Expect The Unexpected With Ballard

[TaylorStillTruckedYou]

I’ll be the first to say that I was completely wrong about Ballard’s approach this FA.  I knew he wouldn’t throw money, but I expected he’d atleast do whatever to get either Norwell or Hitchens.  At this point I feel very confident that Ballard trades down for Davenport, and will go WR in the 2nd.  Either Sutton or Moore.  I just have that feeling.  Just expect the unexpected from now on, when it comes to the Colts.  Can’t get mad at a few hiccups.    

[OffensivelyPC]

We might trade down, but I don't see us trading down that far unless I'm way off base as to where I think Davenport actually goes, which at best is somewhere in the 20s overall.  Personally, I'd wait till the second round to take him.  But I'm not all that high on him.

[BProland85]

If Ballard were to trade down with a team like Cleveland at 4 or the Jets at 6, I would hope they could still land Chubb. If they trade down with either Miami at 11 or Cincy at 12, I would hope the target would be Quenton Nelson, possibly after a slight trade back up a few spots. 

[Shive]

14 minutes ago, AddaiStillTruckedYou said:

At this point I feel very confident that Ballard trades down for Davenport, and will go WR in the 2nd.  Either Sutton or Moore.  I just have that feeling.  Just expect the unexpected from now on, when it comes to the Colts.  Can’t get mad at a few hiccups.    

I'm not a fan of Davenport and just don't get the 1st rd hype for him. He was good, not great against low level OL and struggled at the Senior Bowl against higher level (not necessarily even average NFL level) OL. For me, I would have a hard time taking him above the mid 2nd rd, let alone at 20.

[Shive]

2 minutes ago, BProland85 said:

If Ballard were to trade down with a team like Cleveland at 4 or the Jets at 6, I would hope they could still land Chubb. If they trade down with either Miami at 11 or Cincy at 12, I would hope the target would be Quenton Nelson, possibly after a slight trade back up a few spots. 

Buffalo at 12 now.

[ColtsBlitz]

 

[shasta519]

It's still early...and these deals have been huge...so it's still a wait and see. But if Ballard doesn't actually throw some money around...I will have some questions.

[OffensivelyPC]

12 minutes ago, Shive said:

I'm not a fan of Davenport and just don't get the 1st rd hype for him. He was good, not great against low level OL and struggled at the Senior Bowl against higher level (not necessarily even average NFL level) OL. For me, I would have a hard time taking him above the mid 2nd rd, let alone at 20.

A while back I said I might even slap a 3rd round grade on him.  I don't necessarily disagree with that still, but I think when you account for positional value, he should at least be drafted in the 2nd round.  He does havea lot of good tools to work with and a lot of what he's missing is experience against better talent.  Admittedly, that's problem a cannot be ignored in his evaluation.  But similar to how teams reach for QBs, teams also reach for edge rushers.  I think some team who can afford it takes a plunge and selects him earlier than his grade might bear out.

[stitches]

Ballard told us what to expect and he's doing exactly what he told us. The real question here is why did you expect him to lie to us? 

 

 

^this is from 3 weeks ago at the Senior Bowl. 

 

Hitchens got massively overpaid. Just scroll through the mock off-season threads here and see what the biggest expected number for Hitchens was. The biggest one I've seen is 7M a year. He got 9M!!! He's the 4th best paid MLB in the league! Is he anywhere close to the 4th best? Hell no. Sammy Watkins got overpaid too... 

 

The only one that we can have some gripes about is Norwell, but he had a very solid market and he had his choice of the litter of teams to go to. It's not like we were the only ones wanting him and prepared to pay him. He just chose another team. Nothing we can do about that one. 

[boo2202]

16 minutes ago, stitches said:

Ballard told us what to expect and he's doing exactly what he told us. The real question here is why did you expect him to lie to you? 

 

 

^this is from 3 weeks ago at the Senior Bowl. 

 

Hitchens got massively overpaid. Just scroll through the mock off-season threads here and see what the biggest expected number for Hitchens was. The biggest one I've seen is 7M a year. He got 9M!!! He's the 4th best paid MLB in the league! Is he anywhere close to the 4th best? Hell no. Sammy Watkins got overpaid too... 

 

The only one that we can have some gripes about is Norwell, but he had a very solid market and he had his choice of the litter of teams to go to. It's not like we were the only ones wanting him and prepared to pay him. He just chose another team. Nothing we can do about that one. 

He should've also said we won't pay top level talent, top level money. I understand not wanting to over pay for guys such as Watkins, Robinson off his injury, and hitchens. But the Norwell contract was within reach. I guess we just need to draft a guard every year so when time comes we don't have to pay him what he's worth. Ballard also has to spend like a certain percent of our cap (what percent). 

[TaylorStillTruckedYou]

30 minutes ago, Shive said:

I'm not a fan of Davenport and just don't get the 1st rd hype for him. He was good, not great against low level OL and struggled at the Senior Bowl against higher level (not necessarily even average NFL level) OL. For me, I would have a hard time taking him above the mid 2nd rd, let alone at 20.

It’s just the fact, that he fits the mold of what Ballard wants in a Defense.  Big, Fast, Strong.  You can’t teach natural talent.  I always look back at the Marcus Peters pick.  I for sure thought he would drop to the 20’s.

[Dr. T]

I am leery on Davenport as well. He is big, but seems lumbering and gets some sacks because he lucks into them. Reminds me somewhat of the hype around a certain German that will go un-named as one of our failed first round picks in the past.

[SwissColtsFan]

I mean, I’m not surprised the Colts haven’t been active so far with some of the contracts that have been reported.

 

The two guys I would’ve really liked to see in Indy were Norwell and Hitchens.

