The Official Ballard IS Impressing Me Thread

[Trueman]

We can go on and on about the moves Ballard hasn't made , but because we truly aren't privy to what he's attempted to do , let's take a look at what can be judged : what he has done 

2017:
Released D'Qwell Jackson - good move, not in league anymore. Old and overpaid.
Re-signed Jack Doyle - good move
Traded Dwayne Allen +6th to Patriots for 4th -- smart trade , rid himself of a high salary for an average player. Is just a blocker in New England
Released Patrick Robinson-- eh, debatable , but he wasn't that good for us
Signed John Simon- good move
Signed Jabaal Sheard--  really good move
Signed Barkevious Mingo-- good move
Signed Margus Hunt -- fantastic value signing
Signed Al Woods-- tremendous value signing
Signed Sean Spence-- didn't work out , no harm/no foul because of the contract Ballard gave him
Signed Kamar Aiken-- didn't work out , only a 1 year deal though, so again , no harm/no foul
Released Arthur Jones- good move , isn't even in the league atm
Signed Jonathan Hankins-- good move
Signed Jon Bostic -- solid move
Signed Mo-Ali Cox-- TBD

*Note* the 2017 draft was conducted with Grigson's scouting staff and for an entirely different coaching staff. Doesn't mean Ballard gets a complete pass , but it should be considered at the very least. 

Drafted Hooker 15th overall -- I really liked this pick , some may disagree. Still only 22 years old with tons of potential, imo.
Drafted Wilson 46th overall--  due to injuries/Pagano etc hasn't been ideal. Still, Corners take time to develop, by no means am I writing him off yet.
Drafted Basham 80th overall - Bust , no other way to put it. Still has no counter moves. Wish him well in New York. 
Drafted Banner  137th overall- Bust
Drafted Mack 143rd overall- I think this is an outstanding pick. Time will tell , but the potential is obvious.
Drafted Stewart 144th overall- Decent rotation piece right now in a new scheme. Solid pick with some upside. 
Drafted Hairston 158th overall-- really good rookie season , hasn't had the same impact in the new scheme. Good value pick, imo.
Drafted Walker 161st overall -- brilliant pick and likely our starting Mike for some time. 

Signed Rigoberto Sanchez -- terrific UDFA signing. Found our longterm starting punter instantly after Pat's retirement. 
Signed Christine Michael - meh
Released Kendall Langford -- good move , is still a FA to this day.

Traded Phillip Dorsett for Jacoby Brissett- outstanding trade. Provided a starting 2017 QB and our best backup in ages. Will be flipped for picks eventually. To get an asset worth good draft capital for a bust of a WR is just brilliant. Cannot understate how good of a move this was.

Claimed off Waivers, Desir- outstanding move. to get a CB capable of starting off waivers is brilliant work.
Claimed off Waivers, Kenny Moore II-- terrific pickup. Has been playing solid considering how we acquired him. Still young and improving.
Released Vontae Davis-- I mean.... yeah, thank god. Good move.
Claimed off Waivers, Ross Travis-- good move
Claimed off Waivers, Glowinski-- solid move

2016 Cap Space: 8 million and the 4th oldest team in the league
2017 Cap Space: 18 million and the 9th youngest team in the league 

2018:

Signed Vinatieri to an extension -- no brainer
Signed Denico Autry-- good move , great contract
Traded 3rd overall pick for 6th overall pick , 37th, 49th, 2019 2nd round pick -- Terrific trade. 
Released Hankins-- controversial , but I think it was the right thing to do. Speaks volumes that he couldn't find a team until recently and hasn't made much of an impact.
Signed Ebron- great move. Absolutely outstanding. 
Signed Ryan Grant- solid risk-free  1 year deal. No harm/no foul. Won't be here next season most likely. Good value for cost.
Signed Slauson -- outstanding move and unfortunate injury. Unbelievable value for cost.
Extended Desir-- solid move. Getting a waiver claim worth a second deal  is just quality. 
Re-signed Mewhort-- unfortunate , and I wish him the best. 
Signed Goode- decent cheap deal. No harm/no foul. Won't be here next season and the SAM is becoming less important. 
Signed Acker - no harm/no foul 

