NewColtsFan

Well…. If you see Murphy as a 3T and are not concerned about all the other players who can play there, you’re fine then with Murphy only playing roughly 25 percent of the snaps for perhaps 2-3 years? You’re ok with that for a first round pick? Because I thought Ballard went out of his way to say Buckner was a physical freak of nature who might be able to play much longer than one might normally expect. Curious to your thoughts here.

I suppose Murphy being the next Donald is possible, but I wouldn’t think it’s likely. As for Smith playing right tackle, I believe I was simply echoing Ballard’s initial viewpoint. That Smith’s short arms made him an unlikely RT. And that he had to be talked into it by Morocco Brown and Ed Dodds. I don’t think I was stating MY personal view. As for skillset vs measurements. I think it’s been an issue for all of us because Ballard has such specific requirements for each position. So we factor that into our judgements.

To your first paragraph…. I think he doesn’t fit the Colts profile. I also think he’d be a good player for us. But I wouldn’t understand the point of signing Davis and Bryan and then draft a player who will take many snaps from them. Also, guys like Dayo, Lewis, and Paye have position versatility. So the Colts would appear to have plenty of options. I appreciate Ballard’s comment about not passing up a great player even if not a position of need. So maybe it’s possible. I’m just wondering where Murphy might be on Ballard’s Big Board.

Personally…. I’m hoping and praying you’re wrong. I don’t even think Murphy is a Ballard type of player. He’s not tall or long or rangy or athletic. He’s a 6’1” 300 pound ball of muscle. I’m not saying he’s not a good player, he is. But CB has never drafted or signed a player with that body type or athletic background. Is it possible the Colts draft Murphy? Yes. I’m just hoping it doesn’t happen. I’d be scratching my head forever. Just my two cents.

Well…. I haven’t made those arguments. So I’ll offer my response next week. You’re free to ignore it. But I’d like other people here to see it. At least it would be on the record. Enjoy the draft!

Doug…. I do have a response that I’d like to share with you, but not today. I think we should all be focused on the 2024 draft and not talking about history. And that’s my view for the rest of the draft and weekend as well. So, I’ll try and give you a response next Monday. Hope that’s ok. Cheers! NCF

I don’t really have a hot take, or a bold take. But I’ll offer this….. Ballard won’t use all 7 rounds of the draft. He’s done that twice before. 2017: his first year drafting, Ballard was done about 1/3rd of the way into the 5th round. 2019: Ballard had made enough trades to have 3 picks back to back to back toward the bottom of R6. So there is precedent. I think CB taps out after R5 or R6.

The reason I believe Lattimore would have leverage is that the Colts don’t want to trade for a player who has only one year of guaranteed money. The Colts would want to sign him long term, and restructure to lower his cap hit. The Colts aren’t trading all those assets to get the player for one year, they want him for several years. Out another year, he can say no thanks to the deal, play with the Saints one more year, then either re-sign with the Saints or become a free agent and go where he wants. The Colts need ML more than ML needs the Colts. To me, that gives him leverage. By the way, my apology to you. I wasn’t trying to insult you. By the way you presented your first post, I took it to imply this was an idea from Stampede. I wouldn’t have phrased my response quite so sharply had I understood this was your work. My bad. I began to think things didn’t add up because I went to the Stampede website and couldn’t find the story. Again, my apology.

Something doesn’t add up. I just looked up comments Beane made about how many players have first round grades. Quoting from the Buffalo News paper his quote was this: “Not as many as last year, but not 28” which is where Buffalo picks this year. So his quote isn’t close to saying they have zero players with first round grades. It’s almost the opposite.

You have the Colts trading a 2nd round pick to the Packers. And then trading the lower 2nd round pick plus Paye to the Saints. To me, that’s two 2nd round picks.

