NewColtsFan

The game you said Brents was humiliated, PFF graded him out in the mid-80’s. It was the lead story on the front of this website. Things aren’t quite as black and white as you might think.

Not liking Mo Allie-Cox is a very popular viewpoint. But here’s the problem if the Colts move on from him. Odds are the Colts will eventually have to move on from Ogletree and that will leave Woods as the only Y-tight end on the team and he’s coming off a year of not playing. When the Colts drafted Woods and Ogletree in the same class Ballard and the scouts said that it’s hard finding a true Y these days. Few colleges have them and most college tight ends are F’s. So the Colts took 2 that year. Moving on from MAC and AO leaves the Colts in the same spot. Needing Y tight ends, either by draft or free agency. And my read of the draft is that it’s not a good class of tight ends. I think this complicates things for the Colts.

Isn't this a new position for you? Aren’t you the same person who for months has been practically screaming that MPJ isn’t going anywhere. That he and his wife bought a farm complete with all the animals. That he LOVES Indy! Now you’re talking about not knowing if he’s telling the truth or posturing. Which is it? This is a big change.

Minshew? 20th? Hey, I’m as big of a Minshew fan as we have here. But 20th? Seriously? I think he’s maybe closer to 25th, at best. Honestly, he’s a high level backup, but he’s not a starter.

It’s also from CBS Sports.com. I’ll be polite and simply say they’re not very good. This is not a new position for me. It’s been my view since I arrived here. So I don’t give their opinions much weight.

CBE…. I posted a king explanation of my confusion with your two posts. I’ve double checked my notices, but as best as I can tell, you have yet to respond. Is that correct, or did I just miss it? Im guessing you’re waiting for a good long moment to respond? Just checking.

Jones.

Good post. But FWIW, I’m not even sure Purdy is top-10 yet, much less top-5. He might be someday, I just don’t think that day is today. And I say all that as someone who likes Purdy a lot.

CBE….. first, everything I’m going to write is out of respect. Please don’t read anything with a negative tone. None is intended. Apologies in advance, this will be a long post. Your views on corners are head scratching to me. In more than 55 years of following the NFL, including 30 of covering the NFL I’ve never heard anyone suggest that corner is the toughest position to evaluate. Maybe it’s true, but I have no knowledge of it. You say Ballard would’ve drafted a corner in the first if it was easy. I’m saying that has nothing to do with why Ballard hasn’t drafted a first round corner. A good zone defense doesn’t require it. In his 7 years as GM Ballard has only paid one corner $10m per — Gilmore. That’s not an accident or coincidence. And he’s only drafted three Corners in the 2ndR. Wilson in 17, Rock in 19, Brents in 23. That’s it. There are several other factors involved here…. And these are in no particular order…. You don’t need premium athletes to staff your defensive backfield. With zone you need good athletes but not great, which means you can find zone corners in R3-6 and you don’t have to spend a premium pick (top-50) unless you want to get one premium corner as Ballard did with Rock and Juju and Wilson. But otherwise, Ballard’s history is to use mid-round picks for the entire secondary, obviously including corners. Even Kenny Moore, who I believe has been the highest paid nickel corner only makes $8.25m a year (4/33) Another reason to for GMs like Ballard who prefer is that you can pay your best players good money, but unless they’re truly great, you don’t have to pay them premium money. For example, at the trade deadline many posters wanted Ballard to trade for Patrick Surtan. He wanted 5/100 from the Cowboys. I kept saying the most CB had paid a corner was 2/20 to Gilmore. Eventually he got 5/95 from Dallas. Ballard would never pay that to any corner. Ballard pays his entire secondary good money, but not great money. He clearly doesn’t believe he needs to. Is it possible the Colts draft a corner in the 1st? I think it’s possible, but not likely. But I think if we did go corner in the first, it wouldn’t be at pick 15. I think Ballard would be more likely to trade down once or twice before taking a corner late in the 1st or trade out of the first to the top of the second. Again, sorry for the length of the post, a lot of ground to cover.

Question: Is Robinson an edge, or is he a 3-tech DT?

McLauren is not a free agent. Wash has no incentive to trade him.