Drafted Nelson 6th overall -- Some may disagree due to positional value, but I think it was a great selection. Changed the complexion of our offense from Day 1 and will only get better. 
Drafted Leonard 36th overall-- I mean.... wow. What can I say? Never in my wildest dreams did I expect this.
Drafted Smith 37th overall -- Dude looks good. Like , really good. Super impressed and excited to see what he becomes. Quality starting OL.
Drafted Turay 52nd overall- too soon to really say, but he's getting better week-by-week. At worst a rotational pass-rusher, imo. I think he'll be more.
Drafted Lewis 64th overall- no idea , but he looked good in camp. TBD
Drafted Hines 104th overall- exactly as advertised , good pick , and will be a weapon for years. 
Drafted Fountain 159th overall - TBD. Not giving up on him by any means. I'd love it if he could crack the roster this season, but it's a massive jump to the NFL coming from where he came from. 
Drafted Wilkins 169th overall-- love this kid. good pick
Drafted Cain 185th overall-- Like Lewis , he looked good in camp. TBD , but I have a hunch he'll be a really good pick.
Drafted Adams 221st overall-- getting any contribution from a 7th rounder is great , and he's doing just that. Really nice pick
Drafted Franklin 235th overall- see above 

So, yes, it's too early to really make any definitive conclusions about the 2018 draft (or even 2017) , but from what I'm seeing, if Cain and Lewis become anything close to what I think they can and Turay can continue down this path.... I mean, this draft class goes from outstanding to special. We're talking about possibly 5 starters , 2 rotational RB's,  2 depth LB's, and whatever Fountain becomes. That is just crazy. 

Signed UDFA Moore-- good move
Signed UDFA Odum- good move
Signed Howard--- just flat-out didn't work. Ballard did the smart thing and gave him a no harm/no foul contract, though.
Claimed Pascal -- meh , I doubt he'll be here next season , but to get anything from a waiver claim is solid. To be clear, I don't want him here, though.
Traded Darrell Daniels for Marcus Johnson -- I thought Johnson showed flashes , unfortunate injury. Good trade.
Released TJ Green-- thank god
Claimed Corey Moore -- good move 
Claimed Muhammad-  good move , provides some upside/depth.
Released John Simon-- again like Hankins, this was controversial. But, I think it was the right move. Turay and (eventually Lewis) need the playing time and he wasn't a good scheme fit. 
Signed Jihad Ward-- Definitely premature on my part , but I think this was a great signing. Tons of upside. 
Signed Boehm-- no idea 
Signed Mike Mitchell -- looks pretty fantastic so far. Not a big Geathers fan, myself. So this is a nice change.
Signed Inman -- no idea. We'll find out.

2018 Cap space: 52 million , 4th youngest team
 
So yeah, for those who love to complain about Ballard not spending money , look at what he's actually done. He inherited an old , average (at best) , expensive roster going nowhere. In under 2 years, he's taken the 4th oldest team , turned it into the 4th youngest, and cleaned our books up substantially. 

I have no idea how people can't like what he's doing. Truly. We've been in every game this season ; Luck looks outstanding ; our O-Line finally seems to be coming together ; our young players are all improving ; we'll have another draft to stack on top this one and  tons of cap flexibility. The plan is clearly working.

Ballard looks like he's an elite evaluator so far with a disciplined approach. His hitting % is insane. His worst moves are 3rd/4th round picks (with Grigson's scouts) and a couple dudes on 1 year no harm/no foul contracts that he eventually cut. Oh, and I guess Simon and Hankins if you like complaining about guys he signed in the first place. 

 I mean, @threeflight , I just don't get you bro.
 

