Ballard's Draft Brilliance

[threeflight]

Sports Illustrated gave the Colts an overall grade of a c-.  Lowest I saw of any team.

 

Considering the amount of draft picks the team had?  

 

To me it is inexcusable to be getting a grade that low.  And yes I know that it is subjective and in the eye of the beholder.  But they are among many who think Ballard way over reached with many of his picks.

 

And then to trade Anderson?  On top of a middling draft last year and a 2 free agent classes of....I don't know....just guys?

 

 

Ballard imo has been a disappointment so far.  A big one.

[threeflight]

USA Today gave the same grade.  C-  

 

When you have this many picks and get so few sure fire starters?  

 

Indianapolis Colts: C-

GM Chris Ballard picked up three second rounders from the Jets (two in this draft) to move down three spots. He still got the player, Notre Dame G Quenton Nelson, who might have been pick had Indy stayed put. Perfect choice. However, those Round 2 picks ... OLB Darius Leonard, G Braden Smith, pass rusher Kemoko Turay and DE Tyquan Lewis all felt like possible reaches for a roster that can't afford more misses. 

[MAv]

I saw this as the most disappointing draft yet....Ballard talked all the garbage and did nothing...What he did, he could have done in free agency...Hold on to your seats boys and girls this is not going to be good....We are not going to compete in the AFC South....This is going to be bad...

[threeflight]

5 minutes ago, MAv said:

I saw this as the most disappointing draft yet....Ballard talked all the garbage and did nothing...What he did, he could have done in free agency...Hold on to your seats boys and girls this is not going to be good....We are not going to compete in the AFC South....This is going to be bad...

It almost seems as if he is trying to tank.  I know that to not be the case.  But wow.

 

I just cannot wrap my head around the fact how much he reached, when he didn't need to.  He has so many picks this year and so many holes to fill that he could afford to go BPA every time.  And to me, it felt like he was trying to prove....again...just how much smarter he is than everyone else with his choices.  

 

Old saying in horse racing, of which I trained for many years.  You can't beat class and pedigree.  2 horses going the same speed every race, but one who is a $10 K claimer and the other an open horse?  The open horse will win every time if matched together.  And in this case, if felt like he was going for the unknown claimer instead of going for the known class.  

 

And I just don't get it.

[chrisfarley]

I think they had quite a bit of confidence that Hernandez was going to be available, i think that took a little bit of the wind out of Ballard's sail (little more subdued at the post draft presser) but he moves on with calculating precision and short-term memory. He went with quantity 2nd day & forward in this draft and the odds should be with us in that we should hit on 4 or 5 of these picks (IMO) out of the eleven in total, which would be just awesome and a home-run in my book. 

 

[MAv]

I have completely agree with you, Ballard should have done a better job.. everyone is saying how this was a flop for the Colts...

[MAv]

How do you think Jacksonville got so good in such a short period of time....They didn't go through the draft for all there picks 90% of there player came from free agency...And now they have Moncrief...And if you don't believe that Moncrief don't have a chip on his shoulder, wait tell we play Jacksonville.....

[aReggie7]

Ballard has said before that:

 

1) He wants to build through the draft. “Grow your own”

2) He believes in building strong offensive and defensive lines on both sides of the ball. Also with depth.

 

This is exactly what Ballard did.

 

For those who say Ballard reached on these picks...I have read a lot of draft content over the past couple of months including on most of the players the Colts drafted. I don’t get where this perception comes from that the Colts reached. Specifically on the players selected in round 2. I wasn’t surprised they went where they did. Besides that the term “reaching” becomes blurry after round 1.

 

With building deep lines in mind, I think we should get used to seeing early round picks on offensive and defensive linemen. I don’t anticipate Ballard consistently using early round picks on skill position players like the Colts have done in the past.

[MAv]

I didn't see Brissett on the list...and Ballard went out and got him from New England...Why you ask,  because, he was awful

[Dilger85]

1 hour ago, threeflight said:

Sports Illustrated gave the Colts an overall grade of a c-.  Lowest I saw of any team.

 

Considering the amount of draft picks the team had?  

 

To me it is inexcusable to be getting a grade that low.  And yes I know that it is subjective and in the eye of the beholder.  But they are among many who think Ballard way over reached with many of his picks.

 

And then to trade Anderson?  On top of a middling draft last year and a 2 free agent classes of....I don't know....just guys?

