Ballard Can't Mess This Up. Right?

[Lucky Colts Fan]

I envy the Browns and their #1 and #4 picks, but having the #3 pick in this draft might be even better.  Ballards' phone might literally blow up on draft-day depending on what the Browns and the Giants do at #1 and #2.  There are three "blue-chip" players (Barkley, Nelson, and Chubb) and three QBs (Rosen, Allen, and Darnold) that look worthy of a top-5 pick.  There might be a team or two desperate to get into the top-5 to try and get one of these six players.

 

So the way I see it, Ballard will either have his pick of great players at #3, or his pick of trades from teams looking to snag one of those six players in the top-5.  I understand there will be some that nit-pick no matter what Ballard does, but we should come away from this draft with either a GREAT player, or a boatload of good players.  (Hopefully, both )

 

Unless Ballard drafts Baker Mayfield at #3, he should come out of this draft lookin, feelin, and smellin like a million bucks.

 

God, I can't wait for that first domino to fall at 8pm April 26th.  Get yo popcorn!

 

[Gigc]

it doesn't look like it. but fate can be fickle. Players who look like they'll be great fail. It happens every year. And then, injuries are always the X factor. 

Remember Steve Emtman? Was a SURE all pro. Injuries wrecked him before he could ever make a mark.

[BOTT]

28 minutes ago, Gigc said:

it doesn't look like it. but fate can be fickle. Players who look like they'll be great fail. It happens every year. And then, injuries are always the X factor. 

Remember Steve Emtman? Was a SURE all pro. Injuries wrecked him before he could ever make a mark.

That and he gobbled down roids like a race horse

[crazycolt1]

11 minutes ago, BOTT said:

That and he gobbled down roids like a race horse

Yep, him, Brian Bosworth and Tony Mandarich were three of a kind.

[BlueShoe]

It would be very hard to make a decision to mess this all up. 

 

That said, as pointed out above, injuries can happen. 

 

There are a lot of good decisions for Ballard to make and very few bad ones. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

7 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

Yep, him, Brian Bosworth and Tony Mandarich were three of a kind.

Yet Bo didn't take any steroids and ran over Bosworth much like Barkley will over any LB.

[ColtsBlitz]

From what I know about past drafts, teams will go QB over anything, this time, like last year, Barkley will be the exception as was Garrett. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

Ballard cant screw this up because he cant go wrong. He has Barkley, Chubb, and Nelson to choose from. If anyone thinks taking Nelson is screwing it up at 3 then talk to Andrew Luck, I bet he disagrees.

[crazycolt1]

1 minute ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Ballard cant screw this up because he cant go wrong. He has Barkley, Chubb, and Nelson to choose from. If anyone thinks taking Nelson is screwing it up at 3 then talk to Andrew Luck, I bet he disagrees.

The first pick will not be the determining factor on how this draft will be graded. There are other players who will drafted. Just saying.

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

The first pick will not be the determining factor on how this draft will be graded. There are other players who will drafted. Just saying.

It wont I agree but taking Nelson would be great for Andrew.

[crazycolt1]

10 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

It wont I agree but taking Nelson would be great for Andrew.

With Allen climbing the QB boards it could get very interesting on what the 3rd pick is worth.

I think Ballard will be getting a few calls for that 3rd pick.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, crazycolt1 said:

With Allen climbing the QB boards it could get very interesting on what the 3rd pick is worth.

I think Ballard will be getting a few calls for that 3rd pick.

If the Broncos and Jets don't get a QB in Free Agency maybe we can trade down and get the 5th or 6th and take Chubb or Nelson + have another pick to boot? I have a funky feeling Denver will land Cousins though, Elway is Great like that!

[John Hammonds]

Yep.  It's possible to screw up a perfect situation.  Just ask the 2014 Cleveland Browns.  5 picks in 3 rounds.  How do you screw that up?
I had the privilege of being the Browns GM in the Colts Authority 3 round mock draft that year.