[coltfaninnewyork]

Too much to read bro lol.Im a big supporter of Ballard and based on this years draft and signing ebron im a fan .keep it up 

[AZColt11]

He's doing fine.  Remember, this is HIS first GM job and he's only in year #2 (year #1 with HIS HC), and he's going to **** up.  But he's doing pretty well overall IMHO.  I'm happy with him so far.

[Exodus]

This is the one thing I keep sitting on with all the "Ballard sucks" stuff. When you interview for a GM position, you're not just hired on your credentials. Owners want to know, "Ok, so I hire you, What is your plan for this franchise? Where do you see us in four years, and how do you get us there?" Chris has been very vocal on how he plans to do this, and Irsay liked what he heard so much, he gave Chris the job.

 

Now, lets look at year one. Ballard was handcuffed to a terrible coach, and a terrible roster. In the first year Ballard was here, he gave more public interviews and briefings than I think "he who shall not be named" EVER gave in his four years? with the franchise. Yes, you could argue that his draft year one was pretty bad, but when the GM has the balls to release players they were high on, that just says something to me.

 

This year has said a TON for me about the type of man Chris Ballard is. I mean, you had a coach stab you in the back for corn's sake, and you go out with the "rivalry is back on" speech. Incredible. Not only that, but he rebounds with Reich, who I genuinely believe has everything it takes to get us into a Super Bowl. He is an absolute leader of men, and just carries himself so well. He's a Colt: plain and simple

 

Now, we wine and complain EVERY loss, saying something needs to change, and that we're better than this. We aren't: period. Even management knows were not close to competing for a title. This is why I think the next two years are going to be absolutely nuts for us as Colts fans. If Ballard can hit next years draft out of the park like he has this year (So far), and hit on some free-agents with all this C A S H we're flush with, then Ballard's four year plan would have worked out EXACTLY as advertised.

 

We're used to winning, and I get that, but this team NEEDS time. Just go back and look at his interviews, how he's handled adversity, and who all around the NFL has been vouching for Chris, then come back here and TRY and tell me we aren't in good hands

[MPStack]

Ballard has done more good, during his tenure, than bad IMO.  

[Fat Clemenza]

Everything he's done, he told us he would do.  You might disagree with him, but you don't have to wonder why he did something if you've actually been listening to him. 

 

He said there would be no instant coffee, and he was right. The Colts' future is very bright, I think. 

 

Trueman, thanks for taking the time for that post!

 

[ColtsBlitz]

Awesome post @Trueman

 

A lot of research and looking back (or a great memory?). I think this years draft was a huge success by the looks of it so far, with 2-4 for certain starters and 2-3 rotational players and special teams players. The FA pickups have also been good like you mentioned. 

 

This thread deserves an orange like banner 

[Yoshinator]

Great post @Trueman! Our 2018 draft was a madden draft from Ballard, and I mean that as a huge compliment. This team is already getting turned around, and we aren't even two years into the rebuild with Ballard. The whole team is either fixed or improved at every position besides WR. Way to put a positive spin on things!

[richard pallo]

36 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Great post @Trueman! Our 2018 draft was a madden draft from Ballard, and I mean that as a huge compliment. This team is already getting turned around, and we aren't even two years into the rebuild with Ballard. The whole team is either fixed or improved at every position besides WR. Way to put a positive spin on things!

WR I agree.  He can fix that with Cooper.  That's why he called the Raiders. 

[Farns01]

Actually the scouting staff is pretty much the same.  They were scouting a type of player last year to fit Pagano's scheme.  This year they were scouting for Ballard's scheme.  This was from an interview back when Frank got hired.  He said he was feeling good about this team because he knew almost everybody from his previous time hear.

[TheMarine]

1 minute ago, Farns01 said:

He said he was feeling good about this team because he knew almost everybody from his previous time hear.

here*

sorry... ish

The front office was generally the same: Irsay family, Operations, facility staff, etc. The scouting staff is very different these days, and scouting based on the principles Ballard put in place. He didnt have the time to get that completely in place his first draft, as the college season was over and it was all building towards the draft.

