Hey Ballard, see the catch by Metcalf?

[ColtsAC]

I don't know, maybe we could have used him...or Brown...or Samuel...you know, those guys you passed up. I know, big draw back, these three guys didn't go to Ohio State so that had to knock them down a peg or two for you.

Maybe it's time to re-evaluate how you rate wide receivers, unless of course Fountain actually plays in a real game for the first time in his 3rd year.

Maybe your Ohio State area scout needs evaluation too.

 

[colts52761]

Ballard is a good GM! Easy to second guess someone.

[Four2itus]

Still more pounds of flesh to acquire!

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

With the luck the colts had with WR injuries this year they all would of ended up injured. No one knows what Campbell could of done if he stayed healthy. Every team passed in metcalf. He is in the perfect situation with a HOF QB.

[WoolMagnet]

25 minutes ago, ColtsAC said:

I don't know, maybe we could have used him...or Brown...or Samuel...you know, those guys you passed up. I know, big draw back, these three guys didn't go to Ohio State so that had to knock them down a peg or two for you.

Maybe it's time to re-evaluate how you rate wide receivers, unless of course Fountain actually plays in a real game for the first time in his 3rd year.

Maybe your Ohio State area scout needs evaluation too.

 

Feel better?

Hope so, cuz you wasted alot of energy stating the obvious.  
Damn you Ballard!  Off with his little finger for that one!

  
  I heard every GM except 1 was fired the year after Brady was drafted.  Oh wait, no i didn’t.

 

[Shadow_Creek]

28 minutes ago, ColtsAC said:

I don't know, maybe we could have used him...or Brown...or Samuel...you know, those guys you passed up. I know, big draw back, these three guys didn't go to Ohio State so that had to knock them down a peg or two for you.

Maybe it's time to re-evaluate how you rate wide receivers, unless of course Fountain actually plays in a real game for the first time in his 3rd year.

Maybe your Ohio State area scout needs evaluation too.

 

pssst guess what.. if Luck was still on the team maybe Campbell would be in the pro bowl today who knows metcalf just got lucky he didn't get injured this year

[BleedBlu8792]

32 minutes ago, ColtsAC said:

I don't know, maybe we could have used him...or Brown...or Samuel...you know, those guys you passed up. I know, big draw back, these three guys didn't go to Ohio State so that had to knock them down a peg or two for you.

Maybe it's time to re-evaluate how you rate wide receivers, unless of course Fountain actually plays in a real game for the first time in his 3rd year.

Maybe your Ohio State area scout needs evaluation too.

 

 

I wonder where that guy, who just broke Marvin Harrison's regular season records, went to school? Or that rookie who nearly went for 1k in Washington... It just seems to slip my mind for some reason.. 

 

/sarcasm

 

[John Waylon]

I’ve gotta be honest, I have never loved the Campbell pick. He’s always struck me as a guy who just doesn’t offer the rounded game you’d like to see. He’s fast, but that’s about it. I came in to the season with an open mind and hoped to see something to prove me wrong. He spent a lot of time fighting a litany of injuries (which has done nil to alleviate my concerns about him) but even what I did see wasn’t positive enough to get excited about. Campbell may be my least favorite Ballard pick so far to be honest. 
 

It’s sure starting to sting seeing what some of the WRs selected after him are doing these days. I liked AJ Brown myself, and I think in 5 years we’re probably going to try not to think about the time we passed up on him for Campbell. 

[zibby43]

25 minutes ago, John Waylon said:

I’ve gotta be honest, I have never loved the Campbell pick. He’s always struck me as a guy who just doesn’t offer the rounded game you’d like to see. He’s fast, but that’s about it. I came in to the season with an open mind and hoped to see something to prove me wrong. He spent a lot of time fighting a litany of injuries (which has done nil to alleviate my concerns about him) but even what I did see wasn’t positive enough to get excited about. Campbell may be my least favorite Ballard pick so far to be honest. 
 

It’s sure starting to sting seeing what some of the WRs selected after him are doing these days. I liked AJ Brown myself, and I think in 5 years we’re probably going to try not to think about the time we passed up on him for Campbell. 

 

Very reasonable post.  I'm not giving up on Campbell, but I was never crazy about the pick either.  Thought that there were better players, including better, more polished WRs, on the board when Campbell was selected.  His selection seemed like a bit of a reach.