My mock picks:

1a - QB Derek Carr

1b - WR Odell Beckham Jr

2 - RB Carlos Hyde

3a - G Jack Mewhort

3b - LB Chris Borland

 

Their actual picks:

1a - CB Justin Gilbert

1b - QB Johnny Manziel

2 - G Joel Bitonio

3a - ILB Christian Kirksey

3b - RB Terrence West

 

*nuclear facepalm*

[CR91]

I can honestly see the browns taking barkley first overall and then take Josh Allen or Sam darnold, but i'll throw a curve ball. Browns stick with kizer for another year and draft calvin ridley instead. An offense of josh gordon calvin ridley and saquan barkely. That would do damage.

[Boiler_Colt]

There will always be someone that hates every pick we make.

[ColtsBlitz]

We aren’t taking into account the Jets may trade with the Giants or Browns. Not likely, but if they want a guy, they’ll reach a bit to get him, especially if it’s a QB. In that case Barkley or Chubb would be guaranteed to be on the board. 

[ColtsBlueFL]

3 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

With Allen climbing the QB boards it could get very interesting on what the 3rd pick is worth.

I think Ballard will be getting a few calls for that 3rd pick.

 

For the most part, calls will be in and potential deals done by gentlemen's agreement a period of time before draft day. If a certain targeted player make it through, then the deal is completed on the phone on draft day.  If a targeted player gets taken the trade gets cancelled.  Player names are usually not discussed, just the logistics.

[BOTT]

5 hours ago, ColtsBlitz said:

From what I know about past drafts, teams will go QB over anything, this time, like last year, Barkley will be the exception as was Garrett. 

Garrett was an exception because of the QB class.

[BOTT]

2 hours ago, CR91 said:

I can honestly see the browns taking barkley first overall and then take Josh Allen or Sam darnold, but i'll throw a curve ball. Browns stick with kizer for another year and draft calvin ridley instead. An offense of josh gordon calvin ridley and saquan barkely. That would do damage.

That would be horrible. What's the use of having 2 stud receivers and a crappy QB?

[Trueman]

2 minutes ago, BOTT said:

That would be horrible. What's the use of having 2 stud receivers and a crappy QB?

 

That, and Ridley isn’t even rated that highly. He’s just the best in weak receiver class.

 

That said, even if his last name was Johnson I’d question the rationale.

[CR91]

27 minutes ago, BOTT said:

That would be horrible. What's the use of having 2 stud receivers and a crappy QB?

 

He's crappy because he wasn't a pro bowler his first year? Neither were Goff and Wentz. Not to mention how horrible overall the browns were. It's not all on kizer

[BOTT]

1 minute ago, CR91 said:

 

He's crappy because he wasn't a pro bowler his first year? Neither were Goff and Wentz. Not to mention how horrible overall the browns were. It's not all on kizer

No, it because he wasn't very good at ND and I don't think he will be very good in the pros.

[CR91]

24 minutes ago, Trueman said:

 

That, and Ridley isn’t even rated that highly. He’s just the best in weak receiver class.

 

That said, even if his last name was Johnson I’d question the rationale.

 

Not rated highly? Every mock has him basically going 8th to the bears. I've even seen 5th to the broncos

[IndyScribe]

So many things you can do. Trade down, draft Chubb, Nelson, Barkley, etc. I think Ballard ends up trading down though.

[CR91]

2 minutes ago, BOTT said:

No, it because he wasn't very good at ND and I don't think he will be very good in the pros.

 

Kizer had his moments. He's just surrounded by a bad team. It's just a different idea to the same ol

[chad72]

9 minutes ago, CR91 said:

 

Kizer had his moments. He's just surrounded by a bad team. It's just a different idea to the same ol

 

Kizer was inaccurate at ND, he is inaccurate at the pros as well. Consistency with accuracy is something very hard to fix in a QB, Kizer does have good streaky moments but his bad ones outnumber the good ones. Hue gave him plenty of chances. But then, that team doesn't know how to win either, and it starts at the top with Hue, who I am not sure how he survived 1-31.