[Superman]

I like Ballard, and I (mostly) believe in his stated vision and I think I understand why he's made the decisions he has. He's also doing a really good job with the media; inviting the reporters in after the draft was a masterful touch, and he just seems to get how to interact with them, which is good. 

 

But he's also made some decisions that didn't work out, and I think he could have been a little more active in free agency, especially at OL. 

 

End of the day, what will matter is how he reshapes the roster, and if he can continue to add good players and improve the level of talent on the team, top to bottom. How he drafts over a considerable period of time, how his coaching hire works out, how he handles his own free agents, etc., that's what matters to me.

 

So I stop short of claiming to be impressed by Ballard, so far. I don't have a problem with what he's doing, but I'm not impressed until the Colts have a solid roster, until our drafted players are commodities in free agency, and so on. I like him, but I'm not gonna lead his cheer section just yet.

[Trueman]

12 minutes ago, Farns01 said:

Actually the scouting staff is pretty much the same.  They were scouting a type of player last year to fit Pagano's scheme.  This year they were scouting for Ballard's scheme.  This was from an interview back when Frank got hired.  He said he was feeling good about this team because he knew almost everybody from his previous time hear.

Nope.

2017 draft was April 27-29 . 

 https://www.stampedeblue.com/2017/4/30/15493488/report-colts-fire-director-of-college-scouting-make-other-scouting-department-moves-chris-ballard

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2017/04/30/colts-gm-ballard-shaking-up-personnel-staff/101133126/

https://www.sportsnet.ca/?sn-article=colts-bolster-scouting-department-five-new-hires

I mean , I could go on. Just use google. 

 

[CanuckColtsFan]

The OP did a nice job breaking it down and I don't disagree.  I think the Arrow is up. I do like point out that Pagano won 4 games with Jacoby Brisset and a weaker roster. I don't think Pags was a top flight coach, but he got bagged in hard here

[Farns01]

2 minutes ago, Trueman said:

Nope.

2017 draft was April 27-29 . 

 https://www.stampedeblue.com/2017/4/30/15493488/report-colts-fire-director-of-college-scouting-make-other-scouting-department-moves-chris-ballard

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2017/04/30/colts-gm-ballard-shaking-up-personnel-staff/101133126/

https://www.sportsnet.ca/?sn-article=colts-bolster-scouting-department-five-new-hires

I mean , I could go on. Just use google. 

 

Just saying what Frank said.

[Superman]

14 minutes ago, Farns01 said:

Actually the scouting staff is pretty much the same.  They were scouting a type of player last year to fit Pagano's scheme.  This year they were scouting for Ballard's scheme.  This was from an interview back when Frank got hired.  He said he was feeling good about this team because he knew almost everybody from his previous time hear.

 

I don't keep up with the actual scouts, but I know a least a few have changed over the last four years. Don't know if Ballard made changes to scouts.

 

But we do know he ran the 2017 draft with Jimmy Raye, then hired Ed Dodds, Rex Hogan, Morocco Brown and Brian Decker after the draft. So there's been significant change in the front office, especially those who presumably work most closely with Ballard leading up to the draft. It's understandable that it might have affected Ballard's drafting from one year to the next.

[zibby43]

@Trueman

 

That was one of the best breakdowns of what Ballard has done that I've seen anywhere.  Great to be able to go through everything chronologically, and I appreciate the details/context you provided as well.

 

I think your assessments erred on the positive side, but that's totally fair, given how young the team is.

[Trueman]

7 minutes ago, Superman said:

But he's also made some decisions that didn't work out, and I think he could have been a little more active in free agency, especially at OL.

Yeah, but what decisions , really? Everything that hasn't worked has been low-risk 1 year guys that didn't have cap implications. He's had escape routes on virtually every decision he's made. Which is really smart. 

