120 Million In Cap Space

[dw49]

3 minutes ago, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

 

I agree. They received big bucks. Seemed like all of the early signings were inflated. But that's what the market yeilded.   Imo, An expensive signing wpuld have helped us more than Rogers/Grant as our #2

 

 

Looking back at it now could very well be the case. Who would have been your choice ? The top 3 were Landry , Watkins and Robinson.  I would never give Landry that kind of money and Watkins seems to be very injury prone. My choice last year was Robinson and I guess I still feel that way.

[aaron11]

gordon would have been the best choice. 

[Superman]

2 minutes ago, dw49 said:

 

 

Looking back at it now could very well be the case. Who would have been your choice ? The top 3 were Landry , Watkins and Robinson.  I would never give Landry that kind of money and Watkins seems to be very injury prone. My choice last year was Robinson and I guess I still feel that way.

 

Watkins and Robinson both got $14m a year. Terrible contracts that neither of them are living up to. 

[horseshoecrabs]

36 minutes ago, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

 

Those needs were well known before training camp.

No one knew even before training camp that Luck would carry our team. His health was up in the air. The fact that he is doing it this season now should not come as a shock to you, considering that is what he has done since he was drafted, with a bad line up. So this is not a great incite that you have uncovered. Just shows how bad we could have been this year.

[throwing BBZ]

12 hours ago, aaron11 said:

we need to spend it before the 4 year money period is over anyway.  sure they can make that happen without a big signing, but we have more than enough to bring in bell or anyone on the market really

 

this wont hurt us in the future. guys like nelson, leonard and even hooker are not due to be paid until the next 4 year period.  we dont have hardly any important players to pay before 2020

 

 You obviously have not looked at our Roster and cap going forward. 
And this _____ Bell sh___ is proof you really just can't get it.

[threeflight]

47 minutes ago, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

 

Those needs were well known before training camp.

Which Ballard did nothing to fix.

 

My best guess is CB underestimated how good the team could have been this year with just a few key additions.

 

With a top WR especially, this team easily has 2-3 more wins.

 

Luck is throwing to scrubs besides Hilton at WR.  Probably the worst WR core in the league besides maybe Buffalo?

[throwing BBZ]

3 hours ago, horseshoecrabs said:

So you think that Gruden's decision on striping Oakland's of sending  there best players on pass rush "to the Bears" to wide receiver  as they did as  a great business decision as a  great plan for the future?  If  so  , tell me , what is there  great plan for the future. 

 

So  Gruden inherits a mostly bad roster.  Now You would pay Mack $50M over the next 2 years in the hopes you can finish 8-8. And Cooper $6 M or so to help you maybe win another game this season before you have to sign him to a huge contract to help you lose for another year or two until you can build your roster through the draft.

 Or, you accumulate draft picks to fill your roster with very good prospects on their 1st contracts. It is called starting over.
Gee, you have been watching Ballard do this for a year and a half and you still ask this question. Oh boy.

[throwing BBZ]

6 hours ago, tweezy32 said:

Don't need to go all out.. But we do need to sign some impact players I think.  Actually I know.  Like Anthony barr  if he is available and bell or hunt. Need to spend some money this year.  Not saying all of it just enough to get some good players

 

Unfortunately you mention 3 bad signings.

[Myles]

2 hours ago, threeflight said:

No.  Turns out that was too much.

 

 

Why do you say that?  He has proved to be a great WR which is what you are after with a first round pick.

[throwing BBZ]

5 hours ago, shastamasta said:

 

I would say Woods and Whitworth are part of their current strategy to immediately become a competitive team...not as aggressive as trading their draft away...but definitely with an eye toward maximizing Goff's rookie deal.

 

But I am not advocating that the Colts go all-in like the LAR (and Ballard would never go for that). I just think it should be noted that they have good examples of how a team can use all of its resources effectively, outside of just building through the draft. 

 

The Colts don't have to do it any one way...and I hope they don't.

 

Thank goodness your GM has shown NO indication he is building only through the draft. You should be very happy now.

