Ballard admits they pursued FAs last year

[Four2itus]

8 hours ago, CR91 said:

 

People like the idea of having Bell. Just not the price it would take to get him

Personally, I dont want him near this team. I dont care what the price is. Brown is the same in my world. 

[LockeDown]

Mack needs to take care of his body and train like Gore and he’ll make it a whole season. 

[tweezy32]

4 hours ago, Four2itus said:

Personally, I dont want him near this team. I dont care what the price is. Brown is the same in my world. 

Lmao stop overreacting.  He hasn't done anything for you to say that.  Same with brown.  They are not locker room problems so I don't know why you wouldn't want them on team. 

[SouthernIndianaNDFan]

2 minutes ago, tweezy32 said:

Lmao stop overreacting.  He hasn't done anything for you to say that.  Same with brown.  They are not locker room problems so I don't know why you wouldn't want them on team. 

 

People are overreacting. If I was a premier player, and my team kept spitting in my face (franchise tagging me) although I told them I was gonna hold my ground...guess what? I'd do the same thing, and so would practically everyone in any serious professional setting.

 

They both work their butts off to be among the best at what they do, and both are amazing Pro Bowl talents. If Chris Ballard and the Colts braintrust decide either are good options (unlikely) then I'm on board, because they ultimately know what is going to bring future success. As much as many of these laptop GMs (myself included) think they could run a successful franchise, they'd make Ryan Grigson look like a Hall of Famer. 

 

I, for one, would love to have both players on this team, from a skillset standpoint. It is extremely unlikely given Ballard/Reich's general viewpoints, but you're lying to yourself if you don't think either/both would increase this team's potential exponentially. 

[MikeCurtis]

13 hours ago, jskinnz said:

 

Bell will 1000% NOT be a Colt next year.

You are probably right

 

But

 

You have to help me pick stocks

 

I buy high, and sell low

 

My personal crystal ball is a bit cloudy these days

 

I have NO 1000% view of the future

 

5 hours ago, LockeDown said:

Mack needs to take care of his body and train like Gore and he’ll make it a whole season. 

And..... add 20lbs

[pacolts56]

1 hour ago, SouthernIndianaNDFan said:

 

People are overreacting. If I was a premier player, and my team kept spitting in my face (franchise tagging me) although I told them I was gonna hold my ground...guess what? I'd do the same thing, and so would practically everyone in any serious professional setting.

 

They both work their butts off to be among the best at what they do, and both are amazing Pro Bowl talents. If Chris Ballard and the Colts braintrust decide either are good options (unlikely) then I'm on board, because they ultimately know what is going to bring future success. As much as many of these laptop GMs (myself included) think they could run a successful franchise, they'd make Ryan Grigson look like a Hall of Famer. 

 

I, for one, would love to have both players on this team, from a skillset standpoint. It is extremely unlikely given Ballard/Reich's general viewpoints, but you're lying to yourself if you don't think either/both would increase this team's potential exponentially. 

Who you callin a “laptop GM” ... you snot nosed kid?!! 

 

 

[crazycolt1]

3 hours ago, tweezy32 said:

Lmao stop overreacting.  He hasn't done anything for you to say that.  Same with brown.  They are not locker room problems so I don't know why you wouldn't want them on team. 

Brown not a locker room problem?  lmao.

Please do some background research on the Steelers locker room since he signed his last contract.

If you don't think quitting on his team not a locker room problem then you have never been in a locker room or you don't have a clue.

[MikeCurtis]

34 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

Brown not a locker room problem?  lmao.

Please do some background research on the Steelers locker room since he signed his last contract.

If you don't think quitting on his team not a locker room problem then you have never been in a locker room or you don't have a clue.

Brown quit the team, while under a great, lucrative contract, when they were still fighting for a playoff spot.........

 

I hope the Colts stay 1000 miles away from that prima donna

[Cynjin]

4 hours ago, tweezy32 said:

Lmao stop overreacting.  He hasn't done anything for you to say that.  Same with brown.  They are not locker room problems so I don't know why you wouldn't want them on team. 

 

3 hours ago, SouthernIndianaNDFan said:

 

People are overreacting. If I was a premier player, and my team kept spitting in my face (franchise tagging me) although I told them I was gonna hold my ground...guess what? I'd do the same thing, and so would practically everyone in any serious professional setting.

