Colts sign Eric Ebron (merge)

[southwest1]

11 minutes ago, Cynjin said:

 

Well, Capt. Luck likes him and I trust his opinion more than yours.

 

 

I'm not on Twitter, but I do enjoy reading jokes like this inspired by the documentary film maker Ken Burns. His Prohibition documentary was my favorite. I have a soft spot for rebels & bootlegs, but I digress. Well played CJN! 

 

Ebron will be a nice addition for us. 

[Jaredfor3]

Has potential to revitalize his career again and play up to his potential. Like the new addition. 

[jameszeigler834]

2 hours ago, tvturner said:

We have 72m to spend

Swoope hasn't proven anything and has been highly overrated on this board

We spend 7.5m of it and you guys flip?

 

Swoope was a proven mismatch in 2016 with luck he never got a chance to prove anything further last year cause he hurt his knee ending his season before it started so overrated is nonsense. Ebron isn't that great he drops more passes than he catches so 7.5 million that's not a good deal Ballard just contradicted himself again said he doesn't overspend he has now done it twice Autry was a backup and nothing more than a backup 17.8 million over 3 years 6.5 of that he gets this year then 7.5 million to Ebron who never put it together with the lions I'm sure a bunch of people will say I'm overreacting but that's terrible.

[southwest1]

24 minutes ago, #7ForDays said:

"Car was stolen and your women left you?"

 

Life's two biggest headaches gone all in one day? And ya'll say miracles don't happen.

Well, on the plus side, it has the makings of a decent blues song right? The only problem is Blues as a genre isn't meant to be happy. Reggae might work though. Musicians in that subset of music can make any traumatic experience sound like a didactic tool of self growth. 

 

To each their own, I guess.I know; I know. You were just being sarcastic. Got it.  

[Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoosiers]

20 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

Swoope was a proven mismatch in 2016 with luck he never got a chance to prove anything further last year cause he hurt his knee ending his season before it started so overrated is nonsense. Ebron isn't that great he drops more passes than he catches so 7.5 million that's not a good deal Ballard just contradicted himself again said he doesn't overspend he has now done it twice Autry was a backup and nothing more than a backup 17.8 million over 3 years 6.5 of that he gets this year then 7.5 million to Ebron who never put it together with the lions I'm sure a bunch of people will say I'm overreacting but that's terrible.

Swoope is a proven mismatch with 15 receptions in 2016?  I’ll take the TE Eric(k) who has the most receptions to age 24.

186 to be exact.

[runthepost]

32 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

Swoope was a proven mismatch in 2016 with luck he never got a chance to prove anything further last year cause he hurt his knee ending his season before it started so overrated is nonsense. Ebron isn't that great he drops more passes than he catches so 7.5 million that's not a good deal Ballard just contradicted himself again said he doesn't overspend he has now done it twice Autry was a backup and nothing more than a backup 17.8 million over 3 years 6.5 of that he gets this year then 7.5 million to Ebron who never put it together with the lions I'm sure a bunch of people will say I'm overreacting but that's terrible.

Please don’t post anymore...  Swoope is overrated 

[a06cc]

Eric drop rate is overblown. It was because he so called blow a game vs Carolina. He dropped 3 passes last season. 

[threeflight]

I have been critical of Ballard the past year, but this is one signing I can really get behind.

 

Being a Michigan native but now in S Cal, and not a Lions fan, I have however kept track of the Lions more closely than other teams besides the Colts.

 

Ebron is good.  Very good.  Big play ability and he is great at getting into the endzone.  I was surprised the Lions didn't try and retain him.

 

Very very good signing. 

[Shive]

56 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

Swoope was a proven mismatch in 2016 with luck he never got a chance to prove anything further last year cause he hurt his knee ending his season before it started so overrated is nonsense. Ebron isn't that great he drops more passes than he catches so 7.5 million that's not a good deal Ballard just contradicted himself again said he doesn't overspend he has now done it twice Autry was a backup and nothing more than a backup 17.8 million over 3 years 6.5 of that he gets this year then 7.5 million to Ebron who never put it together with the lions I'm sure a bunch of people will say I'm overreacting but that's terrible.

