Improved or status Q ?

[ThorstenDenmark]

Hello fellow Colts fans.

 

Living abroad in Denmark - Europe, and a die hard Colts fans for 20 years or so, I have never been so committed to a sports franchise as I am to the Indianapolis Colts. Heck I even got a Colts tattoo 

 

In recent years I have been even more committed to follow both the draft, free agency and really started to get into the whole cap issues and whats ticking behind the scenes regarding signing free agents and so. 

 

Ever since Chris Ballard have made his entrance, I can only see positives and a newfound belief throughout the NFL and among other fanbases, that the Colts are heading the right direction. 

 

Suddenly your team have the most capspace and money to spend in the entire NFL, and you start thinking, will this be the year we sign someone special that can take us to the next level ?

 

And then we sign .... wait for it....waaaaaiiiiit for it....

 

Devin Funchess....

 

Not quite the huge signing I was dreaming about or the player that I see could help us take the next step, especially not when looking at those teams we have to beat to take the next step. 

 

Kansas City  looks even stronger already, and okay... The Browns also start looking like a football team ( not that the Browns will be any good, but they start to make some noise), like it or not, But the Jags now have a decent QB and New England looks like...well New England 

 

Regarding Funchess, I do believe that he can help us, but Im really not sure if the Colts have become a much better and improved team so far or it's Status Q?

 

With $77 million dollars in cap space, I hope Ballard can find someone in week two or three of free agency, so we can get that defensive upgrade we still need. Without it, I don't see us getting any closer to beating Kansas or New England this year, but I might be wrong.

 

In Ballard I trust, but honestly... dude come on man... you got $77 million dollars to spend, so get on with it before people starts thinking about the 2021 draft with Trevor Lawrence.

[crazycolt1]

I think you will see some action coming up.

I anticipate 3 more players myself.

Who? Who knows?

[Narcosys]

People underestimate the browns. Had they won the games they lost by 3 points or less and their tie, they would have won their division. In the past 3 years they've had something like 15+ games lost by 3 points or less. They finally have a qb, a run game, threatening WRs, solid qb protection that allowed 25 sacks (8th best), and a defense that's intimidating. 

 

They're winning their division this year.

[Case]

Kansas City does not look stronger, they lost some good players and with the controversy surrounding Hill, they might lose him to suspension or release. 

 

Browns will contend for their division and arguably are the favorites to do so. 

 

We are off to a slow start and it is frustrating even though Ballard has made it clear we won’t overpay but is it overpaying if that’s what the “market” says a players value is? I don’t know if we offered Amos a contract or not but his was very reasonable and would be a major upgrade. Just hope we have another draft like 2018 and not like 2017. Hopefully the 2018 draft hasn’t made Ballard too confident because it could be a 2-3 year setback if we don’t have a strong draft. 

[throwing BBZ]

8 hours ago, ThorstenDenmark said:

Hello fellow Colts fans.

 

Living abroad in Denmark - Europe, and a die hard Colts fans for 20 years or so, I have never been so committed to a sports franchise as I am to the Indianapolis Colts. Heck I even got a Colts tattoo 

 

In recent years I have been even more committed to follow both the draft, free agency and really started to get into the whole cap issues and whats ticking behind the scenes regarding signing free agents and so. 

 

Ever since Chris Ballard have made his entrance, I can only see positives and a newfound belief throughout the NFL and among other fanbases, that the Colts are heading the right direction. 

 

Suddenly your team have the most capspace and money to spend in the entire NFL, and you start thinking, will this be the year we sign someone special that can take us to the next level ?

 

And then we sign .... wait for it....waaaaaiiiiit for it....

 

Devin Funchess....

 

Not quite the huge signing I was dreaming about or the player that I see could help us take the next step, especially not when looking at those teams we have to beat to take the next step. 

 

Kansas City looks even stronger already, and okay... The Browns also start looking like a football team ( not that the Browns will be any good, but they start to make some noise), like it or not, But the Jags now have a decent QB and New England looks like...well New England 

 

Regarding Funchess, I do believe that he can help us, but Im really not sure if the Colts have become a much better and improved team so far or it's Status Q?

 

With $77 million dollars in cap space, I hope Ballard can find someone in week two or three of free agency, so we can get that defensive upgrade we still need. Without it, I don't see us getting any closer to beating Kansas or New England this year, but I might be wrong.