 

They both work their butts off to be among the best at what they do, and both are amazing Pro Bowl talents. If Chris Ballard and the Colts braintrust decide either are good options (unlikely) then I'm on board, because they ultimately know what is going to bring future success. As much as many of these laptop GMs (myself included) think they could run a successful franchise, they'd make Ryan Grigson look like a Hall of Famer. 

 

I, for one, would love to have both players on this team, from a skillset standpoint. It is extremely unlikely given Ballard/Reich's general viewpoints, but you're lying to yourself if you don't think either/both would increase this team's potential exponentially. 

 

I am not totally sure if Bell is a "locker-room" problem, but Brown definitely is.  Both are super talented, the issue with Bell seems to be that teams do not value his talents as much as he does.  Brown's locker-room issues are well documented and do not require much research to uncover.

[Dingus McGirt]

14 hours ago, bestQBever said:

would you guys take bell for 14 mil a year?

Maybe two years ago...

[LockeDown]

We all know The Pitt FO is frugal but Pittsburgh loved Hines Ward and Jerome Bettis who had long careers there but obviously not so much Bell and Brown.  

[jskinnz]

7 hours ago, MikeCurtis said:

You are probably right

 

But

 

You have to help me pick stocks

 

I buy high, and sell low

 

My personal crystal ball is a bit cloudy these days

 

I have NO 1000% view of the future

 

And..... add 20lbs

 

As a day trader, I am a miserable fail.

 

Understanding Ballard as it relates to Bell and AB - that is easy to see.

[richard pallo]

4 hours ago, Cynjin said:

 

 

I am not totally sure if Bell is a "locker-room" problem, but Brown definitely is.  Both are super talented, the issue with Bell seems to be that teams do not value his talents as much as he does.  Brown's locker-room issues are well documented and do not require much research to uncover.

We will soon see how much teams value Bell's talents.  My bet is on Bell getting paid.  His holdout well worth it for him. 

[Lucky Colts Fan]

3 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

My bet is on Bell getting paid.

 

Of course he'll get paid.

 

There will always be teams like the Redskins.

 

I just hope Ballard doesn't go down that path.

[SouthernIndianaNDFan]

5 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

Brown not a locker room problem?  lmao.

Please do some background research on the Steelers locker room since he signed his last contract.

If you don't think quitting on his team not a locker room problem then you have never been in a locker room or you don't have a clue.

 

What about Ben and Tomlin? Did they play a role, or is everything on AB?

[SouthernIndianaNDFan]

11 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

We will soon see how much teams value Bell's talents.  My bet is on Bell getting paid.  His holdout well worth it for him. 

 

It only takes one team, and we've seen way too many times in the past that teams are willing to overpay for premier talent. I think he gets in the neighborhood of 16/yr, a hair above Gurley's. However, not with the same amount guaranteed, more incentive-based, because of everything that's happened. 

[ColtsBlueFL]

21 hours ago, csmopar said:

Ballard just stated that the number one issue was the cloud over Luck's health and availability....

 

So apparently FA's aren't nearly as impressed with Jacoby Brissett as many Colts fans are?...   Hmmm...

 

21 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Does anyone think Bell will take less money to play here? Just to stick it to the Steelers

 

He might take less money because it's not unfeasible to think no team will pay him that much long term.  However, The Jets might...    Jon Gruden might (find a way), Bruce Arians might try and give Winston help... Possibly the Eagles, as they were reportedly trying to even trade for him before talks fell off.  My suspicion is one of these teams will offer more than the Colts. We'll see.

 

Besides, it is not likely the Steelers just let both Bell and AB go for nothing. There is a business side to this.  Letting huge assets walk away from an organization without compensation isn't a good business model.  It will be an interesting off season.

[ColtsBlueFL]

14 hours ago, LockeDown said:

Mack needs to take care of his body and train like Gore and he’ll make it a whole season. 

 

8 hours ago, MikeCurtis said:

And..... add 20lbs

 

But not lose any speed!

 

7 hours ago, pacolts56 said:

Who you callin a “laptop GM” ... you snot nosed kid?!! 

 

 

 

 

LOL (this actually was my first PC after the Toys 'R Us price drop in early 1980's!!)