Autry had 5 sacks as a backup, which is half a sack behind our sack leader last season (Sheard). Also, only $6.5M of his contract is guaranteed. John Simon was also a back up that we signed to a decent contract and he played lights out.

 

I like Swoope, but the only thing he's shown is a few flashes in the pan. There's no telling how he'll do after recocing from the injury and being out of football for a year. For a guy so new to the game, a year off could derail him a bit.

 

Ebron has similar upside with a MUCH lower floor. It's a good signing to give us a proven TE talent that could still improve. If Swoope is the better TE, I'm sure he'll sit higher on the depth chart. Worst case, one of our TE4 or TE5 will get cut.

 

Signing these two guys doesn't contradict what Ballard has been saying. He's signed an ascending DE talent to a very team friendly deal and a talented, young TE that hasn't reached his potential to what looks to be another team friendly deal.

 

A word of advice, stop looking at the contract potential and look more at the guaranteed money and structure.

[tvturner]

58 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

Swoope was a proven mismatch in 2016 with luck he never got a chance to prove anything further last year cause he hurt his knee ending his season before it started so overrated is nonsense. Ebron isn't that great he drops more passes than he catches so 7.5 million that's not a good deal Ballard just contradicted himself again said he doesn't overspend he has now done it twice Autry was a backup and nothing more than a backup 17.8 million over 3 years 6.5 of that he gets this year then 7.5 million to Ebron who never put it together with the lions I'm sure a bunch of people will say I'm overreacting but that's terrible.

Ah yes, the days of the great mismatch Erik Swoope 

He hasn't shown anything and wasn't a mismatch...

Ebron has like the 5th most catches over 4 years for a TE

[GoColtsWin]

3 hours ago, WoolMagnet said:

2nd coming of Dilger / Pollard combo ?

Loved those two. Every time Dilger got tackled, he went down like a felled tree. Was good for an extra cpl of yards, just from falling forward. Ah, the good ol’ days!

[krunk]

I want to see Ebron and Swoope together in a package. Hard to cover.

[krunk]

Going to be some favorable mismatches we can create between Doyle, Ebron, Swoope.

[GoColts8818]

I love this forum for a week people have been screaming Ballard wont spend money and hasn’t signed anyone what’s wrong with him?  Now he has and people are screaming why is he spending money we don’t need this guy what’s wrong with him?

[GoColts8818]

11 minutes ago, krunk said:

Going to be some favorable mismatches we can create between Doyle, Ebron, Swoope.

Yes I think the likely hood the Colts keep three tight ends is lost on some.  It’s very possible both Ebron and Swoope make the team.  

[PrincetonTiger]

12 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

Yes I think the likely hood the Colts keep three tight ends is lost on some.  It’s very possible both Ebron and Swoope make the team.  

Ross Travis could be the odd man out

[Dark Superman]

How's Ebron's blocking skills?

[rock8591]

Great signing, basically a 6'4'' 253 lbs WR who can run a 4.60 40.

 

Good complement to Doyle.

[Dark Superman]

Ballard throwing $7-8 million at a backup TE but not willing to spend on a position of need such as an offensive lineman.

[Dark Superman]

55 minutes ago, PrincetonTiger said:

Ross Travis could be the odd man out

Practice squad if he doesn't make the final 53. Good depth to keep around if someone gets hurt.

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

5 hours ago, PrincetonTiger said:

Sounds like he has something to prove

Yup this might just be fun with this guy!!

[stitches]

Drops are overrated as a negative. When the difference between good and bad is 2 or 3 drops over a season, there are much more important things to consider and evaluate(like you know the 50-60 catches that the player makes). Yeah, it might be frustrating as a fan to see an obvious ridiculous drop once every 4-5 games, but those are a little drop in the ocean when you look in the big picture of the season.