 

The biggest questions for Campbell coming out of OSU were as follows: 1) route running was mediocre (wasn't really forced to be a good route runner in Meyer's offense) and 2) he exhibited a lack of tradecraft (i.e., the techniques WRs use to create separation; the WR position at the NFL is all about footwork, particularly at the line of scrimmage and at the tops of routes).

 

A lot of Campbell's success in college came from operating in wide-open spaces, where he could use his elite speed.  He was constantly schemed open or ran jet sweeps in which he could simply out-athlete/run away from inferior talent.  That works in college; in the NFL, there are LBs that can run you down in space. 

 

Ballard really seems to fall in love with measurables sometimes (Campbell ran a 4.31 at the combine), as opposed to a player's tape.  To be clear, I'm not trying to criticize Ballard here (the guy has already drafted 2 2x All-Pros, clearly he and his staff can scout and evaluate well); just something I've noticed with respect to how he drafts/evaluates certain positions. 

 

All that said, all of the questions posed above mostly remain unanswered because the kid has had an unbelievably unlucky year with respect to injuries.  I'm worried as to whether he'll be able to stay healthy in the future because now that he is in the NFL, he is forced to carry more weight on his smaller (6'0") frame than he did in college.

 

Will Fuller is a good example of this.  Fuller is a speed demon, but he has constantly dealt with groin, hamstring, and other lower extremity injuries because he's been forced to bulk up to withstand the physicality of the NFL game.  Time will tell on Campbell.

[runthepost]

[GoColts8818]

People love to rip on Ballard for not being perfect.  I’d be willing to bet some of these are the same people who ripped Ballard for drafting Leonard way too high and waisting a pick on him before they ever saw him play a down.

 

News flash being a GM in the NFL is hard.  You are going to have some misses in everything you do.  If fans were held to the same standard with their takes as they like to hold GMs and Coaches too no one could post here because the fans are wrong way more than Ballard has been thus far.

 

is he perfect?  No.  Neither was Polian who is a Hall of Famer and has a case for being the best GM of all time.  No GM is.  So if people are expecting perfection be prepared to be disappointed.

 

Ballard has done mostly good things since he got here.  Do I agree with everything he’s done?  No, I doubt anyone does.  I’ve said many times I wish they had drafted AJ Brown over Rock and gone corner later in the second round.  Still, I am not going to hold it against Ballard every time he does something I didn’t agree with and the results tend to say I was right on that ONE issue because this team is in much better shape with him running it than it would be with me or anyone else here running it.

[WarGhost21]

Hmmm... I wonder why he wasn’t selected until the last pick of the second round? It’s almost like every single other GM didn’t see this high level of play coming from him.... hmmm indeed...

 

 

 

[GoColts8818]

1 hour ago, Shadow_Creek said:

pssst guess what.. if Luck was still on the team maybe Campbell would be in the pro bowl today who knows metcalf just got lucky he didn't get injured this year

Campbell’s biggest problem was being hurt.  I don’t think Luck would have impacted that one way or another.

[krunk]

Would the OP have even made this thread if Luck was still the QB?  I ask the question because Luck being our QB was what Ballard understood when he made the picks he made.  He had no idea Luck was going to up and retire after the draft.  You don't need to draft your WRs high if you've got Luck at the QB.  Now that we know Luck won't be here I'm sure a different approach will be made. 

[GoColts8818]

8 minutes ago, krunk said:

Would the OP have even made this thread if Luck was still the QB?  I ask the question because Luck being our QB was what Ballard understood when he made the picks he made.  He had no idea Luck was going to up and retire after the draft.  You don't need to draft your WRs high if you've got Luck at the QB.  Now that we know Luck won't be here I'm sure a different approach will be made. 

Campbell was a second round pick.  That is high.

[jameszeigler834]

2 hours ago, ColtsAC said:

I don't know, maybe we could have used him...or Brown...or Samuel...you know, those guys you passed up. I know, big draw back, these three guys didn't go to Ohio State so that had to knock them down a peg or two for you.

Maybe it's time to re-evaluate how you rate wide receivers, unless of course Fountain actually plays in a real game for the first time in his 3rd year.

Maybe your Ohio State area scout needs evaluation too.

 

Even AJ Brown.