 

 

Ballard imo has been a disappointment so far.  A big one.

NFL.com gave it a A-  

[crazycolt1]

5 hours ago, bananabucket said:

Again, no one is arguing the positions. It's the players that are uninspiring.

Is it because you haven't done any research on any of them? There not on the medias list so maybe you are not familiar with them?

[Dilger85]

24 minutes ago, MAv said:

How do you think Jacksonville got so good in such a short period of time....They didn't go through the draft for all there picks 90% of there player came from free agency...And now they have Moncrief...And if you don't believe that Moncrief don't have a chip on his shoulder, wait tell we play Jacksonville.....

You’re wrong. The top players on that team came through the draft. 

[krunk]

1 hour ago, akcolt said:

Chris B put a lot of work in at Corner last year. We drafted Q and Hairston brought in Desir Moore and the 2 KC guys Aker and White and DJ's college teammate is still here Milton. Aker at 26 is the oldest Ballard may feel like we have good young CB's to develop.    

I dont believe white and Acker are good enough depth. There's better to be found out there. Trust me you will see him make a claim or two. Currently the depth we have at corner there's nobody there to Challenge Quincy and Pierre. Honestly Nate either. I dont believe Milton is anything more than a special teamer. Hes not a good football player to me. The depth needs to be improved there.

[Dilger85]

56 minutes ago, threeflight said:

USA gave the same grade.  C-  

 

When you have this many picks and get so few sure fire starters?  

 

Indianapolis Colts: C-

GM Chris Ballard picked up three second rounders from the Jets (two in this draft) to move down three spots. He still got the player, Notre Dame G Quenton Nelson, who might have been pick had Indy stayed put. Perfect choice. However, those Round 2 picks ... OLB Darius Leonard, G Braden Smith, pass rusher Kemoko Turay and DE Tyquan Lewis all felt like possible reaches for a roster that can't afford more misses. 

The whole country or USA Today?  You can’t say those are misses when no games have been played yet. 

[aReggie7]

30 minutes ago, MAv said:

How do you think Jacksonville got so good in such a short period of time....They didn't go through the draft for all there picks 90% of there player came from free agency...And now they have Moncrief...And if you don't believe that Moncrief don't have a chip on his shoulder, wait tell we play Jacksonville.....

 

Out of their starters on offense/defense from last season they drafted 11 and signed 2 as UDFAs.

 

They did add some important players from free agency. Most notably Calais Campbell, Malik Jackson, and AJ Bouye. Count their safeties Barry Church and Tashaun Gibson too if you want. Not exactly 90%.

 

These free agent signings mean little without their drafts though.

 

It’s fine to want the Colts to spend some of their money but let’s be real.....teams need to draft and draft well to sustain success. The use of free agency by good teams gets exaggerated to argue why the Colts should be signing big time free agents.

 

As for Moncrief, I’m not losing any sleep over Blake Bortles throwing to Donte Moncrief. I’m sure he makes some plays but their defense and Leonard Fournette will drive their success.

[MAv]

I would have to agree with you....but this is the headline from the Jacksonville newspaper "The Jacksonville Jaguars’ free agent signings have helped shape the 2017 playoff race".....Now this is the same guy that brought us Brissett, and you want to know how much faith I have in him....Brissett was awful..

[SP_21]

Stop feeding the troll ^

[MAv]

Like my Mother all way said I can show you better then I can tell you.......Hold on folk this is going  to be a rough ride...But I won't be the one who said i told you....SO...LOL

[Narcosys]

Not overly impressed with the people selected, but would give this draft a C+ to B-

[Narcosys]

1 hour ago, threeflight said:

It almost seems as if he is trying to tank.  I know that to not be the case.  But wow.

 

I just cannot wrap my head around the fact how much he reached, when he didn't need to.  He has so many picks this year and so many holes to fill that he could afford to go BPA every time.  And to me, it felt like he was trying to prove....again...just how much smarter he is than everyone else with his choices.  

 

Old saying in horse racing, of which I trained for many years.  You can't beat class and pedigree.  2 horses going the same speed every race, but one who is a $10 K claimer and the other an open horse?  The open horse will win every time if matched together.  And in this case, if felt like he was going for the unknown claimer instead of going for the known class.  

 

And I just don't get it.

Did you mean to say the claimer would win every time?