[Gocolts-Rolltide]

I can see a formation:  Doyle and swoope inn line with  Travis,  ebron, Ty lined up outside 

[Horse Shoe Heaven]

1 hour ago, PrincetonTiger said:

Ross Travis could be the odd man out

Or odd man in!! My money is on him!

[esmort]

33 minutes ago, DarkSuperman said:

Ballard throwing $7-8 million at a backup TE but not willing to spend on a position of need such as an offensive lineman.

 

This complaint is getting old. No one even knows what our offers were for the OL players we could have had the highest offer and still not gotten them. I havent seen the Ebron contract details yet .. but sounds like he only gets a big part of the contract through incentives. I am sure if he earns his incentives he will be performing far above a backup level and will probably be worth that amount.

[Indyfan4life]

47 minutes ago, DarkSuperman said:

Ballard throwing $7-8 million at a backup TE but not willing to spend on a position of need such as an offensive lineman.

So can you share where you get your insider information from? How do you know we didn’t throw money at the FA Oline players but they didn’t want to come here? We aren’t a contender yet, and I guarantee that was a big reason for it. 

[Dark Superman]

Ebron signed a 2 year $15 million deal. Doyle signed a 3 year $19 million deal. So is Ebron making more annually over Doyle? If so, that can't feel good for Doyle after everything he's done here.

[esmort]

45 minutes ago, DarkSuperman said:

Ebron signed a 2 year $15 million deal. Doyle signed a 3 year $19 million deal. So is Ebron making more annually over Doyle? If so, that can't feel good for Doyle after everything he's done here.

 

Why don't you wait on the contract details... You don't know the structure or guarantees yet. Relax and tap the brakes. 

[Imrryr]

I just thought I would throw this graph up for you peeps.

From:

https://twitter.com/ChicagoColt/status/975909237443481601

 

sorry for poor image quality I am not sure how to do the twitter links directly like all you awesome peeps.

[TKnight24]

3 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

I love this forum for a week people have been screaming Ballard wont spend money and hasn’t signed anyone what’s wrong with him?  Now he has and people are screaming why is he spending money we don’t need this guy what’s wrong with him?

Can’t please everyone. Folks gonna complain regardless. NFL could cancel the cap space for one season, Colts sign the best player at every position, it’ll still be someone complaining that Andrew Luck still has a flip phone. They’ll find something to cry about

2 hours ago, DarkSuperman said:

Ballard throwing $7-8 million at a backup TE but not willing to spend on a position of need such as an offensive lineman.

Colts literally offered money to Jensen and had interest in Pouncey. A lot of you fail to realize FA is a 2-way street. It doesn’t matter how much you offer someone or if you’re the better team, what matters is if the player wants to come to your team. I’m sure Homey Badger has better deals than 1yr $7mil but he wanted to play for Houston so he signed. You can’t force players to play for you. Why don’t you guys understand that?

[Dark Superman]

2 hours ago, Indyfan4life said:

So can you share where you get your insider information from? How do you know we didn’t throw money at the FA Oline players but they didn’t want to come here? We aren’t a contender yet, and I guarantee that was a big reason for it. 

Players go where the money is... look at Norwell who Jacksonville made the highest paid guard in the NFL.

[Dark Superman]

32 minutes ago, TKnight24 said:

Can’t please everyone. Folks gonna complain regardless. NFL could cancel the cap space for one season, Colts sign the best player at every position, it’ll still be someone complaining that Andrew Luck still has a flip phone. They’ll find something to cry about

Colts literally offered money to Jensen and had interest in Pouncey. A lot of you fail to realize FA is a 2-way street. It doesn’t matter how much you offer someone or if you’re the better team, what matters is if the player wants to come to your team. I’m sure Homey Badger has better deals than 1yr $7mil but he wanted to play for Houston so he signed. You can’t force players to play for you. Why don’t you guys understand that?

The player wouldn't have visited a team if they weren't "interested" in going there. They go to the city that's willing to pay them the most.

