Shive

No way I'd give him that contract, especially with that much guaranteed. Making aggressive moves doesn't always mean it's the right moves. Every year we see teams throw a ton of FA money at FAs that give them a fraction of that in return. They gave Ridley insane money and now Sneed. Whether those moves pan out for them remains to be seen. I don't think the other teams in the division got that much better..

I'm not sure if this jumpstarts the safety market again, but it could have been what a handful of teams were waiting on. I'd love either of those two, but don't know if they'd want more than we want to offer.

Always a fan of Lance Zeirlein's scouting reports. Also a fan of: Pro Football Network: https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-draft-scouting-profiles/ The Ringer: https://nfldraft.theringer.com/ NFL Draft Buzz: https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/positions/ALL/1/2024 - can be useful for some prospects, but also can contradict at times. Definitely hit or miss. The Draft Network: https://www.thedraftnetwork.com/ - Used to be great but has been imploding (insane article about that just popped up the other day). Still some good content on there for now, but I don't see a site that can't pay anyone staying up for much longer.

I'm hoping this being over with will get things moving again on the FA CB market.

The Titans has a bunch of cap space, so I'm curious what they kind of contract they're giving him. For anyone that gets upset about the minimal draft capital given up, keep in mind that the biggest hurdle in this trade was always Sneed's contract.

I loved Witherspoon as a prospect and even though his inconsistent production is concerning, I'd still be willing to sign him to a cheap contract.

I absolutely believe there was contact with KC about Sneed, but I think the info about how far things were is likely his agent playing up interest in him to drive up the price with KC. I started thinking about every trade Ballard has done and I don't recall there being any noise before the trade was announced (Buckner, Ryan, etc), which is pretty consistent with what we've seen from Ballard and our FO. The fact that there were multiple people reporting about this "imminent" Sneed trade tells me that we were never anywhere as close as reports made it seem. Personally, I'd love an veteran presence brought in at CB, but I don't think Sneed is that player. The cost of draft capital, a market setting contract, and concerns about a lingering knee injury are enough for me to be happy nothing had materialized. Sneed isn't even the best CB on his own team, isn't even a top 5 CB in the league (potentially not even top 10), so a market setting contract would be the antithesis of Ballard's philosophy of not paying A money for B players.

I agree with both of you on Cross as well. Bradley seems to make players earn his trust before he'll play them (unless forced to by injuries) and it was clear he didn't trust Cross for a while, but seemed to as the season progressed. I think this season they've got him penciled in at starting SS. I hope they keep Harrison at LB and allow him more dedicated time there to develop as a LB. We desperately need a LB that can cover and he can provide that. Thomas and Scott will definitely battle it out in camp, but hopefully that's for FS2 and behind a serviceable vet we being in via FA.

I think there's some CBs that'll be available in day 2 that fit Ballards mold, but I definitely can agree that we need a veteran presence in the secondary. Going pass catcher at 15 won't proclude us from getting a solid CB later. I'm almost positive that's the coach Dayo trains with in the offseason.

The Colts FA thread typically becomes that once we don't sign who people want. Is what it is and to be honest, it's just way too hard to keep moving the Ballard criticisms out if this thread. I disagree. At times last season, our offense couldn't move the ball at all and it was 3 and out after 3 and out. That cripples a defense. There's still a handful of good FA safeties out there and some ok CBs. We're 1 week into FA. This is typically when Ballard starts making more moves, so I'm confident we'll see more soon. It won't be Sneed, but at this point I've come to realize that I wouldn't want to pay top CB money for a guy that isn't even the best CB on his team, let alone a top 5 (maybe top 10) CB with a questionable knee. I also think we see Pierce taking another step with AR back to take advantage of him constantly getting open deep. Personally, if we don't go pass catcher in the 1st or 2nd, I'd love Malik Washington to give us a YAC beast. Point being, there's a lot of paths available at this point, so no need to stress just yet. If this is the roster we go into TC with, I'll be concerned.

