's WR room AND that he's been playing with Mahomes. On the bright side, I guess you could look at Davante's first two seasons in GB and have some hope that Moore can break out at some point, given their similar college profiles. But Adams is a very different WR. For a late-round pick, sure...cause it's a late-round pick. But with Downs already in the slot, it's hard to see where he would get targets.

Yep. Maybe Joel and Holder are just being contrarians because the more vocal sentiment is dissatisfaction among the fanbase. But I have long held that the local "media" in Indy is incredibly Ballard-friendly, to the point that they will often carry his water. Doyel and Bowen (sorta) can be critical, but that's really it. Dakich doesn't count lol But guys like Keefer (when he was still here), Holder, the Indy Star guys, Chappy, all of the podcasters, bloggers...they all tend to operate like some extension of Colts PR with how they hype up players/moves and how they spin narratives. The bias is blatant.

Yep. They revamped their entire DL around Anderson, who could be an AP ER. They have elite DL potential. Hunter and Autry had 28 sacks last year alone. They are trying to be contenders.