 

[threeflight]

3 minutes ago, Myles said:

Why do you say that?  He has proved to be a great WR which is what you are after with a first round pick.

IMO he was worth a 2nd and possibly a future 4th.

[Myles]

2 minutes ago, threeflight said:

IMO he was worth a 2nd and possibly a future 4th.

He has turned Dallas into a division leader.  ThAt is worth a 1st round pick.

[throwing BBZ]

5 hours ago, shastamasta said:

 

That's all I want...a balance...for them to use all of their resources...and that includes their cap space (and money). 

 

If they barely reach the 89% cash spend threshold from 2017-2020...and haven't won a Super Bowl...I will be disappointed. They have the cap space (and cash...I hope) to spend right now...a franchise QB in his prime...and very few people to pay for a few years. 

 

I don't think they need to go all-in, but it would be nice to see them at least get up to the middle of the pack in spending by next season.

 

 

 

You do mean after next season right. We will need some serious dollars in the 2020 FA period to sign our own. It only gets worse after that.

[dw49]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

Watkins and Robinson both got $14m a year. Terrible contracts that neither of them are living up to. 

 

Yeah , I said a post or so back that the top 2018 WR FA's signed for ridiculous money. Even Montcrief scored 10 mill for 1 year. You left out Landry in the above. He signed for 76 mill over 5 years with 47 mill guaranteed. Plus he cost a 4th and 7th. So no bargain there either. 

[shasta519]

35 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

Thank goodness your GM has shown NO indication he is building only through the draft. You should be very happy now.

 

 

He hasn't yet. I don't care about this past offseason...with the questionas around Luck.

 

But this upcoming offseason will be a better indicator. I would really like to see a couple of aggressive moves with all that cap space. 

[LJpalmbeacher2]

2 hours ago, dw49 said:

 

 

Looking back at it now could very well be the case. Who would have been your choice ? The top 3 were Landry , Watkins and Robinson.  I would never give Landry that kind of money and Watkins seems to be very injury prone. My choice last year was Robinson and I guess I still feel that way.

 

I think I agree with your choices and maybe add the one from Seattle. I think his name was Richardson. For a lesser price I was interested in Pryor also. He was released twice tho, I think by Jets and Bills. Don't know why.

 

 

[LJpalmbeacher2]

1 hour ago, horseshoecrabs said:

No one knew even before training camp that Luck would carry our team. His health was up in the air. The fact that he is doing it this season now should not come as a shock to you, considering that is what he has done since he was drafted, with a bad line up. So this is not a great incite that you have uncovered. Just shows how bad we could have been this year.

 

I thought we were talking about the needs at RB & WR ?

[LJpalmbeacher2]

1 hour ago, threeflight said:

Which Ballard did nothing to fix.

 

My best guess is CB underestimated how good the team could have been this year with just a few key additions.

 

With a top WR especially, this team easily has 2-3 more wins.

 

Luck is throwing to scrubs besides Hilton at WR.  Probably the worst WR core in the league besides maybe Buffalo?

 

Yep.

[AZColt11]

I don't think he needs to go crazy with Irsay's wallet, BUT I would like to see them bring one elite level player in.  You can never find enough of those guys and most of them are worth it.  The problem is if those guys are really worth it, their own teams rarely let them go.  I would love it if we could pry an elite level DE from somewhere.  I think that would make this already rising defense a LOT better overall.

[FirsTime]

CB doesn't need to resign the guys he drafted "his guys" for 2-3 more years. He will have few until then to bring back such as Glowinski. So free agency should be a thing since our last couple of draft classes has proven to produce a good amount of starter caliber players (a young core to build around).  

 

I think he is going to spend some money this year on a couple of top tier free agents. However, they have to be scheme fitting impact positions. That we don't overpay to much guys like Demarcus Lawrence(20 Mil), Trey Flowers(16 Mil), Landon Collins(11 Mil), Lev Bell(17 Mil), Ronald Darby(14 Mil), or Grady Jarrett(15 Mil).