As for not being active in free agency for OL , other than Norwell  ... who'd you really want? He drafted two big time guards , and likely mimicked the production with younger/cheaper (and possibly even better) players going forward. 

Our O-Line is already on it's way to being vastly better than it's been in years , so I'm not sure why you'd complain about not addressing it in free agency. ...Unless you wanted him to sign someone in FA so he could treat the draft differently. Which , again ... I don't get. I know you wanted Chubb , but I mean.. c'mon... 
 

13 minutes ago, Superman said:

End of the day, what will matter is how he reshapes the roster, and if he can continue to add good players and improve the level of talent on the team, top to bottom. How he drafts over a considerable period of time, how his coaching hire works out, how he handles his own free agents, etc., that's what matters to me.

 

Right. And I believe that's what I'm looking at. 

Younger? Check
Cap flexibility? Check
Good drafting? Check
Good/measured FA? Check
Coaching? TBD , but it looks much better than what he inherited. 

It's impossible for me to look at anything that hasn't transpired. There's obviously stages to roster construction/development. And in phase 1 (aka cleaning up Grigson's mess) .. he's done a really good job. Phase 2 , aka building/developing the young core (stacking drafts) is still in progress. 

How he builds upon this is important for sure, but the evidence available deserves praise, imo. 

We'll get to a point where waiver claims won't be starters , and frugal free agents won't move the needle like we need it to , but in terms of building a base to work with , he's done a good job. A lot of GM's wouldn't have even done that. The temptation of having Luck would've caused a lot of other men to build another house of cards , which would've just put us back in the exact same quicksand. 

 

20 minutes ago, Superman said:

So I stop short of claiming to be impressed by Ballard, so far. I don't have a problem with what he's doing, but I'm not impressed until the Colts have a solid roster, until our drafted players are commodities in free agency, and so on. I like him, but I'm not gonna lead his cheer section just yet.

Yeah, that's fine. I think there's enough evidence (specifically with his drafts) that shows he's pretty damn good. But if you're a brass tax kinda guy and want a larger sample size , I understand that too. 

Personally, his philosophy is exactly in-line with how I'd approach things , so perhaps that's leading me to be a little too generous with my praise. 

 

[Mr.Debonair]

2 hours ago, MPStack said:

Ballard has done more good, during his tenure, than bad IMO.  

 

Agreed!

 

Def didn’t read OP tho. 

[IinD]

One thing I like about this rebuild so far is that the bottom of the roster is absolutely better I feel. 

 

When needed, last minute additions or practice squad players contribute positively instead of being JAG's.

Finding guys like Mitchell, Jihad Ward (hopefully his injuries aren't as bad as it looked) and Glowinski shows me he can find decent depth. 

 

If he can somehow have a home run draft next year, Colts should make some legit noise in the AFC with 2/3 solid to big splash FA's added.

 

[Trace Pyott]

Honestly if you get a guy like Leonard and only Leonard every draft I would be happy then you add the other guys (not even mentioning our mauler with a mean streak at guard and the picks in the second round I think Ballard hit this last draft out of the park. If next year he hAs a draft 75% as good as this one, and we pick up a few good free agents we will be a contender for sure next year. 

[threeflight]

6-17.

 

 

Six and seventeen.

[NorthernBlue]

3 hours ago, CanuckColtsFan said:

The OP did a nice job breaking it down and I don't disagree.  I think the Arrow is up. I do like point out that Pagano won 4 games with Jacoby Brisset and a weaker roster. I don't think Pags was a top flight coach, but he got bagged in hard here

To be fair, the colts had like the easiest schedule ever last season. Beat the browns and 9ers at home (who were both winless) and the Texans twice without Watson or watt.

 

And for what it’s worth, I never thought pagano was awful. Just average with an outdated system (although his onside kicks were pretty good )

[esmort]

1 hour ago, threeflight said:

6-17.

 

 

Six and seventeen.

 

Yeah because that's the best way to evaluate the situation.

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 hours ago, threeflight said:

6-17.