 

In Ballard I trust, but honestly... dude come on man... you got $77 million dollars to spend, so get on with it before people starts thinking about the 2021 draft with Trevor Lawrence.

 

 He is going to save as much of that $77M as possible to keep his own players.
 What is so hard to understand about that? He needed to spend his $50M in rolled over cap from last year. That is it. Save Save $ave, keep building an experienced deep roster through the draft. It is a winning philosophy.

 And we don't have a deep, experienced roster yet. Let's see what we have after one more season. NOT try to BUY our way into the Playoffs.
We have a REAL, Big Boy, schedule coming up, now we will see where we are at.
 

[Yoshinator]

1 hour ago, MightyLucks said:

Kansas City does not look stronger, they lost some good players and with the controversy surrounding Hill, they might lose him to suspension or release. 

 

Browns will contend for their division and arguably are the favorites to do so. 

 

We are off to a slow start and it is frustrating even though Ballard has made it clear we won’t overpay but is it overpaying if that’s what the “market” says a players value is? I don’t know if we offered Amos a contract or not but his was very reasonable and would be a major upgrade. Just hope we have another draft like 2018 and not like 2017. Hopefully the 2018 draft hasn’t made Ballard too confident because it could be a 2-3 year setback if we don’t have a strong draft. 

This is my one concern. Although Ballard proved he can hit in the draft, that was with the 3rd pick in each round. Now we have the 26th pick (besides an early 2nd). I hope he can somewhat maintain what he did last year. Will be a true test of his draft abilities in April.

[aaron11]

11 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 He is going to save as much of that $77M as possible to keep his own players.
 What is so hard to understand about that? He needed to spend his $50M in rolled over cap from last year. That is it. Save Save $ave, keep building an experienced deep roster through the draft. It is a winning philosophy.

 And we don't have a deep, experienced roster yet. Let's see what we have after one more season. NOT try to BUY our way into the Playoffs.
We have a REAL, Big Boy, schedule coming up, now we will see where we are at.
 

we cant save it forever, it wont last until we need to pay nelson or leonard or most of our other good players either

 

 

[GoColts00]

8 hours ago, ThorstenDenmark said:

Hello fellow Colts fans.

 

Living abroad in Denmark - Europe, and a die hard Colts fans for 20 years or so, I have never been so committed to a sports franchise as I am to the Indianapolis Colts. Heck I even got a Colts tattoo 

 

In recent years I have been even more committed to follow both the draft, free agency and really started to get into the whole cap issues and whats ticking behind the scenes regarding signing free agents and so. 

 

Ever since Chris Ballard have made his entrance, I can only see positives and a newfound belief throughout the NFL and among other fanbases, that the Colts are heading the right direction. 

 

Suddenly your team have the most capspace and money to spend in the entire NFL, and you start thinking, will this be the year we sign someone special that can take us to the next level ?

 

And then we sign .... wait for it....waaaaaiiiiit for it....

 

Devin Funchess....

 

Not quite the huge signing I was dreaming about or the player that I see could help us take the next step, especially not when looking at those teams we have to beat to take the next step. 

 

Kansas City looks even stronger already, and okay... The Browns also start looking like a football team ( not that the Browns will be any good, but they start to make some noise), like it or not, But the Jags now have a decent QB and New England looks like...well New England 

 

Regarding Funchess, I do believe that he can help us, but Im really not sure if the Colts have become a much better and improved team so far or it's Status Q?

 

With $77 million dollars in cap space, I hope Ballard can find someone in week two or three of free agency, so we can get that defensive upgrade we still need. Without it, I don't see us getting any closer to beating Kansas or New England this year, but I might be wrong.

 

In Ballard I trust, but honestly... dude come on man... you got $77 million dollars to spend, so get on with it before people starts thinking about the 2021 draft with Trevor Lawrence.

Too late. I was thinking about it months ago. If we give Luck an extension, somehow draft T. Lawrence, then trade Luck for draft picks...

Most fans won't like that idea, however, this is a business. Even the best players should not be off the table.

[Breeze]

Look at it this way....a lot of other teams paid big money for players who couldn’t help their previous teams win a championship.  We kept a very good group of young players that got us a little closer.  They’re only going to get better and when they ‘break out’, we’ll be in a $$ position to keep them if we desire.  