 

44 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

We will soon see how much teams value Bell's talents.  My bet is on Bell getting paid.  His holdout well worth it for him. 

 

Over or Under on $65 million over 4 years?

[Yoshinator]

3 minutes ago, ColtsBlueFL said:

 

 

But not lose any speed!

 

 

 

LOL (this actually was my first PC after the Toys 'R Us price drop in early 1980's!!)

 

 

Over or Under on $65 million over 4 years?

LOL, that's funny. I'll take the under on the amount, equal on the years. 

[jvan1973]

57 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

We will soon see how much teams value Bell's talents.  My bet is on Bell getting paid.  His holdout well worth it for him. 

How was the holdout well worth it for him?  He will never recoup the 14 million he lost last year

[richard pallo]

16 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

How was the holdout well worth it for him?  He will never recoup the 14 million he lost last year

You don't know that.  14 m in more guaranteed money takes care of that.  There is more than one way to skin a cat. 

[jvan1973]

21 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

You don't know that.  14 m in more guaranteed money takes care of that.  There is more than one way to skin a cat. 

He isn't going to get 34 million in guarantees

[Cynjin]

1 hour ago, richard pallo said:

We will soon see how much teams value Bell's talents.  My bet is on Bell getting paid.  His holdout well worth it for him. 

 

Well it only takes one team to fall in love with him, so it is possible that he gets paid.  However, I doubt it will be a bidding war with multiple teams.

[csmopar]

1 hour ago, ColtsBlueFL said:

 

So apparently FA's aren't nearly as impressed with Jacoby Brissett as many Colts fans are?...   Hmmm...

 

 

He might take less money because it's not unfeasible to think no team will pay him that much long term.  However, The Jets might...    Jon Gruden might (find a way), Bruce Arians might try and give Winston help... Possibly the Eagles, as they were reportedly trying to even trade for him before talks fell off.  My suspicion is one of these teams will offer more than the Colts. We'll see.

 

Besides, it is not likely the Steelers just let both Bell and AB go for nothing. There is a business side to this.  Letting huge assets walk away from an organization without compensation isn't a good business model.  It will be an interesting off season.

During his interview, Ballard was asked by Dakich about those very two players and Ballard gave an in-depth answer that ruled both of them out of the equation. Niether one of them will be coming here. 

[csmopar]

15 hours ago, LockeDown said:

Mack needs to take care of his body and train like Gore and he’ll make it a whole season. 

He played 12 straight after coming back. Not counting play offs. I think he’ll be fine

[BleedBlu8792]

1 hour ago, ColtsBlueFL said:

 

So apparently FA's aren't nearly as impressed with Jacoby Brissett as many Colts fans are?...   Hmmm...

 

 

 

Come on CFL, you know comparing 2017, as a whole, to this year isn't really fair to Brissett. The coaching, and play calling alone, would have given fans a different body of work from Brissett. Add in that OL from week 6 on, and there is another improvement. I think the Colts chances with Brissett winning 10 games would have been lower than with Luck, but I think he could have gotten the team to 8-8. I wish we could have seen just 1 full game with him to see how he would have played with this team and coaching staff this year.

[BleedBlu8792]

9 hours ago, MikeCurtis said:

And..... add 20lbs

 

You would be surprised how a solid 5-7lbs would change him physically. 20 would be WAAAYYY too much. 

[Four2itus]

10 hours ago, tweezy32 said:

Lmao stop overreacting.  He hasn't done anything for you to say that.  Same with brown.  They are not locker room problems so I don't know why you wouldn't want them on team. 

First of all, I am not overreacting. I have had this same stance since both of those players went to social media about their situation. 

 

To the bolded, how on earth could you know that?

 

As far as locker room problems, I never said that. I responded to this...."People like the idea of having Bell. Just not the price it would take to get him"....... with this........"Personally, I dont want him near this team. I dont care what the price is. Brown is the same in my world". 

 

No where did I say they were a locker room problem, although Brown is a definite candidate. It's their antics away from the team that do not speak...."Team". 

[CurBeatElite]

17 hours ago, richard pallo said:

My bet is Mack can't stay healthy.  Your No.1 guy should be able to stay on the field.  Need someone more reliable than either boom or bust every week.  