[lennymoore24]

I love Ballard.  I think he is a great GM and a stand-up guy.  The one thing I do wonder about a little bit...he seems to like to take guys with great numbers and attitude that he can mold into better players.  Guys like Turey and Banogu at DE. Campbell at WR.  Quincy Wilson CB.  All jump off the sheet as athletes.  I hope they all grow and become good. Because all 2nd round picks.  I sometimes wonder if he gets too smart.  Probably 100% wrong, but do wonder about that

[CoachLite]

2 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

 

News flash being a GM in the NFL is hard.  You are going to have some misses in everything you do.  If fans were held to the same standard with their takes as they like to hold GMs and Coaches too no one could post here because the fans are wrong way more than Ballard has been thus far.

 

How hard can it be? We hired Grigson, didn't we. It's not what you know, it's who you know.

[Myles]

Remember, Campbell was the 2nd ranked WR in the 2019 draft.   It's not like Ballard reached.  

[DougDew]

But its pretty safe to say that Hooker, Lewis, and Campbell have underachieved relative to what the Colts thought of them.

[chad72]

Deebo Samuel, Metcalf, would all have had their mojo killed by our QB play, IMO, unless they could take a 5 yard pass to the house every single time. Elite/very good QBs make good WRs look great. That is just how it is and we don't have anything close to a very good QB, just an average one, IMO. 

[MPStack]

2 minutes ago, chad72 said:

Deebo Samuel, Metcalf, would all have had their mojo killed by our QB play, IMO, unless they could take a 5 yard pass to the house every single time. Elite/very good QBs make good WRs look great. That is just how it is and we don't have anything close to a very good QB, just an average one, IMO. 

Yeah, but if Ballard had traded for Garoppolo instead of Brissett, who was traded to San Fran a month later, the passing game would’ve been 100X better. 

 

 

[ColtJax]

The GM that should feel stupid is the Pats GM. They took Harry instead of TK, we at least got a very good one in Paris, if he can stay on the field. Harry looks like a complete bust, he's horrible..

[lollygagger8]

That catch would've never happened if this was a Colts game. It was a deep pass lol 

[chad72]

22 minutes ago, MPStack said:

Yeah, but if Ballard had traded for Garoppolo instead of Brissett, who was traded to San Fran a month later, the passing game would’ve been 100X better. 

 

 

Jimmy G would not have been traded to the AFC unless a second round pick was given up in addition to Dorsett, IMO, the pick we used to get Leonard or Braden Smith. 

 

The landscape is different now, teams play FA more aggressively compared to years past, and it is not just the same old same old teams making dumb mistakes like the Redskins, more of them are making them. However, a few of them are at a happy medium of playing free agency while drafting well, and reaping positive results more often than not (49ers, Packers, Rams, Seahawks, even Ravens traded for Peters etc.). Ballard needs to get a little more to that happy medium because otherwise, we will have draft A to get defense addressed and then wait till draft B to get offense addressed and still won't have enough draft picks to get all holes covered if we do not get a tad more active in free agency. Without Luck to cover a few blemishes, he will have to.

[CheezyColt]

29 minutes ago, MPStack said:

Yeah, but if Ballard had traded for Garoppolo instead of Brissett, who was traded to San Fran a month later, the passing game would’ve been 100X better. 

 

 

San Fran being in the NFC and with a coching staff Belichick respected played integral parts in that trade happening. Jimmy had no chance of being traded to the Colts, imo.

[BigO]

26 minutes ago, ColtJax said:

The GM that should feel stupid is the Pats GM. They took Harry instead of TK, we at least got a very good one in Paris, if he can stay on the field. Harry looks like a complete bust, he's horrible..

How do you know Paris is good. He was hurt most of the year. When he did play I thought he ran tentavely like he was scared to get hit and very worried about fumbling. That worries me about him going forward. Watching the draft I was screaming for either one of the Ole Miss receivers because they both have NFL ready bodies

[DougDew]

9 hours ago, John Waylon said:

I’ve gotta be honest, I have never loved the Campbell pick. He’s always struck me as a guy who just doesn’t offer the rounded game you’d like to see. He’s fast, but that’s about it. I came in to the season with an open mind and hoped to see something to prove me wrong. He spent a lot of time fighting a litany of injuries (which has done nil to alleviate my concerns about him) but even what I did see wasn’t positive enough to get excited about. Campbell may be my least favorite Ballard pick so far to be honest. 
 

It’s sure starting to sting seeing what some of the WRs selected after him are doing these days. I liked AJ Brown myself, and I think in 5 years we’re probably going to try not to think about the time we passed up on him for Campbell. 

