Ballard has had to deal with the worst situation

[CaptainColt12]

         I think CB is one of the best GMs in the league. I mean, for this team to be 7-9 is a great accomplishment, for how many things went wrong throughout the entire year: Luck retiring and injuries. If we even delve deeper into not only how great of a job CB has done, we can also see how difficult his job was compared to almost all of the other GMs in the league. 

 

        First off, CB starts with a poorly functioned team and a very lackluster roster. The team had just been handled by one of the worst GMs in the 21st century and still had a coach that even admitted he didn't know what he was doing. As well as Andrew Luck having a completely mysterious and long term injury. He knows that there is no one he wanted on that defense other than Clayton Geathers, the offensive line was garbage and with little to no WRs(other than Hilton) and an aging Frank Gore. Even the QB (which was the best part of the team) has a very serious injury. So very little foundation to start with.

 

       In the next off season he was trying to hire a McDaniels, and had to wait until the superbowl, and when he hired him we all know what happened. CB was at a point of very few HC candidates and had to spend much more time finding the right guy than a team who got their HC in the wildcard round. Following this with the 2019 preseason, when he thought there was no problems, came the biggest leap CB would have to overcome with Luck retiring right before the season, and almost crushed all colts fans superbowl dreams in the next 4-5 years. After this Eric Ebron just quit on the team, and now AC is thinking about retiring. Now CB has to add a whole other position to his long list of needs. 

 

      I apologize if this was a little more rushed than it should have been, I'm running low on time. I just find it funny when people think CB is a problem when he is one of the best problem solvers in the entire NFL outside of players. 

[MPStack]

26 minutes ago, CaptainColt12 said:

I apologize if this was a little more rushed than it should have been, I'm running low on time. I just find it funny when people think CB is a problem when he is one of the best problem solvers in the entire NFL outside of players. 

I’ve seen very little displeasure with Ballard as the GM, thus far on this forum. The consensus by most is that he’s done a good job. I’ve not seen one thread calling for Ballard to be fired. There was a thread like this a couple weeks ago, and I thought it was unwarranted. A lot of over exaggerating “hate” for Ballard. JMO

Cheers
 

 

 

 

[shasta519]

I don't think anyone thinks Ballard is a "problem"...he's a good GM...might even end up being one of the best GMs when it's all said and done (QB evaluation is going to play a big role in that now). 

 

But...I wouldn't label this past season an "accomplishment" either. Ballard even admitted he didn't think he did enough. That's good leadership...but it's also not untrue. Some of that was out of his control though. 

 

The moment Luck retired...I had a feeling this season would parallel the 2015 season...and it did. The QB play was terrible (even worse than this past year)...and Luck missed more than half the season. There were also crucial injuries throughout the season. 

 

And the 2015 season is considered anywhere from a disappointment - epic failure...depending on who you ask. And the GM and HC of that team have largely become villified (deservedly so in some cases).

 

But the Colts finished 8-8 that year. With better coaching...a much much better OL...and much better run game...and an easier schedule (according to SoS)...the 2019 team finished 7-9.

 

That says a lot about the QB play (IMO)...but I also don't see how we can call this past season any type of "accomplishment."

[Flash7]

Personally, I think as a GM, it would be easier to inherit a terrible roster than a good one. It's much easier to go from "bad to good" than from "good to great."

 

We have seen Ballard go from bad to good with his roster building over the past few years. Now let's see if he can take the roster from good to great.

[RollerColt]

Ballard is for all intents and purposes the leader and face of our organization. When you're the leader of the ship, all complaints and blame come to you first, fair or not. I think he's done a good job navigating through all the stormy waters. Professional, transparent, and a strong planner. 

[LockeDown]

I think he will come through and build this team for the long haul despite all of the setbacks.  Some fans may want to win now but you have to be realistic until we find our QB of the future.

[OffensivelyPC]

Any team losing their franchise pillar a week before the season is doomed from the start.  I didn't expect a winning record and it really just put a damper on the entire season for me.    

 

Can't really make any adjustments that late in the season, so Ballard (and Frank) really does deserve credit, for even getting us to 7-9.  He traded for Brissett, number 1 and number 2, he had no options but to go with Brissett (even if he realy did know there was a good chance Luck would retire a month before he actually did).  It sucks that JB just never proved he was anything but a backup QB, though.  

 

I hope we find a franchise guy this offseason and return to playoff contenders the following season.  I don't expect a rookie to start next season unless we draft someone that just catches everyone off guard.  We'll see, but at this point, Ballard, Reich and Eberflus need time and some missing pieces.

[Thunderbolt]

We have our QB of the future staring at us and that's J. Herbert. All we have to do is get him. That's where Ballard comes in.

[OffensivelyPC]

12 minutes ago, Thunderbolt said:

We have our QB of the future staring at us and that's J. Herbert. All we have to do is get him. That's where Ballard comes in.