 

I really don't think Mack is 'boom or bust' every week.  More than half the games he played in last year he averaged over 4.7 yards/carry.  

 

There were a few games earlier in the year (game 2 for example, when he had 3.4 yards per carry on 10 carries) where the OL hadn't really gelled yet.  Later in the year there were a few games where he didn't put up great  numbers, but neither did our entire offense and we were in a position where we were kind of forced to abandon the run game.  Jacksonville stymied us when they beat us 6-0, nothing on our offense was clicking that day.  Even though he average 5.11 yards/carry vs. KC we weren't in a position to really set up the run game since we came out slow and fell behind to a team with the offensive power KC has.... 

 

In 6 of the 7 games where Mack had 15 or more carries, he averaged over 4.75 yards/carry (5 of the 7 over 5.15 yards/carry).  These were games where our O was clicking and we were able to emphasize the run game.  It is the games where he had under 15 carries where his ypc was low, and while some of this is undoubtedly on him, a lot of it has to be due to the fact that our O wasn't clicking or we put ourselves in an early hole and were forced to abandon the run game.

 

In the regular season we were 10-2 with Mack in the line-up and 0-4 with him out of the lineup.  He also missed games to injury because of a nagging hamstring early in the season and when he came back he remained healthy.  I'd be much more worried about him being injury prone if he was coming off a knee tear or a broken ankle or something.  I think he'll be just fine going forward, especially if our OL continues to improve and if we can get a WR2 to make sure our O can use the air to aid the run game if need be (e.g., we couldn't do hardly anything against KC with TY battling injury and them basically shutting down every other receiving weapon on our O).

[ColtsBlueFL]

1 hour ago, BleedBlu8792 said:

 

 

Come on CFL, you know comparing 2017, as a whole, to this year isn't really fair to Brissett.

 

Because he only threw 4 passes, and completed 2 of them?

 

Quote

The coaching, and play calling alone, would have given fans a different body of work from Brissett. Add in that OL from week 6 on, and there is another improvement.

 

Possibly? But maybe he has a mental meltdown after losing 5 out of six games.  Both are pure speculation.

 

Quote

I think the Colts chances with Brissett winning 10 games would have been lower than with Luck, but I think he could have gotten the team to 8-8.

 

I'm not as sure.  You have nothing but supposition, and supporting evidence is somewhat lean.  Facts are he is still a 5 - 11 QB with 13 TD's and 7 INT's, 3500 passing yards in 17 games started and 6 additional games participated in, and 59% completion rate. in 2017 he was 4 - 11 as a starter.

 

Jameis Winston in 2017 was 3 - 10 as a starter. In those 13 games he threw for 3504 yards, had a 64% completion percentage,  19 TD's and 11 INT's .  More yds and higher % than Brissett in  his entire career! and the Bucs were as horrid as the Colts that year too.

 

So now I ask who is the better QB, Brissett or Winston? Likewise, I could say Bruce Arians is going to turn Jameis into his next Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Carson Palmer project with similar success, etc...  and he may.  But I want to see some tangible results that point that way first.  Same with Jacoby.

 

I need to actually see something out of Jacoby first.

 

Quote

I wish we could have seen just 1 full game with him to see how he would have played with this team and coaching staff this year.

 

1 full game would at least show a hint.

[CurBeatElite]

18 hours ago, Chloe6124 said:

He will be. If you take what he did this season and extrapolate that to 16 games he would have over 1400. That is right up there with Elliott and Barkley.

 

From regular season only (908 yards in 12 games = 75.66 ypg * 16 = 1,210 yards per season) he'd be a little less than 1400, but that would still put him as 4th in the league behind Elliot, Barkley and Gurley.  To his credit, it took our OL about 1/2 a season to really gel (granted Mack missed 1/2 of the first half of the season) and there were games where we just had to abandon the run or couldn't get anything going on offense (see the 6-0 loss the Jax).  

 

With another offseason to condition himself and prepare for what will really be his 2nd NFL season as a starter, I think he'll be fine in terms of holding up against injury.  He has really improved as a pass blocker and I think we'll see him become a household name next season with continued success in Indy.