I don't think we necessarily need to spend significant capital on a pass rusher this offseason. One of the biggest issues we had last season was that QBs were able to throw so quickly on our secondary, effectively neutralizing any pass rush wins we may have had. Boosting the secondary should help our pass rush, as well as the addition of our new DL coach. Davis' contract was hardly a significant cap hit and is in no way a barrier to us signing a safety.

After starting like 4-5 games (can't remember the exact timeframe), Jones was rated as one of the top rookie CBs and well among all CBs. He definitely had some rough spots, but there were a lot of good things there as well. I'd like to add a veteran CB and S, but I'm rather bullish on the CBs we already have (besides Baker Jr).

His comments were made on Pat McAfee's show

Personally, I don't put a ton of faith in Schefter's comments. Time will tell what the actual truth is, but I find it hard to believe multiple people had the same reporting of progressing trade talks, the Colts haven't made a single move since those talks supposedly began, and suddenly Shefter (who hasn't had any reporting on this so far) says that the two teams never had a single conversation with a smug * grin on his face. There's always the chance that Destin was fed purposefully incorrect info and things weren't as far along as reported, but I don't buy what Shefter is selling. You're telling me our front office never made a single call to ask about Sneed? I don't buy it.

On the safety topic, I'm intrigued by Jordan Fuller. He was voted a captain 2 years in a row with the Rams, was a captain at Ohio State, and has been a solid deep safety whose a willing tackler. He checks the boxes for Ballard, although he did test very average at the combine. He had an injury that kept him out most of 2022, but bounced right back in 2023. He seems the the ascending talent that Ballard goes after. He's meeting with the Panthers this week, so me mentioning him probably means he ends up signing there, but I'm holding out hope.

I'll bet that the Colts are wanting to bring him back on a one year prove it deal, Ala Tyquan Lewis, to make sure he can stay healthy and Blackmon is looking for some longer-term security.

I was fairly "meh" on him. For a player his size, I didn't think he did a good enough job consistently creating separation. He tested well, but I didn't see that level of athleticism show up on tape as much as I would have liked. I think he was a guy you could draft late and hope he developed, but he didn't move the needle much for me, especially since Downs was my draft crush. I'm assuming it's from a perspective of injury history vs a current injury. Blackmon has spent more of his NFL career injured than not, so I understand the concern.

I'm assuming Blackmon is wanting more than the current market is offering. We also could be waiting until the potential Sneed trade and sign is done or dead before making any other large moves.

Touche I stand corrected and I appreciate the context. I still wouldn't mind Fuller, but I'm back on the Sneed hype train.

With Davis, I know he's been primarily a run stuffer with little pass rush production, but Lance Zerlein's comp for him as a prospect was Buckner. Not that that's what we're getting, but there's obviously some tools there. Sometimes a change of scenery and scheme can make all the difference. I'm optimistic, but don't have any expectations beyond DT depth that can rotate in and keep our starters fresh, while giving us less drop-off in talent than we got with Bryant. Our biggest pass rush issue last season seemed to be coverage based, so hopefully we're able to still address it before and possibly in the draft.

I'm entertaining the idea of just signing Fuller instead of trading for Sneed. Sneed is 2 years younger, but Fuller has been the better player. Fuller graded out as PFF's #6 CB last season (on a bad defense) and Sneed didn't even make the top 20. With Sneed, I think recency bias is playing a part in that he was ok all season then played great in the postseason. Was that a statistical oddity and you get an average CB at top CB money + draft capital to acquire? Or does he continue to trend upwards?

I don't think that's a conclusion that should be reached after 1 day of free agency where we re-signed 2 crucial FAs and extended another one. If we get to OTAs and still haven't made meaningful moves to upgrade the roster, I'll concede that that was Ballard's view. I think it's way too soon for that yet though.

He did when he was in Buffalo, but you're not wrong about the injuries.

Nobody told you not to express your opinion. You can post your opinion and other posters are free to respond to your opinion, even if that response is disagreeing. That's how this whole thing works.