[csmopar]

6 hours ago, jameszeigler834 said:

Swoope was a proven mismatch in 2016 with luck he never got a chance to prove anything further last year cause he hurt his knee ending his season before it started so overrated is nonsense. Ebron isn't that great he drops more passes than he catches so 7.5 million that's not a good deal Ballard just contradicted himself again said he doesn't overspend he has now done it twice Autry was a backup and nothing more than a backup 17.8 million over 3 years 6.5 of that he gets this year then 7.5 million to Ebron who never put it together with the lions I'm sure a bunch of people will say I'm overreacting but that's terrible.

Swope has 15 catches over 3 years... hardly a mismatch 

9 minutes ago, DarkSuperman said:

Players go where the money is... look at Norwell who Jacksonville made the highest paid guard in the NFL.

Not true. Sometimes players want longer term contracts vs more money annually on a shorter contract. 

 

EX:

player gets a two year offer worth 15 million, 7.5 annually as a base from team A.

team B offers a 3 year, 18 million, , 6 million annually as a base.  Player may chose team B's offer simply because he doesn't want to be back on the FA market every other year. 

 

If you look at what Norwell was saying via the reports all off season was that he was looking for a LONG term contract. Which some teams don't like to hand out to FA as the fact of the matter is, FA is a crap shoot, you don't always get the performance from a player that led them to the big payday. 

[Case]

This signing is a lot better than most think. We will create mismatches for him and he will have his best season yet. Bet the house 

[Case]

53 minutes ago, TKnight24 said:

Can’t please everyone. Folks gonna complain regardless. NFL could cancel the cap space for one season, Colts sign the best player at every position, it’ll still be someone complaining that Andrew Luck still has a flip phone. They’ll find something to cry about

Colts literally offered money to Jensen and had interest in Pouncey. A lot of you fail to realize FA is a 2-way street. It doesn’t matter how much you offer someone or if you’re the better team, what matters is if the player wants to come to your team. I’m sure Homey Badger has better deals than 1yr $7mil but he wanted to play for Houston so he signed. You can’t force players to play for you. Why don’t you guys understand that?

This makes too much sense

[Mel Kiper's Hair]

32 minutes ago, DarkSuperman said:

The player wouldn't have visited a team if they weren't "interested" in going there. They go to the city that's willing to pay them the most.

 

This isn't necessarily true. Contract negotiations are business and sometimes players use teams they really have no interest in signing with to create competition for their services to maximize the money they receive from the team they really want to play for. And let's not forget that these guys are some of the biggest competitors around. They want to win. Guys take less money all the time to have a real chance at the Super Bowl. Look at Tom Brady, he has been paid well below market value for most of his career because he wants to win. Unless Chris Ballard or one of the players we've tried to sign come out and say what we actually offered it is a little unfair to assume that we just lowballed everyone. In choosing a new team there are more considerations than just who is going to pay me the most. To think otherwise is a little silly.

[Colt Overseas]

I dont understand why people are all of a sudden knocking Swoope because we signed EE. Like can we not be happy we have potentially one of the most explosive TE groups in the league, with Travis and MAC as good developmental prospects.

 

Ebron and Doyle compliment each other perfectly with their skill set. Very excited about what Reich and Sirianni can come up with.

[Cynjin]

1 hour ago, DarkSuperman said:

The player wouldn't have visited a team if they weren't "interested" in going there. They go to the city that's willing to pay them the most.

 

That is just not 100% true.

[Myles]

Before doing any research, I was all for this signing.

I still am because we have the money and he is only 24.  

I'm not quite as high on him now though.   Typically if so much of a fan base are glad to see a player go, it means something.   Making music videos of a players drops is worrisome.  

 

I'm a little surprised that one of our only 2 signings is a position that is not near the top of our needs.

 

Perhaps Ebron will get his head in the game now that he has a change of scenery.   We need bodies to catch some balls.

[AZColt11]

This is a "wait and see" signing for me.  Is he the player we saw in his first few seasons who couldn't hold onto the ball or stay healthy?  Or the one we saw last year who seemed to fix those issues.  Detroit is betting last year was the fluke.  I hope they are wrong.  If so, the Colts got a steal here.  He is still very young.