I wonder where he goes?  PFF did a mock draftin the last day or so where they had Herbert going to the Patriots while we took an edge rusher, AJ Epenesa (Iowa).  I mean, it's a PFF draft, but still.

[Colts2020SB]

He’s clearly done a strong job through the draft trading back for Nelson, “reaching” on Leonard which many fans and analysts thought was one of the worst picks of the draft, getting starters after the first like smith, okereke, Willis, and Sin and getting rotational pieces like Hines, wilkins, turay, tell the list goes on. He also has hit on his free agency moves for the most part. Probably his largest mistake was not having much veteran leadership on the team mostly on the defensive side of the ball. He even came out recently and said he messed up letting players like al woods and mike Mitchell go and just expecting all the young guys to step up. I think we may all might be caught by surprise this offseason with 1 or 2 atypical signings of older veterans such as jimmy smith/marcell dareus/Logan Ryan/JPP etc. 

[Hammer]

If he doesn't find a QB who gives us a half a chance, he might be dealing with a real possibility of trying to hang on to our better players. Wanting a real chance at a ring, they may wish to move on when the time comes.

[richard pallo]

48 minutes ago, Hammer said:

If he doesn't find a QB who gives us a half a chance, he might be dealing with a real possibility of trying to hang on to our better players. Wanting a real chance at a ring, they may wish to move on when the time comes.

And to piggyback on that thought we might also have a hard time signing FAs because they will  think we do not have a QB that gives us a chance to win a SB. 

[RollerColt]

1 hour ago, richard pallo said:

And to piggyback on that thought we might also have a hard time signing FAs because they will  think we do not have a QB that gives us a chance to win a SB. 

Luck really had that draw. Players craved to play for him. Man we’ve been spoiled.

[Douzer]

5 hours ago, Thunderbolt said:

We have our QB of the future staring at us and that's J. Herbert. All we have to do is get him. That's where Ballard comes in.

I have to agree, if Herbert is there, I can't see Ballard passing on that level of talent.

[Moosejawcolt]

8 hours ago, CaptainColt12 said:

         I think CB is one of the best GMs in the league. I mean, for this team to be 7-9 is a great accomplishment, for how many things went wrong throughout the entire year: Luck retiring and injuries. If we even delve deeper into not only how great of a job CB has done, we can also see how difficult his job was compared to almost all of the other GMs in the league. 

 

        First off, CB starts with a poorly functioned team and a very lackluster roster. The team had just been handled by one of the worst GMs in the 21st century and still had a coach that even admitted he didn't know what he was doing. As well as Andrew Luck having a completely mysterious and long term injury. He knows that there is no one he wanted on that defense other than Clayton Geathers, the offensive line was garbage and with little to no WRs(other than Hilton) and an aging Frank Gore. Even the QB (which was the best part of the team) has a very serious injury. So very little foundation to start with.

 

       In the next off season he was trying to hire a McDaniels, and had to wait until the superbowl, and when he hired him we all know what happened. CB was at a point of very few HC candidates and had to spend much more time finding the right guy than a team who got their HC in the wildcard round. Following this with the 2019 preseason, when he thought there was no problems, came the biggest leap CB would have to overcome with Luck retiring right before the season, and almost crushed all colts fans superbowl dreams in the next 4-5 years. After this Eric Ebron just quit on the team, and now AC is thinking about retiring. Now CB has to add a whole other position to his long list of needs. 

 

      I apologize if this was a little more rushed than it should have been, I'm running low on time. I just find it funny when people think CB is a problem when he is one of the best problem solvers in the entire NFL outside of players. 

Oh my

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

He has had so much to deal with. Stuff that was unexpected. Last year he finally had Luck back and then bam everything gets derailed. He came here having the most important piece of the puzzle already at QB. Even if his future was uncertain we had the franchise guy. That in itself makes the building process easier. We are really going to find out what he is made of now he has to find the quarter back.  

[ojsglove]

7 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Ballard is for all intents and purposes the leader and face of our organization. When you're the leader of the ship, all complaints and blame come to you first, fair or not. I think he's done a good job navigating through all the stormy waters. Professional, transparent, and a strong planner. 

 

Not sure about the transparent part, but I agree with the rest of your post.

[CaptainColt12]

9 hours ago, MPStack said:

I’ve seen very little displeasure with Ballard as the GM, thus far on this forum. The consensus by most is that he’s done a good job. I’ve not seen one thread calling for Ballard to be fired. There was a thread like this a couple weeks ago, and I thought it was unwarranted. A lot of over exaggerating “hate” for Ballard. JMO

Cheers
 

 

 

 

I wasn’t really focused on people who discredit Ballard, I just wanted to remind everyone how much problems he’s had to deal with. And I do hear a good amount of people say Ballard isn’t that great on this forum sometimes as well as off the Forum. This topic wasn’t about telling people who dislike him that he’s good, but for it to show how much he has had to overcome. Which I don’t hear much. 