 

Am I slightly disappointed not to get Norwell - yes, but we all knew he’d have a strong market and was going to get top dollar.

 

Hitchens on the other hand? Wow that’s a lot of money! I’m glad the Colts didn’t sign him for $9 million a year.

 

At this point, yeah, I don’t know what to expect from Ballard - but I’m sure we will end Free Agency with a stronger roster than we have now!

[Defjamz26]

So far he’s done nothing unexpected. Hitchens got overpaid and was never a sure thing regardless. We were never getting Norwell.

 

Ballard is doing what he did last year. Sitting out the first day or so of FA where people get overpaid, and waiting for the good, Mid-level players to slip through the cracks so he can sign them to a short-Mid level contract. Then he’ll have another great draft.

[James]

15 minutes ago, boo2202 said:

He should've also said we won't pay top level talent, top level money. I understand not wanting to over pay for guys such as Watkins, Robinson off his injury, and hitchens. But the Norwell contract was within reach. I guess we just need to draft a guard every year so when time comes we don't have to pay him what he's worth. Ballard also has to spend like a certain percent of our cap (what percent). 

 

How do you know Ballard didn't offer Norwell top level money? 

 

Could it be that Norwell just prefer the Jax because 1) better overall team (i.e. closer to a Super Bowl), 2) no state tax, 3) weather.. etc etc. 

 

 

[IndyScribe]

17 minutes ago, boo2202 said:

He should've also said we won't pay top level talent, top level money. I understand not wanting to over pay for guys such as Watkins, Robinson off his injury, and hitchens. But the Norwell contract was within reach. I guess we just need to draft a guard every year so when time comes we don't have to pay him what he's worth. Ballard also has to spend like a certain percent of our cap (what percent). 

It was but if we offered the same contract to him as the Jags did, he was always going to choose the Jags. 

[Luck 4 president]

We have 72 million in cap. We need to spend per the CBA rules (89% over 4 years). If we don't then we are just wasting cap and it wont all roll over. I know CB is trying to be frugal like last year where we landed Hankins, but honestly we got lucky he didn't receive a better offer. And CB keeps saying build through the draft, yet he's letting all our own guys walk. I don't really understand that unless they are asking way too much. I still trust him, I just wish given our cap space, we'd be bigger players in FA. 

[boo2202]

6 minutes ago, James said:

 

How do you know Ballard didn't offer Norwell top level money? 

 

Could it be that Norwell just prefer the Jax because 1) better overall team (i.e. closer to a Super Bowl), 2) no state tax, 3) weather.. etc etc. 

 

 

Very true. The brutal truth for us colts fans is to realize that we are 3-4 years away. Teams that are making the splashes are legit contenders for the next few years. Sometimes the truth hurts. 

[bananabucket]

7 minutes ago, boo2202 said:

Very true. The brutal truth for us colts fans is to realize that we are 3-4 years away. Teams that are making the splashes are legit contenders for the next few years. Sometimes the truth hurts. 

 

We don't have to be.  But we sure as hell will be if we're building 2-3 good players at a time through the draft.

 

The Jags basically built their D through free agency.  Sure they had picks like Ramsey, Ngakoue, and Jack, but they wouldnt be nearly as good without signing the likes of Jackson, Campbell, and Bouye.

 

edit:  I'm not trying to kill Ballard for not bringing in a couple guys I wanted.  I'm just saying spending some of the money we have isnt a bad thing.

[IndyScribe]

16 minutes ago, Luck 4 president said:

We have 72 million in cap. We need to spend per the CBA rules (89% over 4 years). If we don't then we are just wasting cap and it wont all roll over. I know CB is trying to be frugal like last year where we landed Hankins, but honestly we got lucky he didn't receive a better offer. And CB keeps saying build through the draft, yet he's letting all our own guys walk. I don't really understand that unless they are asking way too much. I still trust him, I just wish given our cap space, we'd be bigger players in FA. 

Who would you have spent the money on? You really want to overpay Watkins, Robinson, or Hitchens?

[chad72]

We will get Zach Fulton and/or Josh Sitton for what they are worth.

 

Grigson signed free agents during the first day or first week prematurely, what did it get us? Arthur Jones, Gosder Cherilus, Laron Landry??? Polian rarely signed free agents. I think Ballard is somewhere in the middle and it will pay off eventually. Ted Thompson and Ozzie Newsome build through the draft a lot with a few FA pickups, and we praise them. But then, Ballard deviates from what Grigson did, and we go knee jerk on him??? 

 

The player should fit, and then also be willing to come here. Hate to say it, we are not as rosy a destination and the only way to fix it is to win with a healthy Luck, to lure free agents.

[Luck 4 president]

3 minutes ago, IndyScribe said:

Who would you have spent the money on? You really want to overpay Watkins, Robinson, or Hitchens?

I probably would overpay for Robinson because I know how good he is. Hitchens? No, I'd let him walk at 9 million. I just wish we would at least resign our own FAs. So far we've only resigned Vinatieri. 

[IndyScribe]

Just now, Luck 4 president said:

I probably would overpay for Robinson because I know how good he is. Hitchens? No, I'd let him walk at 9 million. I just wish we would at least resign our own FAs. So far we've only resigned Vinatieri. 

None of our free agents are really worth re-signing. As for Robinson, I understand why the Colts haven't spent big on him. 

[Southside Hoosier Fan]

Really expected a big splash from the Colts and Ballard. So far I am sick to my stomach. At this point we need to Resign Mingo and Melvin, before they too are gone. Tair Whitehead come on down. Trumaine Johnson come on Down. I think we all assumed OL would be addressed in FA so far, it isnt. If Barkley is there at 3 now you have to take him. At this pace we will be picking top 10 again next year as well.