So by the logic used by the writer from Stampede Blue, the Colts are going to trade NOT ONE but TWO 2nd round picks PLUS Kwity Paye for a corner who has missed 17 games the last two seasons and is going to want a new contract with lots of guaranteed money plus he’ll have leverage for the new deal. And I think Lattimore turns 28 later this season. Beyond Silly. Now we know why Stampede Blue is a fringe website. Such nonsense. NOTE: Not blaming you Too Proud. Blaming Stampede Blue.

To be clear, I have no issue with anyone trying to read into what Ballard says. None. My comment is ONLY regarding the Behind the Pick video series. Thats all, only that. Otherwise, I join with everyone here trying to figure what Ballard is saying and is there anything to read between the lines every time CB speaks.

“Blackmon better than Hooker.” “The exact same injury.” ”picked off bad quarterbacks for a while.” Wow! Wow! And wow! After a few days away you’re back with a bang! Those are eye popping and jaw dropping viewpoints. Just my opinion.

Question…. Why does it have to be specific to anyone this year? Why can’t it just be a general rule that CB tries to follow? A core value, if you will.

And the biggest reason he wasn’t was the terrible knee injury he suffered. Missed one year and still had a hitch in his running form the next year. It wasn’t so much the ability as it was the devastating injury.

You’re going to love this answer coming within seconds of my responding to your previous post. If you would occasionally slow down and stop posting like you’re on a game show where the post is how many posts can you make in as short amount if time as possible. Ballard may have offered a multiyear deal? Maybe yes? Maybe no. But whether he did or not they settled on a one year deal with incentives. He can make decent money. There’s no downside here. Both sides are fine. The one person who isn’t is you. The arguments you make are not hard to poke holes in. Thats enough from this post. I now have to respond to yet another post from you.

I always love when you explain football to me as if I’m new to the sport and new to the Colts! Talk about LOL?!? Haven’t you heard the term “pillow contract” ??? It implies a nice soft place to land for a short period of time — one year. A good thing, not a bad. But many players don’t want a multi-year deal coming off a off-season where they don’t get the offers they expected to. So they do a 1-year pillow contract so they can give themselves a chance to have a good year and then cash-in big a year from now. And I always love when you ignore what I wrote in the previous post so I’m forced to turnaround and repeat my comments with the hope they finally register. It’s a very Moose-thing you do.

By my count there are 17 WRs on this chart. Unless one of them has a serious health issue I’d expect all of these 17 to go in the first two days of the draft. And maybe 2-3 more as well. All in the first 3 rounds.

FWIW: sometimes when a player like Blackmon gets a one year deal it’s the players call as much if not more than the front office. The player believes in themselves and are wanting a one year deal so they can go back into free agency sooner. They view a multiyear deal as below market value. Blackmon’s deal has a base plus incentives. It’s not an insult.

I wouldn’t be so quick to include Cross in your comments. It’s fine for you to say YOU don’t have confidence in Cross, but I think the coaches and front office certainly do. And I think the coaches and FO also have more confidence than you do in Juju and Jones and Flowers. Just saying….

FWIW: In his meeting with the local media last week, Steichen was asked what qualities he valued most in a receiver. His first answer came fast: Quickness. That really jumped out at me.

That's fair. And a good answer. I don’t think it’ll happen, but I think it’s fair and that’s all I want. Appreciate it.

You think the Ed Dodds you see in edited clips here is the same as the Ed Dodds who interviews with teams? I don’t know you or anyone would think that? He’s very much respected around the NFL which is why multiple teams ask to interview with them most every year.

Since his Press Conference, I’ve seen several articles sum it up by saying their takeaway is that Ballard said there’s almost no chance he’s moving up. Too expensive. Seems people hear what they want to hear.

As good as these pieces are, they are not strictly a documentary. So they can have audio of one thing and deliberately change the video to throw you off. Anything they want to do to nit give away any interest in any given player they can and will do. I’ve never understood attempts to guess who the staff was talking about in any given sound bite and yet it happens every year. Go figure….