Not real big.  Fast. Limited tree. Nicked up.

 

Reminds me of Philip Dorsett.

[dodsworth]

I could be an NFL GM if I could pick my selections after the 

draft in hindsight.........

[deedub75]

10 hours ago, ColtsAC said:

I don't know, maybe we could have used him...or Brown...or Samuel...you know, those guys you passed up. I know, big draw back, these three guys didn't go to Ohio State so that had to knock them down a peg or two for you.

Maybe it's time to re-evaluate how you rate wide receivers, unless of course Fountain actually plays in a real game for the first time in his 3rd year.

Maybe your Ohio State area scout needs evaluation too.

 

 

Three 2nd round picks and a need for a WR and Ballard didn't value any of these guys.  I'm a bit biased though because I'm an Ole Miss grad and I watched a lot of Brown and Metcalf.  

[MPStack]

3 minutes ago, deedub75 said:

 

Three 2nd round picks and a need for a WR and Ballard didn't value any of these guys.  I'm a bit biased though because I'm an Ole Miss grad and I watched a lot of Brown and Metcalf.  

C’mon man, Ballard can’t control injuries. Now, if Campbell doesn’t show something in 2020 then, yeah, maybe he whiffed on another 2nd. 
 

 

[B~Town]

I dont think its a pick that would have been made if Luck wasnt in the long term plan .  

 

There was a clear plan for our offense with Hilton and Cambell taking the top off Funch and Ebron fiesting in the middle . Would have been a dynamic explosive combo . Luck has a rare skill set and a the offense was being designed to take full advantage of it .

[hoosierhawk]

47 minutes ago, deedub75 said:

 

Three 2nd round picks and a need for a WR and Ballard didn't value any of these guys.  I'm a bit biased though because I'm an Ole Miss grad and I watched a lot of Brown and Metcalf.  

Guess you are smarter than 31 other GMs in the league. Get your resume out. There are some openings.

[John Waylon]

1 hour ago, DougDew said:

Not real big.  Fast. Limited tree. Nicked up.

 

Reminds me of Philip Dorsett.

As much as I hate to say it, so far I’ve not felt any differently about Campbell than I did about Dorsett. I think Campbell has the better potential, but I don’t think either ever develops into a “do it all” receiver. 
 

When you ask either to do anything other than burn someone deep with their speed you’re asking a lot. 
 

Again, I hope I’m wrong, but at this point I haven’t seen enough to suggest otherwise. 

[Myles]

1 hour ago, deedub75 said:

 

Three 2nd round picks and a need for a WR and Ballard didn't value any of these guys.  I'm a bit biased though because I'm an Ole Miss grad and I watched a lot of Brown and Metcalf.  

Why would you say that.   More accurately would be - Ballard values Campbell over these guys.   So did most draft experts.  

[Yoshinator]

7 minutes ago, Myles said:

Why would you say that.   More accurately would be - Ballard values Campbell over these guys.   So did most draft experts.  

Actually, Campbell was a Reich pick. He loved his character, his YAC, his combine and wanted to coach him. Ballard respected Reich and made the choice for him because he knows the more a coach likes a player, the more he'll get out of him.

[Superman]

18 minutes ago, Myles said:

Why would you say that.   More accurately would be - Ballard values Campbell over these guys.   So did most draft experts.  

 

Deebo went before Campbell.

[Superman]

Metcalf has exceeded my expectations as a rookie. I'm still not impressed with his skill, and maybe that comes, but he's had more production than I expected, including some big moments. It helps that he was drafted by a team that has the most efficient deep ball passer in the NFL. Meanwhile, Campbell was injured all year, and played with a substandard QB.

 

I wouldn't have drafted Metcalf over Campbell, so far be it from me to criticize Ballard for his decision. 

 

What gets me is that people think one season in which Campbell was hurt and Metcalf made some plays is conclusive. Based on traits, I still value Campbell over Metcalf. 

[PeterBowman]

Metcalf is perfect for Seattle's offense. He wouldn't have been used the same way with the Colts. 

[bertjones7]

Deebo went very early in the 2nd rd. 
 

Also AJ Brown and Mecole Hardman were drafted before Campbell. 
 

I still believe the main reason Metcalf slid was due to his injuries at Ole Miss including season ending neck surgery.