 

I think the rest of the signings are going to be guys that fit the locker room. Guys that create competition for our rookie classes and bring the best out of them (Mike Mitchell or Matt Slauson). Guys that are cap and know how to handle being pros. Guys that need a change of scenery (Eric Ebron or Denico Autry). All these type signings that he brings in will only be 3 year deals at most so CB can sign "his guys". 

 

I think he is going to be a lot more aggressive than he has been the past free agencies since being here. If I had to guess a couple of top tier guys that will make relative dent in the cap. Nothing like Luck's contract size but 11-20 mil guys. Then the rest will be like the signings CB has done in the past. 

[tweezy32]

4 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

Unfortunately you mention 3 bad signings.

Unfortunately you are wrong.  Bell and hunt would be a great signing.  Both a great running backs and would be a lot better then what we have now. Barr would be a good one too

[aaron11]

9 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 You obviously have not looked at our Roster and cap going forward. 
And this _____ Bell sh___ is proof you really just can't get it.

i get it just fine, some people dont value running backs but i do

 

we are not going to buy a defense in free agency but bell is out there and signing him will NOT prevent us from keeping our own.  i dont think you get it lol

 

we have NO ONE important to sign until the next cap period.  kelly could be extended before then, but he does not have to be, and i question his long term health as well

[Peterk2011]

17 hours ago, shastamasta said:

This is basically what JAC did. Look at four of their top FA contracts and dead cap hits by year:

Bouye - $26M, $21M, $6M

Jackson - 31.5M, $21.5M, $19.5M, $4M

Campbell - $30M, $19.5M, $3M

Gipson - $12M, $8.2M, $8.15M, $1.6M

Yes, they are over the cap for next year, but they aren't in cap hell. They can simply release 2-3 guys and have the money they need to sign a draft class (to replace those guys) and other miscellaneous signings.

 

First, you are reading the wrong column of the contracts.  The numbers above are not yearly cap hits, but deap caps IF released. The correct numbers (yearly cap hits) are:

Bouye - $5.5M, $15.5M, $15.5M, $15.5M

Jackson - $10M, $15.5M, $15.5M, $15.5M,  $15.75M, $17.35M

Campbell - $10M, $17.5M, $14.5M, $17.5M

Gipson - $4.2M, $6.3M, $7M, $9M,  $9.3M

 

So they didn't frontload these contract, but actually, the opposite, these contracts are backloaded. And these are the better ones, because last year, once they started to run out of cap space, they went "crazy" in baclkoading, just look at Norwell's contract, who has $5M cap hit in his first year, then it goes up to $16M from the next year (3M over the yearly average) and it stays at that high.

 

The Jags are definitely are in cap hell. They are in cap hell, in the worst way. Just wait till january/february, and you will see. Their cap is unmanageable. Mark my word, they will begin their new season by releasing at least 2, but probably 3 of their marquee defensive stars. Not underperforming, aging veterans, but players, who still play at high level, like Malik Jackson, Marcel Dareus for example. They will be forced to release these players, who are still playing very well .... without having their successor in place. And that is just the start, because that will only give them some air to survive through the beginning of the season. Then, they will need to deal with the draft, sign some free agents, because they only have 45 players under contract, they will need to keep some cash for the season, so they can sign players to replace their injured ones, etc. etc. And then, they have to deal with either Ngakogue or Jack, because none of them were 1st rounders, so they do not have an 5th year option, they both will be free agents after 2019, and they can only franchise one player. So they have to resign at least one of them (so they have to make space for that contract as well). 

 

And this will be only 2019. Year 2020 will be even tougher. Coughlin has done this mistake already, during his first tenure in Jacksonwille. Then he fled out from there. Now, he is doing the same all over again. I've been following the NFL for 30 years, and I have never seen such self destruction what the Jaguars did. It's just has not erupted yet, but the clock is ticking, and it's very close to couting down to zero. Coughlin is a great coach, but he is literaly a timed bomb, if you let him manage your roster. He just doesn't get it at all.