[CR91]

13 minutes ago, chad72 said:

 

Kizer was inaccurate at ND, he is inaccurate at the pros as well. Consistency with accuracy is something very hard to fix in a QB, Kizer does have good streaky moments but his bad ones outnumber the good ones. Hue gave him plenty of chances. But then, that team doesn't know how to win either, and it starts at the top with Hue, who I am not sure how he survived 1-31.

 

Again it's just an idea. They could always trade up from their second round pick to get Lamar Jackson

[dgambill]

6 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Yet Bo didn't take any steroids and ran over Bosworth much like Barkley will over any LB.

No offense but Barkley avgs less than a yard after contact...sooo umm no. He is great back and making people miss but running over people like Bo? No. He was actually shut down quite a bit last year. He either had huge games or nothing. He does have some question marks.

[Four2itus]

No, but fans can can sure mess up their minds about how THEY think this should go. 

[Trueman]

1 hour ago, CR91 said:

 

Not rated highly? Every mock has him basically going 8th to the bears. I've even seen 5th to the broncos

 

For a receiver to be drafted in the top 4, you have to be a pretty special prospect.

 

Ridley isn’t on that level.

[CR91]

2 hours ago, Trueman said:

 

For a receiver to be drafted in the top 4, you have to be a pretty special prospect.

 

Ridley isn’t on that level.

 

What difference does one spot make?

[Trueman]

1 hour ago, CR91 said:

 

What difference does one spot make?

 

I said top 4 because of Cleveland’s pick.

 

He’s not going top 5 either . Hell, I doubt he goes top 10 unless someone reaches.

 

 
 

[GoColts8818]

Its the NFL draft any team can screw up any pick any year.

[bhougland]

I think there is a chance for him to mess it up, and in my mind that is taking Minkah at #3.

[Four2itus]

He will not mess this up. Will fans think he has?....bet on it. 

[Coffeedrinker]

On 3/4/2018 at 1:11 PM, crazycolt1 said:

Yep, him, Brian Bosworth and Tony Mandarich were three of a kind.

I would not put Mandrich in the same sentence.  yes Mandrich started to live the hype he received but he settled down and actually played quite well at guard for a few years with the Colts.

[shasta519]

He could...but it won't be easy.

 

One way to do it would be to stay pat at #3 AND then whiff on that pick. But I haven't really seen any realistic pick at that spot that would be a true whiff. It would be hard to fault him for taking someone like Chubb...and while a guy like Nelson would be a bad pick because of the value...it's very like he won't bust. I think Barkley and Fitzpatrick will also be productive players.

 

And if he trades back, he will have fall-back guys like Edmunds, Smith, Ward, James, Nelson, Davenport, etc. that he can still pick and have extra picks. To mess that up, he would have to trade so far down in the 1st round to that point that he misses out one of the top 2 players at DE, LB, DT, S and CB. But that won't happen.

 

My preference has long been leaning towards trading down a few spots to get extra day two picks. Even better if he could pull it off twice and still end up drafting in the top 10-15 range (trade with the NYJ and MIA for example). I really like Chubb, but I am greedy and I want four picks on day two to get starters at WR, RB, OL and some other position. And if I can get those picks AND still get a top defensive player in round 1, that's what I would do. 

[Coffeedrinker]

19 hours ago, dgambill said:

No offense but Barkley avgs less than a yard after contact...sooo umm no. He is great back and making people miss but running over people like Bo? No. He was actually shut down quite a bit last year. He either had huge games or nothing. He does have some question marks.

I was going to say something similar.  I think Barkley is going to be a great RB in the NFL.  But he is no where near Bo Jackson, not in speed, power, vision.

 

Hopefully Barkley doesn't have the degenerative hip issue that Bo had.  I am a Colts fan but I have always been a football fan and Bo Jackson was a fun player to watch.  Barkley has been the same, I have enjoyed watching him at Penn State (unless they were playing Michigan) and whether the Colts draft him or not, I look forward to watching him in the NFL.