Our offense was one of the best in the league in 2018 and is fully in tact heading into this year.  The backfield is young and now experienced.  Funchess may prove to be the guy that keeps drives alive.

Defensively, we’ll see.  They’ve got guys who like to fly around and make plays and they got better as the year progressed.  Again, pretty much in tact heading into this year, so the chemistry will only improve.  Don’t underestimate chemistry when it pertains to defense in the NFL (see Patriots).  Ballard likes to bring in guys who show promise, are under appreciated, and just before their big breakout $$ year (see Autry), so that guy might still be out there in free agency.  Regardless, the draft looks promising for filling some defensive holes and adding depth.

[SouthernIndianaNDFan]

I mean, FA's obviously not done, and we haven't drafted anybody yet...so, ask me in May?

[ClaytonColt]

1 hour ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 He is going to save as much of that $77M as possible to keep his own players.
 What is so hard to understand about that? He needed to spend his $50M in rolled over cap from last year. That is it. Save Save $ave, keep building an experienced deep roster through the draft. It is a winning philosophy.

 And we don't have a deep, experienced roster yet. Let's see what we have after one more season. NOT try to BUY our way into the Playoffs.
We have a REAL, Big Boy, schedule coming up, now we will see where we are at.
 

How many players do we actually have to worry about paying big increases in money? 

 

Kelly is the next of our draft picks who will get a decent contract and even that's not for a couple of years and his position and performances hardly indicate he's going to break the bank.

 

Any others? All the rest are either already on decent money, signed up for a good number of years or replaceable aren't they?

[r a y s k i]

Loads of people seem to miss that we have the youngest team in the league, which is an advantage just as much as it is a disadvantage, we can't have unproven/inconsistent one year wonders like Z Smith for 12 million a year when we only have 2 players above 9 mill, 2 legendary Colts, TY and Luck. Keeping the locker room balanced and hungry is key for CB. 

 

We will be signing FA's when the time is right.

Also, we have to face that unfortunately Indy is not exactly California or NY, not everyone will want to come here to play.

[icf]

As it stands today, the team is not (IMO) any better than they were in Jan.  They've resigned their own and replaced (as of now) Grant/Inman with Funchess.  At best they are about equal with last season.

 

Now....if they draft well (harder without the #6 pick and subsequent early picks each round) and finally open the check book to bring in some better talent they should be better this upcoming season as they've not lost anyone of any real consequence either.

 

That's a long way of saying it's March 16th....talk to me in a couple of months.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

We will be a better team just from our young players maturing  and Reich being a second year coach now. Our record might be the same with the tough schedule but we will be better.

[needanoline63]

We’ve improved with funchess, but that’s it. We will get more guys, still solid defenders out there. Jason varrett although returning from a season ending injury last year, will be good if he’s healthy 

[Breeze]

IF we drafted right, then you have to expect improvement year over year until Father Time hits you.  So I also expect our young team to be better in 2019.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

8 minutes ago, ClaytonColt said:

How many players do we actually have to worry about paying big increases in money? 

 

Kelly is the next of our draft picks who will get a decent contract and even that's not for a couple of years and his position and performances hardly indicate he's going to break the bank.

 

Any others? All the rest are either already on decent money, signed up for a good number of years or replaceable aren't they?

There are a ton. Ebron, Kenny Moore, Kelly, Nelson, hooker, plus Leonard.  Kenny Moore isn’t even making a million a year and he will probably get somewhere around 10m a year when re signs.

[ClaytonColt]

Just now, Chloe6124 said:

There are a ton. Ebron, Kenny Moore, Kelly, Nelson, hooker, plus Leonard.  Kenny Moore isn’t even making a million a year and he will probably get somewhere around 10m a year when re signs.

Ebron is already paid. Might get a couple of million more when his contract comes around.

 

Hooker, Nelson and Leonard are years away from needing to be paid. Definitely shouldn't be affecting this year's decisions.

 

So Moore and Kelly then?  That's hardly a reason to keep $70m in reserve?