CBE…. Please forgive me. I’ll be happy to write an explanation of my viewpoint. But my morning today is busy. It’ll take me a few more hours before I can get the time. Apologies.

This will not be a popular post. This info is coming out of the Senior Bowl over the last few weeks. 1. That it’s not a very good draft. 2. It’s being called a 4-round draft. After that, it dries up pretty quickly. We’re talking roughly 150 players +/- 3. That it leans toward offense. More talent on that side of the ball. I have not heard or read anything yet about strongest or weakest positions, but that will eventually surface. Reminder: Everyone sees the same thing differently. 32 teams, 32 very different Big Boards. And the further you get away from pick #1 the more difference of opinion there is. You’d be shocked over just how different the 32 Big Boards actually look.

Sure there is. If the Ballard/Steichen duo want a WR or a DL, even an OL…. It’s all entirely possible. Your safest approach is to be open and flexible to possibilities. Especially this early in the process. We are two full months away from the draft and there will be a great deal of info that surfaces between now and the draft.

Ballard started with 7 draft picks and ended with 12. At the time, instant analysis, his draft was called the third best. Everyone grades a draft right after it happens. Theres a difference between grading a draft in the days right after the draft, which everyone does, and a grade done a year later for click bait. I take those with a grain of salt because none of us knows until after three years. But Jared accepted this years analysis of last years draft as informative when it’s not. He accepted it because he’s not in the Ballard camp so anything he can use to build a case against CB he does.

How? I stated smart football people don’t rank draft classes for 3 years. NFL.com knows this, but they do this now to feed the masses for instant analysis. They know this is bogus, but they do it anyway simply for the clicks. So I don’t buy into it. How is that contradictory?

Would you feel better if I listed it as .0881?

You have my complete admiration for talking publicly about your own condition. Not easy to do. I doubt most would be as brave. 100 percent respect!

Im pretty sure your blood alcohol level would have been…………… .881

Well…. There’s barely a word here that I agree with. So I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Sorry.

And of course you’ve already forgotten drafting 101. You don’t know the quality of the class for three years. NFL.com does it to feed the fans with instant analysis. You want to buy in to it, fine. Not me.

There are hundreds of posters here and I don’t pretend to know everyone’s view of Ballard. So I’m going to guess you’re not a fan of Chris Ballard? And that you’d be happy if Irsay announced he was firing CB today. Would that be close to your view? Because there there was barely an ounce of optimism in that post. More like a rant. Hey, you’re entitled to any view you want, and you’re certainly not alone, there are plenty of posters here who would pop champagne bottles the day Ballard is fired. I’m just trying to clarify your position. You’d think a 9-8 season last year would make you at least a little optimistic about the future, but apparently not. So be it.

FWIW: I wouldn’t read too much into it. DJ confessed that he thinks there’s almost no chance Brockers falls all the way to Cincy. But he said he did it because it’s something he himself would like to see happen. The encouraging take away is that there are going to be a good number of really good players available at 15, and even beyond if the Colts wish to trade down. I view that as win-win. The Colts will have options.

When Ballard picked Bradley as the DC, he said at the time that his system was the closest he could find to Flus. Not a match, but CB thought the players would be able to pick it up quickly and play fast. That was key for Ballard, to play fast. Burns and Allen will either stay with their teams, or, if they go elsewhere, will be paid more than CB would pay. As for paying someone $10-13m to improve a position if weakness, my answer is going to frustrate you…. Not if the position is one that Ballard has demonstrated for his entire 7 years that he doesn’t value as much as other positions. And his record about safety is as clear as he can make it. Sorry…. Not trying to yank your chain here.

You see a lot of JAGS. I don’t. I see young players learning. You see our pass rush as subpar, and I don’t. I think the Colts were roughly top-5 this year. You’re going to point to pressure, sure I’d like more. If the Colts have a new DL coach, and he is said to be great and a new DB coach, isn’t that a good thing? I see things getting better, yet your post was entirely negative. I didn’t understand it. Still don’t. Look, you don’t need my permission to talk Colts football. But I thought your post was unduly harsh. I see things differently. Sorry, if I was too harsh in my comments to you.