 

17 hours ago, shastamasta said:

I do understand the rollover piece...which is why frontloading should be used. There are roster bonuses and gtd base salaries that can be used to accomplish this. Obviously, you can't pay an entire contract in one season...but you can frontload a good chunk of it over 2-3 seasons...which will help to mitigate the dead cap hits later in the deal...or at least make them quite manageable. This fits in nicely with the Colts current timeline. 

 

You missed a very important point regarding frontloading. Frontloading means you pay money ahead. You can't pay just everybody ahead. You pay ahead of carefully selected players, who you are positive about, that they will live up to their contracts. Typically these players are the ones who you either build your future around (like Garoppolo in SanFran), or your OWN players, who already proved themselves for years, here, in this team, in this system. If you start laying out frontloaded contract for free agents, you just guarantee yourself that you will throw money out of the window (e.g. waste your cap capital), because some free agents will inevitably be busts. If a player is underperforming, and you have to cut him, you waste cap space, regardless if it's DM you have to swallow, or an already booked money you already payed in the previous year (because if you didn't frontload, you couldve rolled that money over to the next year. From cap management viewpont - cap management is like book keeping - it is the same amount of wasted resources.)

[MikeCurtis]

13 hours ago, richard pallo said:

To be honest I think our most glaring needs are already known.  Today on the radio Colin Cowherd,  a big Luck and Ballard fan,  said the Colts need a No.2 WR to compliment Hilton and called our running game C to C+ with no RB  defenses have to worry about.  Even the talking heads know what our big issues are.  He said Luck is carrying our team pretty much by himself. 

I think this post pretty much sums up our offensive struggles

 

I am starting to worry about RT a bit, as well.

[Superman]

13 hours ago, threeflight said:

Which Ballard did nothing to fix.

 

 

That's like saying Washington did nothing to improve their receiving corps. They signed Richardson, who didn't perform well and got hurt, but they did something.

 

Ballard signed Grant and drafted two receivers. Not a lot of production out of the group, but it doesn't mean he didn't do anything.

 

However, I agree that the most glaring weakness on offense this season has been the lack of another quality receiver, and I expect Ballard to address that weakness more aggressively this offseason.

[jskinnz]

10 hours ago, AZColt11 said:

I don't think he needs to go crazy with Irsay's wallet, BUT I would like to see them bring one elite level player in.  You can never find enough of those guys and most of them are worth it.  The problem is if those guys are really worth it, their own teams rarely let them go.  I would love it if we could pry an elite level DE from somewhere.  I think that would make this already rising defense a LOT better overall.

 

What team is going to let an elite level DE get to free agency?

 

What team will trade an elite level DE?

 

Suppose one became available, what have we seen from Ballard that suggests he would be willing to part with the draft capital and dollars to get an elite level DE?

 

[Superman]

15 hours ago, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

 

I agree. They received big bucks. Seemed like all of the early signings were inflated. But that's what the market yeilded.   Imo, An expensive signing wpuld have helped us more than Rogers/Grant as our #2

 

But would it have been smart?

 

Sammy Watkins, three years, $48m. He has 40 catches, 519 yards, 3 TDs.

Allen Robinson, three years, $42m. He has 41 catches, 573 yards, 4 TDs.

 

Rogers and Grant have combined for 67 catches, 647 yards, 2 TDs.

 

Everyone would agree that Watkins and Robinson are better individually than Rogers and Grant, even combined. But they both got contracts that don't make sense, and they are not producing at a level that warrants those contracts. Would it be smart to overpay players for barely average production, just because we have a bunch of cap space?

 

[Superman]

2 hours ago, MikeCurtis said:

I think this post pretty much sums up our offensive struggles

 

I am starting to worry about RT a bit, as well.

 

Smith is starting to get exposed. Doesn't mean he can't stay at that position and even get better, but this is why I wasn't all in on the idea that the OL is set and doesn't need continued attention moving forward. We finally have a solid foundation, but RG and RT are still question marks, and there's little depth across the board.

[dw49]

17 minutes ago, jskinnz said:

 

What team is going to let an elite level DE get to free agency?

 

What team will trade an elite level DE?

 

Suppose one became available, what have we seen from Ballard that suggests he would be willing to part with the draft capital and dollars to get an elite level DE?