 

18 hours ago, aaron11 said:

im all for getting someone else some more carries but i dont know about hines or wilkins 

 

 

 

Here is Ballard from Colts.com front page on our RBs:

 

On if he’s comfortable with the Colts’ running back position:

“Yeah. I like our group. And we actually didn’t get to see (Jonathan) Williams, the fourth (back); we just couldn’t get him up. And we actually tried to sign him early in the season when Marlon (Mack) was hurt — Marlon was hurt the, what, first three, four games of the year — and we tried to get (Williams) … (New Orleans) cut him, we didn’t have a spot on the roster, so we were trying to get him on our practice squad and thought we’d be able to move him Week 1 to play, and he ended up staying in New Orleans. And then when he hit the street again, we think he’s got some talent, too. So between Marlon and (Nyheim) Hines and (Jordan) Wilkins and Williams, we think we’ve got a pretty good four set.”

 

11 hours ago, tweezy32 said:

Lmao stop overreacting.  He hasn't done anything for you to say that.  Same with brown.  They are not locker room problems so I don't know why you wouldn't want them on team. 

 

Brown is absolutely a locker room problem. That became evident when he posted Tomlin's speech before playing the Pats in the locker room onto his social media accounts: https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/1/18/14307398/antonio-brown-apologizes-locker-room-video-mike-tomlin-steelers-patriots  and became more evident this season when he decided he was more important than the team and sold out on them while still in the playoff hunt.

 

Bell may not be a locker room problem, but we don't really know that.  His teammates were not happy at all when he didn't show up this year.  Pouncey said it best "It is a little selfish  ....It's Le'Veon Bell over the Steelers.  We're the Steelers."  https://triblive.com/sports/steelers/14049901-74/steelers-center-maurkice-pouncey-sounds-off-on-leveon-bell

 

Ballard and Reich are building a team-oriented culture.  I don't think Bell or Brown fits the mold.

 

 

7 hours ago, Cynjin said:

 

 

I am not totally sure if Bell is a "locker-room" problem, but Brown definitely is.  Both are super talented, the issue with Bell seems to be that teams do not value his talents as much as he does.  Brown's locker-room issues are well documented and do not require much research to uncover.

 

Agreed.  To be honest, the Steelers kind of showed Bell may not be as valuable as he thinks he is.  In 2017, Bell had 1,291 yards rushing in 15 games and averaged 4.0 yards/carry.  In 2018, James Conner (who was an unknown) had 973 yards rushing in 13 games and averaged 4.5 yards/carry.  Conner missed a few games but he was running for more yards per carry and was really not much of a drop off from Le'Veon (who now will have to come back to the NFL after missing an entire year and will be playing in a new system).

 

He's got a big name and prior to the 2017 season (which he seemed to slow down compared to his previous 3-4 years) he had some wonderful highlight reels.  That said, I don't think there are many RBs going into their 6th or 7th season that NFL GM's are going to want to break the bank on long-term deals for, especially after all the drama that unfolded with Le'Veon last year.

[SouthernIndianaNDFan]

13 minutes ago, CurBeatElite said:

 

I really don't think Mack is 'boom or bust' every week.  More than half the games he played in last year he averaged over 4.7 yards/carry.  

 

There were a few games earlier in the year (game 2 for example, when he had 3.4 yards per carry on 10 carries) where the OL hadn't really gelled yet.  Later in the year there were a few games where he didn't put up great  numbers, but neither did our entire offense and we were in a position where we were kind of forced to abandon the run game.  Jacksonville stymied us when they beat us 6-0, nothing on our offense was clicking that day.  Even though he average 5.11 yards/carry vs. KC we weren't in a position to really set up the run game since we came out slow and fell behind to a team with the offensive power KC has.... 

 

In 6 of the 7 games where Mack had 15 or more carries, he averaged over 4.75 yards/carry (5 of the 7 over 5.15 yards/carry).  These were games where our O was clicking and we were able to emphasize the run game.  It is the games where he had under 15 carries where his ypc was low, and while some of this is undoubtedly on him, a lot of it has to be due to the fact that our O wasn't clicking or we put ourselves in an early hole and were forced to abandon the run game.