[#12.]

How many new GMs walk into a good situation with a high quality roster and a franchise QB?  If a team has a good roster and franchise QB, the GM isn't getting fired.  Most GMs do walk into a bad situation.   

[Jackie Daytona]

3 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Luck really had that draw. Players craved to play for him. Man we’ve been spoiled.

Say what?  In the NFL, very few players pick and choose where they go... By that, I mean they generally go to whoever offers them the best deal... Most players who were somewhat obvious in their desire to play here because of luck... Vastly underwhelmed here... It's not like Ebron was a highly sought after commodity prior to Indy... And if this idea were true, wouldn't it have been quality WR that were lining up to play with AL?

[LockeDown]

6 hours ago, Hammer said:

If he doesn't find a QB who gives us a half a chance, he might be dealing with a real possibility of trying to hang on to our better players. Wanting a real chance at a ring, they may wish to move on when the time comes.

I don’t see that happen that much. Guys mainly leave for a big payday. I always read where a player wants to stay with a team but money is usually the deciding factor.

[Dingus McGirt]

5 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Luck really had that draw. Players craved to play for him. Man we’ve been spoiled.

"with"

[lollygagger8]

I'd still run through a brick wall for Ballard. I think he's handled the myriad of bad situations very well and has this team on the right track. 

 

I agree with what's said above, the QB situation and how he handles it will have a lot to do with his legacy. 

[RollerColt]

7 hours ago, Dingus McGirt said:

"with"

You are correct. But I always hesitate to say "with" because of the connotations... 

 

9 hours ago, Shafty138 said:

Say what?  In the NFL, very few players pick and choose where they go... By that, I mean they generally go to whoever offers them the best deal... Most players who were somewhat obvious in their desire to play here because of luck... Vastly underwhelmed here... It's not like Ebron was a highly sought after commodity prior to Indy... And if this idea were true, wouldn't it have been quality WR that were lining up to play with AL?

That's fair. We've had a few "high profile" players join us in the past during the Grigson era, but you are correct in that they usually didn't pan out. Money talks. My statement is more about players who want to win championships and make a ton of money during the process. We had a chance when 12 was on the field to win games. 

[aaron11]

9 hours ago, Shafty138 said:

Say what?  In the NFL, very few players pick and choose where they go... By that, I mean they generally go to whoever offers them the best deal... Most players who were somewhat obvious in their desire to play here because of luck... Vastly underwhelmed here... It's not like Ebron was a highly sought after commodity prior to Indy... And if this idea were true, wouldn't it have been quality WR that were lining up to play with AL?

 

there were free agents that said they wanted to play with luck.  leveon bell, DQ Jackson, believe there were others cant think of them all off the top 

[RollerColt]

42 minutes ago, aaron11 said:

 

there were free agents that said they wanted to play with luck.  leveon bell, DQ Jackson, believe there were others cant think of them all off the top 

Andre Johnson too I believe, of course we know how that worked out...

[Valpo2004]

On 1/15/2020 at 10:21 PM, #12. said:

How many new GMs walk into a good situation with a high quality roster and a franchise QB?  If a team has a good roster and franchise QB, the GM isn't getting fired.  Most GMs do walk into a bad situation.   

 

True but most GM's don't have their head coaching hire drop out on them in the last minute and then in the very next season have their franchise player retire in his prime.  

 

Agree most GM's start with bad situations (except for the guys who follow someone who retired), but I think those two things separate Ballard's situation from most GM's.  

 

All I can say is I hope the quarterback situation gets resolved as well as the coach situation was resolved.  

[pgt_rob]

I wouldn't say this upcoming draft or even possibly the 2021 NFL draft will define Ballard as a GM, but this will be his toughest draft yet in my opinion. I realize that you have to draft best player available, but yet QB is always in the back of your mind. Whether he decides to pull the trigger on a QB, that could possibly define him. Hopefully the scouts and Ballard do the best possible job with the QB scenario because it's going to be super tough to pick in my opinion.

[DownHillRunner]

3 hours ago, pgt_rob said:

I wouldn't say this upcoming draft or even possibly the 2021 NFL draft will define Ballard as a GM, but this will be his toughest draft yet in my opinion. I realize that you have to draft best player available, but yet QB is always in the back of your mind. Whether he decides to pull the trigger on a QB, that could possibly define him. Hopefully the scouts and Ballard do the best possible job with the QB scenario because it's going to be super tough to pick in my opinion.

 

 

I agree with this. Jacoby's play last season has put Ballard into a position to scramble for a Quarterback in a non deep Quarterback class. Is our franchise Quarterback in this draft? Maybe! I like Herbert, I like Love, I'm 50/50 with Fromm, and Eason NO THANKS. 