 

 

Six and seventeen.

Actually 2-5 with Luck, if you want to count last year when we had a backup QB in Brissett play all year and even Tolzien started a game then feel free to do so. For me it's tough to even count 2017 because Ballard didn't have the Coach he wanted or did he have Luck. He was still stuck with Chuck. I fully expect this team to win 6 or 7 games now. It won't reach the 9 I predicted but that is only because we gift wrapped wins to Cincy and Houston. That is a part of being young. Next season after another Draft and Free Agency I can see this team winning 9 or 10 games actually as long as Luck stays healthy, we get good production out of Mack and we can get another Good WR to pair up with Hilton. Our Division is weak too, we are only 1 game out of 2nd place and just 2 games out of 1st.

 

-It's better to be a Colts fan right now than it is a Jags fan as they were picked to go to the SB by everyone. They are 3-4 and floundering after all those top 5 picks for years. We have a franchise QB, they do not.

[r a y s k i]

 Ballard has been one of the best scouts in the league for years. He has been involved in some great draft classes going to the Chiefs and Bears back in the day. Absolute god send to one of the worst roster in the league 2-3 years ago. 

 

All we need now is consistency from the coaching staff and this whole bunch of youngsters melting into a team which is already happening and a blast to watch every sunday.

I mean this team never gives up and I love it!

[Myles]

6 hours ago, threeflight said:

6-17.

 

 

Six and seventeen.

I'm not sure how you expect a GM to be accountable for what he didn't do.  

Do you feel the team is worse than it was 2 years ago?   

 

I am incredibly impressed with Ballard.   The team is young and hungry.   We have an o-line that is protecting Luck and opening holes in a running game.   Been a long time since we have seen that.   We have cap space to use if Irsay gives the nod.  

 

Depth was the biggest issue for this team and it is better and will continue to get better.   We are getting good contributions from many backups.   TE, RB's, secondary, OL.  

[Valpo2004]

Ultimately he seems to be hitting a lot more then he is missing.  Which if this continues should rebuild the team and have us winning games.  

 

This team had very little talent left after the Grigson years.  He just missed way too often in both FA and in the draft.  

[lollygagger8]

Ballard's vision for the long term is second to none. He's going to build this team back into a perennial contender.

 

People that are saying he's bad just refuse to listen. Ballard's been upfront about his motives, and is doing exactly what he said he was going to do from the beginning. Him and Irsay have both commented that they are ok with a couple of years to rebuild to make it a long term successful franchise.

[chad72]

Props to @Trueman for taking the time to make the post.

 

I definitely understand Ballard's vision and if this team ends up 6-10, I am not sweating about it since that is my expectation after losing a few winnable games. Ultimately, Ws are all that matter to me in 2019 and 2020. With a young team, when you win, you win emphatically but lose a lot of close games. That is showing in the results and the record with the two wins 21-9 and 37-5.

 

The vets or free agent talent will come, at least according to many proponents of Ballard. I will definitely wait till they come. Ultimately, this is a results driven business. When we beat the Patriots, even if it is at home, that would be the day I can clearly say that our talent has reached a good enough level to compete with the elite teams. The locker room culture, the GM-coach relationship, are all on the positive side, let us see if it results in more Ws. The direction is trending the right way but only time and results on the field will endorse their vision and implementation. 

[ztboiler]

If you listen closely to Ballard, one of his top priorities is building and preserving an organic leadership hierarchy in the locker room.  He doesn’t think you can purchase it, and isn’t willing to buy it until he’s built it.

[Barry Sears]

Many thanks @Trueman

 

Great breakdown with lots of details.  Chris Ballard has been just what this organization needed after the last regime.  He has been transparent (as much as possible without giving out information that's none of our business before it's official) and has stuck to his guns.  He's had to make some tough decisions on players, but most have proven to be the right decisions.