[aaron11]

1 minute ago, Chloe6124 said:

There are a ton. Ebron, Kenny Moore, Kelly, Nelson, hooker, plus Leonard.  Kenny Moore isn’t even making a million a year and he will probably get somewhere around 10m a year when re signs.

we cant save what we have long enough to sign nelson or leonard.  hooker has not earned an elite contract either

 

moore has been good, but you are getting a little carried away.  lets see how he does for another year or two before talking 10 million$ contracts

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Did you see how many years some of these free agents got. Ballard is not going to give any of those free agents five and six year deals. That absolutely will hurt the colts future in signing their own. It’s not so much about  being able to pay the stars but we have to be able to keep the foundation of this team together with those stars we have. Luck is going to get a new contract also.

[Blueblood23]

1 hour ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 He is going to save as much of that $77M as possible to keep his own players.
 What is so hard to understand about that? He needed to spend his $50M in rolled over cap from last year. That is it. Save Save $ave, keep building an experienced deep roster through the draft. It is a winning philosophy.

 And we don't have a deep, experienced roster yet. Let's see what we have after one more season. NOT try to BUY our way into the Playoffs.
We have a REAL, Big Boy, schedule coming up, now we will see where we are at.
 

The debate is are our players currently on the roster good enough to make the super bowl. If not then spend some on free agency to get there.

[throwing BBZ]

26 minutes ago, ClaytonColt said:

How many players do we actually have to worry about paying big increases in money? 

 

Kelly is the next of our draft picks who will get a decent contract and even that's not for a couple of years and his position and performances hardly indicate he's going to break the bank.

 

Any others? All the rest are either already on decent money, signed up for a good number of years or replaceable aren't they?

 

Fair question. I don't care to argue with you about what each players value is.

That is pointless. Kelly's 5th year goes to $10m+ after THIS season. 

 And Ballard will roll over as much as possible each season so he can re-sign Luck, Nelson, Leonard, and all the rest of the best of his players we develop. 

You just as well get used to it.

[pacolts56]

1 hour ago, GoColts00 said:

Too late. I was thinking about it months ago. If we give Luck an extension, somehow draft T. Lawrence, then trade Luck for draft picks...

Most fans won't like that idea, however, this is a business. Even the best players should not be off the table.

Lemme see if I get this straight....

 

Give Luck an extension and SOMEHOW draft Trevor Lawrence?... and THEN trade what would be a 31 year old Andrew Luck for draft picks?

 

Setting aside that trading Luck is a really bad idea.... would you care to elaborate on the scenario that gives us any shot at drafting Trevor Lawrence if he continues on his current trajectory and the Colts continue on theirs?

[DerekDiggler]

18 minutes ago, aaron11 said:

we cant save what we have long enough to sign nelson or leonard.  hooker has not earned an elite contract either

 

moore has been good, but you are getting a little carried away.  lets see how he does for another year or two before talking 10 million$ contracts

Why can’t we save it?   

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

The players that got all that money all have weakenes in their games. If  people can’t see the ridiculousness of the money guys like Collins and mostly got I don’t know what to say. 

[throwing BBZ]

1 minute ago, Blueblood23 said:

The debate is are our players currently on the roster good enough to make the super bowl. If not then spend some on free agency to get there.

 

 It really isn't. We are a couple drafts and a few years away from being experienced and deep enough to be real contenders year in and out. That is what the Owner is paying Ballard for. 

[Breeze]

I think it’s less about saving money and more about maintaining chemistry.  Teams that spend big and trade big seem to be on a perpetual roller coaster, every year having to adjust their rosters.  They struggle to keep their young breakout stars and typically have to cut the big name free agents shortly into their contracts, creating a yearly roster reshuffle.

[aaron11]

2 minutes ago, DerekDiggler said:

Why can’t we save it?   

because of league rules.  cap space does NOT roll over forever to be clear

 

it only lasts a few years, not long enough to hold it for guys we drafted last year

[aaron11]

3 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 It really isn't. We are a couple drafts and a few years away from being experienced and deep enough to be real contenders year in and out. That is what the Owner is paying Ballard for. 

i disagree, we could contend this year if we got aggressive 

[Breeze]

I think we’ll contend this year, regardless.

[ClaytonColt]

16 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

Fair question. I don't care to argue with you about what each players value is.

That is pointless. Kelly's 5th year goes to $10m+ after THIS season. 