[esmort]

3 hours ago, OffensivelyPC said:

It seemed people were sure the Bills trade up to 6 would include at least the 12 and 22. That seemed unreasonable to me, and it turns out that wound up being true, let alone the mocks around here that included those picks plus their two 2nd round picks. Insane...

 

Not that it makes much difference now, but I think they might have been willing to trade the 12 and 22 (and maybe more) to get into the top 6.  When Sirius XM was interviewing the Bills GM I got the impression that they called all the top 6 teams and they all wanted some sort of deal that included the Bills 2019 1st round pick (including the Colts), and that TB was the highest they could get without sacrificing next years 1st.

 

I could have misheard or misunderstood (I was trying to listen and get the kids situated in the car at the time), but it sounded like the future 1st was their hard stop more so than this years 2 1sts.

[esmort]

22 minutes ago, Narcosys said:

Did you mean to say the claimer would win every time?

 

It sounded wrong to me as well ... but, I don't know enough about horse racing to know if the analogy was right or not.

[ukcolt12]

Let's see what happens in September.

Hadn't heard of some of the picks but then I'm not supposed to. 

Ballard seems really clued up. Has been since since he has arrived.

Deserves a bit more faith from the fan base in my opinion.

[braveheartcolt]

1 hour ago, MAv said:

How do you think Jacksonville got so good in such a short period of time....They didn't go through the draft for all there picks 90% of there player came from free agency...And now they have Moncrief...And if you don't believe that Moncrief don't have a chip on his shoulder, wait tell we play Jacksonville.....

Jacksonville have had like one good season in forever. You are easily impressed which makes me take very little stock in anything else you have to contribute in this matter. Be interesting to see who you wanted prior to the draft.....

 

And you know what, you could be right, it might be a very poor draft. It also might be a great one. And I might be a little crazy here, but I trust Ballard and his staff's judgement a liitle more than I trust yours.

[Bshultz]

Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith alone make this draft a success. We will be better running the ball. That is going to help the passing game and the defense. 

[crazycolt1]

2 hours ago, MAv said:

How do you think Jacksonville got so good in such a short period of time....They didn't go through the draft for all there picks 90% of there player came from free agency...And now they have Moncrief...And if you don't believe that Moncrief don't have a chip on his shoulder, wait tell we play Jacksonville.....

I suggest you look a little closer at their roster before making comments that are not true.

[crazycolt1]

3 hours ago, MAv said:

I saw this as the most disappointing draft yet....Ballard talked all the garbage and did nothing...What he did, he could have done in free agency...Hold on to your seats boys and girls this is not going to be good....We are not going to compete in the AFC South....This is going to be bad...

Have you bothered to even do any research on these players? 

I think because you are not familiar with these players you just assume they are no good.

Quit looking at the media's and the so called draft guru's talent list and actually do some background work of you own before condemning Ballard and his picks.

It also would be a good idea to wait and see how these players work out before putting yourself out on a thin limb.

[crazycolt1]

2 hours ago, MAv said:

I didn't see Brissett on the list...and Ballard went out and got him from New England...Why you ask,  because, he was awful

I take it you are a rookie at evaluating talent?

[crazycolt1]

6 hours ago, boo2202 said:

Ballard reached on a couple spots. Ballard has preached BPA, it's obvious that he didn't hold true to this during this draft. 

Please explain to me how you know who was on Ballard's board.

Do you honestly think Ballard's board matched what some so called draft guru's talent board said? If you thought this then you really don't have a clue on how a GM puts their boards together.

It's real apparent that Ballard had a couple of players on his board that were not even invited to the combine.

Yes Ballard did reach. He reached out and took the players who fits his vision and schemes.

[NewColtsFan]

3 hours ago, MAv said:

I didn't see Brissett on the list...and Ballard went out and got him from New England...Why you ask,  because, he was awful

 

You must be new to football...

 

Welcome to the website....   hope you enjoy it....

 

[2006Coltsbestever]

I give our Draft a B. We drafted possibly the best O.Lineman that has came out over the last 20 years. Drafted another who can play Guard or RT and has Good potential. I also like Leonard and Hines as well. The other picks not sure about? NFL.com gave us an A-, they are even nicer than me.

[Defjamz26]

8 hours ago, krunk said:

There's going to be cuts even before that we can take advantage of to strengthen the corner position. And we've still got a bunch of money.

Jack Doyle was one of those late cuts when we got him. So anything can happen

[threeflight]

6 hours ago, Dilger85 said:

The whole country or USA Today?  You can’t say those are misses when no games have been played yet. 