 

 

Agree ... just look at what's scheduled to hit the market this year. The cap has gone up drastically and teams are now very adept at working it , that even the better FA's usually are aging , have injury concerns or have other warts. As someone mentioned earlier , even the Jags will just release one of those defensive players that is about out of guaranteed money when they need to keep a better player. As to trading draft picks , I would be surprised to see Ballard trading the necessary compensation to land an elite DE. 

[Superman]

At receiver, I like guys like Tyrell Williams and Quincy Enunwa. I'd rather give them $8m-10m/year than give Watkins $16m/year, or pay Robinson $14m to rehab his ACL. 

 

This is also looking like a good year to draft a receiver, based on my casual viewing and limited research. 

[The Fish]

The last time this team was in a playoff game was the deflategate game. Next year is year 3 of Ballards control of the roster. I can't imagine that they want to miss the playoffs again next year.

Cap space is great and all..

 

[jskinnz]

1 hour ago, The Fish said:

The last time this team was in a playoff game was the deflategate game. Next year is year 3 of Ballards control of the roster. I can't imagine that they want to miss the playoffs again next year.

Cap space is great and all..

 

 

So spending the cap space is the only feasible way to make the playoffs in 2019?

 

Based on what I've seen this year, it appears that getting a moderately priced FA here or there and then draft well is a pretty good plan too.

[jskinnz]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

At receiver, I like guys like Tyrell Williams and Quincy Enunwa. I'd rather give them $8m-10m/year than give Watkins $16m/year, or pay Robinson $14m to rehab his ACL. 

 

This is also looking like a good year to draft a receiver, based on my casual viewing and limited research. 

 

This is far and away the most likely scenario.  I am sure they will be more active in FA than last year but the really big names (=big coin) that will be out there, I expect a hard pass from Ballard.

[Valpo2004]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

At receiver, I like guys like Tyrell Williams and Quincy Enunwa. I'd rather give them $8m-10m/year than give Watkins $16m/year, or pay Robinson $14m to rehab his ACL. 

 

This is also looking like a good year to draft a receiver, based on my casual viewing and limited research. 

 

Watkins is way over paid due to his draft status.

 

I liked him for the Colts when he was an FA but I didn't think he would receive nearly the contract he did.  Certainly don't want him for what he's getting now.

 

I like Quincy Enunwa now.

[shasta519]

3 hours ago, Peterk2011 said:

 

First, you are reading the wrong column of the contracts.  The numbers above are not yearly cap hits, but deap caps IF released. The correct numbers (yearly cap hits) are:

Bouye - $5.5M, $15.5M, $15.5M, $15.5M

Jackson - $10M, $15.5M, $15.5M, $15.5M,  $15.75M, $17.35M

Campbell - $10M, $17.5M, $14.5M, $17.5M

Gipson - $4.2M, $6.3M, $7M, $9M,  $9.3M

 

So they didn't frontload these contract, but actually, the opposite, these contracts are backloaded. And these are the better ones, because last year, once they started to run out of cap space, they went "crazy" in baclkoading, just look at Norwell's contract, who has $5M cap hit in his first year, then it goes up to $16M from the next year (3M over the yearly average) and it stays at that high.

 

The Jags are definitely are in cap hell. They are in cap hell, in the worst way. Just wait till january/february, and you will see. Their cap is unmanageable. Mark my word, they will begin their new season by releasing at least 2, but probably 3 of their marquee defensive stars. Not underperforming, aging veterans, but players, who still play at high level, like Malik Jackson, Marcel Dareus for example. They will be forced to release these players, who are still playing very well .... without having their successor in place. And that is just the start, because that will only give them some air to survive through the beginning of the season. Then, they will need to deal with the draft, sign some free agents, because they only have 45 players under contract, they will need to keep some cash for the season, so they can sign players to replace their injured ones, etc. etc. And then, they have to deal with either Ngakogue or Jack, because none of them were 1st rounders, so they do not have an 5th year option, they both will be free agents after 2019, and they can only franchise one player. So they have to resign at least one of them (so they have to make space for that contract as well). 