 And Ballard will roll over as much as possible each season so he can re-sign Luck, Nelson, Leonard, and all the rest of the best of his players we develop. 

You just as well get used to it.

That's fair and I agree about Kelly but giving a player a 7 or 8 million dollar raise in 12 months shouldn't need $77 million dollars saving now.

 

I understand the strategy but surely every team has a constant eye on being able to re-sign their own? However, when a team like ours had 2 or 3 drafts which yielded literally nothing then surely there wouldn't be anything wrong with using money you would have used to extend successful picks from those years to bring 1 or 2 top players from outside

 

We shouldn't need to roll over money from this year to extend Nelson, Hooker and Luck in 2022 or whatever it is. It's too far down the line for any sort of cap considerations to come into play.

[DerekDiggler]

9 minutes ago, aaron11 said:

because of league rules.  cap space does NOT roll over forever to be clear

 

it only lasts a few years, not long enough to hold it for guys we drafted last year

I am fairly confident Ballard has this figured out to the penny.  Thinking that we are going to lose money if it’s not spent  is an unneeded worry 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Once again it’s not about saving the money. It’s about Collins getting six years. That will hurt us when it is time to sign our own.

 

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Why are all of you so mad when Ballard has been straight up honest on how he is going to build this team. He has never misled anyone.  This should not be a surprise.

[JPFolks]

4 hours ago, Narcosys said:

People underestimate the browns. Had they won the games they lost by 3 points or less and their tie, they would have won their division. In the past 3 years they've had something like 15+ games lost by 3 points or less. They finally have a qb, a run game, threatening WRs, solid qb protection that allowed 25 sacks (8th best), and a defense that's intimidating. 

 

They're winning their division this year.

They only beat one team with a winning record and that was Baltimore early in the year with Flacco at QB who they finally ran out of town.  Sure, they got better, but like the Colts, they had an easy schedule this year (ironically, the Colts lost to some of the worst teams, but we all get it at this point).  I think the expectations are way too high and I wouldn't be remotely surprised if Pittsburgh, even with all the losses, still won their division and the Browns missed the playoffs. 

 

Usually in the NFL when teams try to put together an "All Star Team" it doesn't work.  They definitely have the best WR combo and RB group (once Hunt gets back) maybe in football, but certainly in their division.  They have 2 very solid TE's, and Mayfield is an enigma (can he keep it up? I wouldn't bet money either way).  Their Defense is loaded with stars and talent.  But in the end, do they have a TEAM? Often All Star Teams that didn't grow up together have low chemistry.  They will certainly have fan support, media support and hype all around.  But once teams stop phoning it in when they see them on the schedule and instead circle them and say "they're going DOWN" it might get very interesting.   

[aaron11]

1 minute ago, DerekDiggler said:

I am fairly confident Ballard has this figured out to the penny.  Thinking that we are going to lose money if it’s not spent  is an unneeded worry 

thats not my point, i know he will spend it on something but i was responding to saving what we have for guys like nelson or leonard

 

i dont see any good reason to hold onto cap space until you have to spend it.  we could use it on good players right now, rather than hope for a good class of free agents when we have to use it

[DerekDiggler]

13 minutes ago, aaron11 said:

i disagree, we could contend this year if we got aggressive 

Explain what you mean by aggressive.   List players you would have signed 

[aaron11]

Just now, DerekDiggler said:

Explain what you mean by aggressive.   List players you would have signed 

flowers and bell.   bell is better than funchess and didnt get that much more per year

 

flowers was expensive but thats what it takes to get a good DE these days 

[DerekDiggler]

1 minute ago, aaron11 said:

flowers and bell.   bell is better than funchess and didnt get that much more per year

 

flowers was expensive but thats what it takes to get a good DE these days 

Bell. Hahaha.   

[richard pallo]

To me Ballard is like the tortoise in the fable.  Plodding along but wining at the end.  He is an opportunist and with that said he still has many resources at his disposal.   9 draft picks so far,  A backup QB who could also be traded and plenty of cap space.  There are many different paths that could open up down the road this upcoming season and he has the resources take advantage of each one.  The noise is over so now it's time for cooler heads, like Ballard, to prevail.  It's still very early so there is plenty of time for Ballard to do his thing and strengthen the team. IMO.