Sorry meant USA Today.

[Trueman]

7 hours ago, threeflight said:

USA Today gave the same grade.  C-  

 

When you have this many picks and get so few sure fire starters?  

 

Indianapolis Colts: C-

GM Chris Ballard picked up three second rounders from the Jets (two in this draft) to move down three spots. He still got the player, Notre Dame G Quenton Nelson, who might have been pick had Indy stayed put. Perfect choice. However, those Round 2 picks ... OLB Darius Leonard, G Braden Smith, pass rusher Kemoko Turay and DE Tyquan Lewis all felt like possible reaches for a roster that can't afford more misses. 

 

Lol... go look up the draft grades for the 2012 Seattle Seahawks.

 

Stop seeking negative confirmation bias , especially from terrible sources.

[threeflight]

This is exactly how I feel.  Third grade of a C or lower I have seen. 

From MSN.

 

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS | C

This might be the strangest class of them all. Quenton Nelson may be the best player in the whole draft, which made him a steal at No. 6 overall. After that, things got weird in a hurry. A small-school linebacker and another guard at the top of the second round, then a pair of trade-ups for edge defenders that went much earlier than expected. The highlights of Day 3 were explosive offensive weapons in Nyheim Hines and Deon Cain (what a steal in the sixth), but other than those two, it was projects galore. Daurice Fountain is intriguing, though. Overall, considering how many premium picks they had to work with, the Colts could have done so much more for a roster than needs so many impact players on both sides of the ball.

 

Ballard keeps going for depth.  Hello?  You just had how many top picks?  Why are you going for depth?  We need STARTERS.  With that many picks, to get a grade of anything but a B or higher is terrible.  He talks a big game, but in reality he is very VERY conservative.  Same goes with the FA signings.

[icf]

Bump this thread two years from now....

 

Nobody knows today if Ballard's draft was "brilliant" or "terrible" or somewhere in between.  We can argue that it was one or the other but that means nothing.  Results on the field will determine how good of a draft this was.

 

All anyone is doing now is guessing...and if anyone here or elsewhere were very good at that, they'd use those talents to win Powerball.

[chad72]

7 hours ago, Dilger85 said:

The whole country or USA Today?  You can’t say those are misses when no games have been played yet. 

 

Kelvin Hayden was a projected round 4-5 pick drafted by us in round 2. Pat Angerer was a projected round 4 or 5 LB drafted by us in round 2. Marlin Jackson was a projected mid to late second rounder drafted late round 1.

 

I am sure there are more examples with us and other teams (one that comes to mind is the Cowboys drafting Frederick at Center and Seattle drafting Bruce Irvin in round 1 etc.). 

 

Teams deem players fit for what they run and if they like the player badly enough for their system, they do not tend to wait around, that is the common observation I can make.

[Colt.45]

8 hours ago, threeflight said:

Sports Illustrated gave the Colts an overall grade of a c-.  Lowest I saw of any team.

 

Considering the amount of draft picks the team had?  

 

To me it is inexcusable to be getting a grade that low.  And yes I know that it is subjective and in the eye of the beholder.  But they are among many who think Ballard way over reached with many of his picks.

 

And then to trade Anderson?  On top of a middling draft last year and a 2 free agent classes of....I don't know....just guys?

 

 

Ballard imo has been a disappointment so far.  A big one.

Right, those grades have worked excellently in past years. 

Winning free agency has worked excellently in past years.

Drafting the hot and sexy names has worked excellently in past years.

Your comment makes ZERO sense. ZERO.

[il vecchio]

I'm fine with this draft.  I can see that Ballard puts a premium on athleticism, and believes in coaching the players up.

 

With that in mind, I had hoped that he might take a 7th round shot at Jordan Mailata.  The guys is only 20.

[throwing BBZ]

7 hours ago, MAv said:

I would have to agree with you....but this is the headline from the Jacksonville newspaper "The Jacksonville Jaguars’ free agent signings have helped shape the 2017 playoff race".....Now this is the same guy that brought us Brissett, and you want to know how much faith I have in him....Brissett was awful..

 

So, Ballard will add a Quality FA or two in 2019, draft more good players for our system.
In 2020 he can do that again and Hopefully we will there after have a Highly competitive, deep, Championship caliber roster.
 Gee, that is how the best franchises do it. DUH!

 That you can't comprehend this AND how well Brissett did splains all we need to know.