 

And this will be only 2019. Year 2020 will be even tougher. Coughlin has done this mistake already, during his first tenure in Jacksonwille. Then he fled out from there. Now, he is doing the same all over again. I've been following the NFL for 30 years, and I have never seen such self destruction what the Jaguars did. It's just has not erupted yet, but the clock is ticking, and it's very close to couting down to zero. Coughlin is a great coach, but he is literaly a timed bomb, if you let him manage your roster. He just doesn't get it at all.

 

 

You missed a very important point regarding frontloading. Frontloading means you pay money ahead. You can't pay just everybody ahead. You pay ahead of carefully selected players, who you are positive about, that they will live up to their contracts. Typically these players are the ones who you either build your future around (like Garoppolo in SanFran), or your OWN players, who already proved themselves for years, here, in this team, in this system. If you start laying out frontloaded contract for free agents, you just guarantee yourself that you will throw money out of the window (e.g. waste your cap capital), because some free agents will inevitably be busts. If a player is underperforming, and you have to cut him, you waste cap space, regardless if it's DM you have to swallow, or an already booked money you already payed in the previous year (because if you didn't frontload, you couldve rolled that money over to the next year. From cap management viewpont - cap management is like book keeping - it is the same amount of wasted resources.)

 

No...that is the correct column. Guaranteed money is what matters...and that affects dead cap hits. This is what was frontloaded...mostly in the form of guaranteed base salaries in the first couple of years of those deals. They did this to reduce the dead cap hits in the later years and provide "outs" for these contracts. The cap hits after the "out" are largely irrelevant...except for calculating how much cap is saved after subtracting the dead money. In JAC's case, it's likely none of those players will still be on the roster more than a season past their "outs."

 

The NFL is unique in that you sign players knowing knowing there is a good chance you will either release, trade or restructure somewhere down the road. 

 

So JAC spending at that level obviously wasn't sustainable...but that wasn't the point. They made a push because a) they could and b) for immediate success prior to their move to London (this is my opinion).

 

And sure, they will have to release 2-3 guys...but that was always the plan...they likely never planned on paying a 30 year-old Malik Jackson or a 34 year-old Calais Campbell. The goal was to maximize this current window and then reset. And they structured contracts so they could start the reset this offseason.

 

Barry Church - $6.25M cap saved, $6.75M cap saved

A.J. Bouye - $9.5M cap saved, $11.5M cap saved

Tashuan Gipson - $7.45M cap saved, $8.5M cap saved

Calais Campbell - $11.5M cap saved, $16M cap saved

Malik Jackson - $11M cap saved, $13.75M cap saved

Dareus - $10.585M cap saved, $14.6M cap saved

 

That is a boatload of cap space that can be saved over the next couple of offseasons. It will start with 2-3 of those guys being released/traded after this season...likely Jackson, Church and someone else. And then the remaining the following offseason. They might even be able to get back some draft capital out of a couple of them. Or they might just decide to blow it up and do it all at once. Considering they don't have a QB, that might be the best course of action. And that would certainly make for a fun FA period.

 

But they aren't in cap hell...they are just having to reset their cap after making a huge push. But going forward, they will have money to re-sign their current young core. And they will have two drafts worth of picks (plus whatever additional picks they get) to replace all of those FAs.

 

The only real mistake they made was relying on Bortles to get them over the hump...and then they compounded that mistake by giving him that stupid contract...which includes a $16,5M dead cap hit next year. That cap space alone would cover most of what they need for next season...and would prevent them from having to release a player. 

 

[shasta519]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

At receiver, I like guys like Tyrell Williams and Quincy Enunwa. I'd rather give them $8m-10m/year than give Watkins $16m/year, or pay Robinson $14m to rehab his ACL. 

 

This is also looking like a good year to draft a receiver, based on my casual viewing and limited research. 

 

My hope is that they do both...sign a solid vet WR and draft one on Day Two. Then let Inman/Cain/Fountain else compete for the additional roster spots. That will give them plenty of depth to hedge against injury and will improve the offense...but it also help jumpstart rebuilding the WR group. 