 

Our future is VERY BRIGHT and I believe we got a glimpse of that yesterday.  A much improved OL opening holes for the running game and protecting our franchise QB.  Running backs who are young and multi-faceted.  An improved defense that includes lots of young talent.  A coaching staff that obviously prepares well, executes on the plan and adjusts when necessary.

 

I know the Bills are not great and are also dealing with injuries, but they have had an excellent defense this year and we picked them apart.

 

I'll take however many wins we can get this year, because I know this team will be making lots of noise in 2019 and beyond.

[wordofmouth]

What a great thread!   Thanks for taking the time to do this Trueman!

 

One thing that people are giving him flack for is not being aggressive enough in free agency.

However, I think he handled free agency brilliantly.  He still got players that improved the team

ex.  Ebron, Autry, Slausen ( if healthy) even Grant  but going into next years off season we will be:

2018 Cap space: 52 million , 4th youngest team

  and have two second rounder's as well as a compensatory 4th or 5th as well as possibly a compensatory  6th or 7th. 

 

If the goal is building toward a championship in a couple years as opposed to making the team a little better in the short term ( and it should be) then he has positioned us to do just that.

 

 

[aaron11]

id like to see more sense of urgency.  we are wasting a great year by a good QB who may not come close to playing until hes 40

 

the bills are one of the worst teams in the league, and people think we over react to losses around here.  

[Lucky Colts Fan]

10 hours ago, threeflight said:

6-17.

 

 

Six and seventeen.

 

This same lame argument AGAIN?!?

 

Then I will post this AGAIN:

 

Ryan Grigson 1st 3 seasons:  33-15

 

Tom Landry 1st 5 seasons:  18-46

 

Bill Walsh 1st 2 seasons:  8-24

 

Jimmy Johnson 1st 2 seasons:  8-24

 

Bill Belichick 1st 2 seasons:  13-19 w/ CLE ; 16-16 w/ NE

 

PLEASE tell us all how Ryan Grigson is the best GM out of that bunch... 

[DougDew]

16 hours ago, Trueman said:

Drafted Nelson 6th overall -- Some may disagree due to positional value, but I think it was a great selection. Changed the complexion of our offense from Day 1 and will only get better. 
 

and cleaned our books up substantially. 
 

 

Scheme-change changed the complexion of our offense, not Nelson.

 

Ballard inherited extremely clean books.

 

[OffensivelyPC]

13 hours ago, Superman said:

 

I don't keep up with the actual scouts, but I know a least a few have changed over the last four years. Don't know if Ballard made changes to scouts.

 

But we do know he ran the 2017 draft with Jimmy Raye, then hired Ed Dodds, Rex Hogan, Morocco Brown and Brian Decker after the draft. So there's been significant change in the front office, especially those who presumably work most closely with Ballard leading up to the draft. It's understandable that it might have affected Ballard's drafting from one year to the next.

Not only would the old front office change have an affect, but the offense and defensive scheme changes would have altered the types of players we would have brought in.  Ballard's made no secret about guys who were controversial departures because they weren't a fit in our scheme.  To me, it at least tells me that he's carries himself in a way that he knows what players are and how they will fit.  Time will tell if he is adept at doing that.

[DougDew]

9 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Ballard didn't have the Coach he wanted...

Neither did Grigson.

[Myles]

11 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Scheme-change changed the complexion of our offense, not Nelson.

 

 

 

It is a combo.   No question that the O-line is better than it had been in years.   It should be, Ballard invested a couple high picks on it.   He did what he needed to do and did it well.   

Can anyone remember the last time the Colts rushed for over 100 yards and allowed 0 sacks for 2 games in a row?

 

[DougDew]

14 hours ago, Trueman said:

 

Right. And I believe that's what I'm looking at. 

Younger? Check

 

Agreed

Cap flexibility? Check

 

Inherited. Not created.

Good drafting? Check

 

2018 looks good.  2017 looks average at best.

Good/measured FA? Check

 

Mid-level FA for the scheme with team friendly contract.  Same as the past 5 years.

How can you err so badly to the positive?