 

In the regular season we were 10-2 with Mack in the line-up and 0-4 with him out of the lineup.  He also missed games to injury because of a nagging hamstring early in the season and when he came back he remained healthy.  I'd be much more worried about him being injury prone if he was coming off a knee tear or a broken ankle or something.  I think he'll be just fine going forward, especially if our OL continues to improve and if we can get a WR2 to make sure our O can use the air to aid the run game if need be (e.g., we couldn't do hardly anything against KC with TY battling injury and them basically shutting down every other receiving weapon on our O).

 

He averaged zero when he was injured. That's my only issue, can he stay healthy in a feature-back role? They still have other RBs on their rookie deals, but that isn't a permanent solution. The Colts aren't gonna pay all of those guys when the time comes. I think the Colts should continue to take RBs in the middle rounds, attempt to land that Kareem Hunt (skill-wise) or David Johnson. 

[CurBeatElite]

Just now, SouthernIndianaNDFan said:

 

He averaged zero when he was injured. That's my only issue, can he stay healthy in a feature-back role? They still have other RBs on their rookie deals, but that isn't a permanent solution. The Colts aren't gonna pay all of those guys when the time comes. I think the Colts should continue to take RBs in the middle rounds, attempt to land that Kareem Hunt (skill-wise) or David Johnson. 

 

His issue was a lingering hamstring which carried over from training camp.  When he came back from it, he stayed healthy and was fine the rest of the way and into the playoffs.  It's not like he's coming off a blown knee or some sort of career threatening injury.  I think he'll be just fine.

[aaron11]

1 hour ago, CurBeatElite said:

 

From regular season only (908 yards in 12 games = 75.66 ypg * 16 = 1,210 yards per season) he'd be a little less than 1400, but that would still put him as 4th in the league behind Elliot, Barkley and Gurley.  To his credit, it took our OL about 1/2 a season to really gel (granted Mack missed 1/2 of the first half of the season) and there were games where we just had to abandon the run or couldn't get anything going on offense (see the 6-0 loss the Jax).  

 

With another offseason to condition himself and prepare for what will really be his 2nd NFL season as a starter, I think he'll be fine in terms of holding up against injury.  He has really improved as a pass blocker and I think we'll see him become a household name next season with continued success in Indy.

 

 

Here is Ballard from Colts.com front page on our RBs:

 

On if he’s comfortable with the Colts’ running back position:

“Yeah. I like our group. And we actually didn’t get to see (Jonathan) Williams, the fourth (back); we just couldn’t get him up. And we actually tried to sign him early in the season when Marlon (Mack) was hurt — Marlon was hurt the, what, first three, four games of the year — and we tried to get (Williams) … (New Orleans) cut him, we didn’t have a spot on the roster, so we were trying to get him on our practice squad and thought we’d be able to move him Week 1 to play, and he ended up staying in New Orleans. And then when he hit the street again, we think he’s got some talent, too. So between Marlon and (Nyheim) Hines and (Jordan) Wilkins and Williams, we think we’ve got a pretty good four set.”

 

 

Brown is absolutely a locker room problem. That became evident when he posted Tomlin's speech before playing the Pats in the locker room onto his social media accounts: https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/1/18/14307398/antonio-brown-apologizes-locker-room-video-mike-tomlin-steelers-patriots  and became more evident this season when he decided he was more important than the team and sold out on them while still in the playoff hunt.

 

Bell may not be a locker room problem, but we don't really know that.  His teammates were not happy at all when he didn't show up this year.  Pouncey said it best "It is a little selfish  ....It's Le'Veon Bell over the Steelers.  We're the Steelers."  https://triblive.com/sports/steelers/14049901-74/steelers-center-maurkice-pouncey-sounds-off-on-leveon-bell

 

Ballard and Reich are building a team-oriented culture.  I don't think Bell or Brown fits the mold.

 

 

 

Agreed.  To be honest, the Steelers kind of showed Bell may not be as valuable as he thinks he is.  In 2017, Bell had 1,291 yards rushing in 15 games and averaged 4.0 yards/carry.  In 2018, James Conner (who was an unknown) had 973 yards rushing in 13 games and averaged 4.5 yards/carry.  Conner missed a few games but he was running for more yards per carry and was really not much of a drop off from Le'Veon (who now will have to come back to the NFL after missing an entire year and will be playing in a new system).