[shasta519]

2 hours ago, Superman said:

 

That's like saying Washington did nothing to improve their receiving corps. They signed Richardson, who didn't perform well and got hurt, but they did something.

 

Ballard signed Grant and drafted two receivers. Not a lot of production out of the group, but it doesn't mean he didn't do anything.

 

However, I agree that the most glaring weakness on offense this season has been the lack of another quality receiver, and I expect Ballard to address that weakness more aggressively this offseason.

 

If he would have just drafted Kirk...I think the outlook (and offense) would be better. 

 

But he opted for the value approach...which didn't cost much...but he also got what he paid for.

 

Fortunately, this offseason should have some interesting options available...and I think they shift their approach a bit.  

[Superman]

30 minutes ago, jskinnz said:

 

So spending the cap space is the only feasible way to make the playoffs in 2019?

 

Based on what I've seen this year, it appears that getting a moderately priced FA here or there and then draft well is a pretty good plan too.

 

https://overthecap.com/free-agency-spending/

 

This is a list ranking teams' new spending in 2018. Only four of the top ten teams are legitimately in the mix for the playoffs. One is the Saints, and they mostly spent money retaining their own guys, primarily Brees.

 

On the other hand, six of the bottom ten teams are strongly in the playoff mix. The Eagles and Colts are two of the other four, and the Eagles are mostly struggling with injuries. The Falcons and Bengals are the other two, and they're probably mostly held back by coaching and injuries.

 

My point is only that the idea that spending more money makes your team more likely to make the playoffs is off base. There's nothing wrong with spending money, but what's important is who you spend it on, and how you develop the players on your roster. Team building, not money spending.

[cbear]

On 12/3/2018 at 12:59 AM, Savage56 said:

All you hear is people talking about how much cap space the Colts have this upcoming offseason and how they want the Chris Ballard to go all out in Free Agency. Look, I think Chris will spend a little bit more cash this offseason, but having him spend a ton of cap space now doesn't make sense to our future goal. I know all that cash looks pretty now since we don't really have many of our own talents to bring back right away, but there's going to be a time when a lot of of guys contracts are expiring around the same time, especially the guys Chris Ballard drafted this past year. We need to be smart with our money so we can keep our core together down the line for many more years. I know it's going to take a little bit longer and we're going to have to hope that we hit on a ton of our draft picks and whatever FA's we do sign moving forward. I think Chris Ballard has shown us that he knows what he's doing and we just need to give the guy a little bit of time and patience.

 

If the Colts aren't spending a ton of money it's for good reason. Chris Ballard has a plan and he's 10 steps if not more ahead of anyone who thinks they know how he should spend Irsay's money.

 

 

 

We can only hope that Ballard contiues to think and plan like he does and not like some fans.  Or after every loss, he'd be trying to reshape the team, every off season he'd be signing every big name free agent, and we'd end up the a laughing stock until he was fired himself.  He's playing chess. A lot of us are playing checkers. 

[Superman]

6 minutes ago, shastamasta said:

 

If he would have just drafted Kirk...I think the outlook (and offense) would be better. 

 

But he opted for the value approach...which didn't cost much...but he also got what he paid for.

 

Fortunately, this offseason should have some interesting options available...and I think they shift their approach a bit.  

 

Well that's the other thing, and we'll have to see how it goes, but I'm not sure how Ballard scouts and rates receivers. I was a huge Christian Kirk fan, but who knows how Ballard views him? It's hard not to see that Kirk > Rogers, especially adding in his return ability.

 

If time determines that Ballard can't figure out the receiver position, that will be a different story. But it's hard for me to complain about Leonard and Smith when we absolutely had to rebuild both of those units with young players.

 

By the way, mid-second round pick Kirk has outproduced and been more consistent than Robinson and Watkins as well (the Bears and Chiefs aren't getting what they paid for), which speaks to the idea that you can add Day 1 producers at WR, outside of the first round, even though the WR position has been iffy in the draft lately.