 

He's got a big name and prior to the 2017 season (which he seemed to slow down compared to his previous 3-4 years) he had some wonderful highlight reels.  That said, I don't think there are many RBs going into their 6th or 7th season that NFL GM's are going to want to break the bank on long-term deals for, especially after all the drama that unfolded with Le'Veon last year.

 

ive seen that and i dont necessarily agree.  i think we have one decent back in mack, and the others are just guys.  i think hines is better as a receiver and so far hasnt shown much from the backfield

 

wilkins looked ok running it, but his fumbles were terrible imo.  i went back and watched and they were not great plays by the defender, he just dropped it after run of the mill tackles 

[CurBeatElite]

2 minutes ago, aaron11 said:

 

ive seen that and i dont necessarily agree.  i think we have one decent back in mack, and the others are just guys.  i think hines is better as a receiver and so far hasnt shown much from the backfield

 

wilkins looked ok running it, but his fumbles were terrible imo.  i went back and watched and they were not great plays by the defender, he just dropped it after run of the mill tackles 

 

I expect we'll bring in a couple of non-household name FAs, a couple undrafted FAs and won't be shocked if we draft a RB in the later rounds for competition's sake.  I'll just be highly surprised if we bring in Bell or any big name FA RB for a large contract.  I think Ballard is happy with what we have and I think we have several more pressing needs in other positions than RB that are more likely to see high-profile FAs.

 

Hines, I believe, was brought in to be more of a receiving threat out of the backfield and I think for a rookie he did very well.  You are right, Wilkins had some costly fumbles and that needs to be improved upon.  However, they are fixable mistakes.  Ballard and Reich have both emphasized the desire to build this team through the draft and with good coaching and hard work.  I imagine both Hines and Wilkins will continue to improve next year.

[BOTT]

5 hours ago, SouthernIndianaNDFan said:

 

What about Ben and Tomlin? Did they play a role, or is everything on AB?

What about Ben and Tomlin?  Brown is 30 yrs old, not some impressionable teenager. Grow up and act like a professional.

[richard pallo]

1 hour ago, aaron11 said:

 

ive seen that and i dont necessarily agree.  i think we have one decent back in mack, and the others are just guys.  i think hines is better as a receiver and so far hasnt shown much from the backfield

 

wilkins looked ok running it, but his fumbles were terrible imo.  i went back and watched and they were not great plays by the defender, he just dropped it after run of the mill tackles 

Agree.  Do you really expect Ballard to diss his RB's after he drafted them all?  He's going to tip his hand on how he really feels leading up to FA and the draft.  I don't think so.  BTW "Like" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement. 

[SouthernIndianaNDFan]

54 minutes ago, BOTT said:

What about Ben and Tomlin?  Brown is 30 yrs old, not some impressionable teenager. Grow up and act like a professional.

 

Again, Ben repeatedly threw him under the bus, and Tomlin endorsed it. Can you imagine Luck throwing TY under the bus on national and Indy media outlets, and Reich just allowing it all to happen? AB definitely deserves some blame here, but let's not discount the situation as a whole, or not take the entire picture into account just to make one player look bad. We get it, you guys don't want AB or Lev and "Indy is too good to do that", blah. Blah. Blah. You guys keep holding your chins up, and I'll take a sensible approach. Before this season, AB was ultra productive and worked insanely hard to be the best WR in the league on a consistent basis...now did he have some times where he was a diva? No doubt. But I'll leave it to Ballard, Reich, and whoever else to determine what is detrimental to the team and what isn't. One thing that can't be denied, is that AB would make this offense much better, instantly. I believe that he could be a great locker room guy if he wasn't in such a cancerous environment. To each their own though...

[richard pallo]

If I'm Lawrence I would be very angry if the Cowboys decided to franchise him a second time in favor of choosing to extend a newly acquired Amari Cooper in his place.  Lack of loyalty to one of your own players versus a new player on the team.  If Bell's decision to sit out a year pays off for him maybe Lawrence threatens to do the same thing in Dallas.  Ballard can then jump in with a sign and trade offer to pry him away and the Colts finally get their ER.  It's a long shot but I can see Lawrence saying enough is enough.  Pay me or trade me. 

[#12.]

Luck is a different kind of guy.  Luck, Brown, TY and Ebron would work well and be great together, but I can't see the Steelers trading him to an AFC playoff team.  

 

Doesn't hurt to try, though.