[hoosierhawk]

On 1/16/2020 at 8:22 AM, aaron11 said:

 

there were free agents that said they wanted to play with luck.  leveon bell, DQ Jackson, believe there were others cant think of them all off the top 

Ebron and Funchess also.

[GwinnettColt]

We'll never know what happened behind the scenes in regards to Luck's retirement.  He may have mentioned it to Irsay or Ballard in March and they told him to "wait on it and see how you feel."   Or, he may have come up with it some time in the summer.  I don't have a problem with the retirement, just when it happened.  It left the organization in a very bad position and if it would have been announced in March, Ballard could have looked into doing something in FA or the draft. 

As far as Ballard's philosophy is concerned, I believe in the "build through the draft" philosophy but we have to consider that not all draft picks work out well for most teams, only a small percentage.  If you have holes to fill now, FA is sometimes the only way to go.  Win five years down the road is fine but teams and fans want to win now.  On the other hand, I don't like the idea of signing every FA that hits the market and paying them astronomical salaries.  I would, however, love to see us be a little more active in FA if that's possible.  For example, why not draft a QB and get a FA QB that he can learn from for a year?  A FA DT would help if one isn't available in the draft; waiting until 2021 or 2022 for that great, pass-rushing DT doesn't make any sense when you can get a good one in FA. 

[aaron11]

On 1/17/2020 at 4:27 PM, DownHillRunner said:

 

 

I agree with this. Jacoby's play last season has put Ballard into a position to scramble for a Quarterback in a non deep Quarterback class. Is our franchise Quarterback in this draft? Maybe! I like Herbert, I like Love, I'm 50/50 with Fromm, and Eason NO THANKS. 

the class is pretty deep imo, maybe not generational but 5-6 guys with good chances of being franchise QBs and a few others with lesser chances 

[GRUMPY OLD MAN]

On 1/15/2020 at 12:04 PM, CaptainColt12 said:

         I think CB is one of the best GMs in the league. I mean, for this team to be 7-9 is a great accomplishment, for how many things went wrong throughout the entire year: Luck retiring and injuries. If we even delve deeper into not only how great of a job CB has done, we can also see how difficult his job was compared to almost all of the other GMs in the league. 

 

        First off, CB starts with a poorly functioned team and a very lackluster roster. The team had just been handled by one of the worst GMs in the 21st century and still had a coach that even admitted he didn't know what he was doing. As well as Andrew Luck having a completely mysterious and long term injury. He knows that there is no one he wanted on that defense other than Clayton Geathers, the offensive line was garbage and with little to no WRs(other than Hilton) and an aging Frank Gore. Even the QB (which was the best part of the team) has a very serious injury. So very little foundation to start with.

 

       In the next off season he was trying to hire a McDaniels, and had to wait until the superbowl, and when he hired him we all know what happened. CB was at a point of very few HC candidates and had to spend much more time finding the right guy than a team who got their HC in the wildcard round. Following this with the 2019 preseason, when he thought there was no problems, came the biggest leap CB would have to overcome with Luck retiring right before the season, and almost crushed all colts fans superbowl dreams in the next 4-5 years. After this Eric Ebron just quit on the team, and now AC is thinking about retiring. Now CB has to add a whole other position to his long list of needs. 

 

      I apologize if this was a little more rushed than it should have been, I'm running low on time. I just find it funny when people think CB is a problem when he is one of the best problem solvers in the entire NFL outside of players. 

with ballards method we had a losing record, all teams have injuries and issues, its up to the gm to be prepared for that

[DougDew]

The only problem Ballard has had has been the over expectations of the base, and misconceptions.  First off, he was not handed a bad roster.  He inherited a probowl C, a #1 WR, a strong LT, and  franchise QB.  Those are positions that all take first round picks that he didn't have to spend.  

 

He had a huge leg up on most new GMs who start with a new team.  He inherited some big time players on offense.

 

His adversity came with having to stick with one of the worst HCs the NFL has ever seen, and blew his first draft on trying to accommodate that defense.  Ballard's set back was Irsay probably forcing him to stick with Pagano for one season....not the roster he inherited.

 

Ballard did not inherit a core of young defensive players, because the previous defense was built to win now with vet FAs.  And, it did win when the franchise QB was healthy.  Mission accomplished, for the most part.

 

Ballard's biggest setbacks are having to deal with Pagano for a year and then having his Qb retire.  Most other decisions are on him, and there has been a normal mix of good and not so good decisions.

[DougDew]

On 1/19/2020 at 10:08 AM, GwinnettColt said:

We'll never know what happened behind the scenes in regards to Luck's retirement.  He may have mentioned it to Irsay or Ballard in March and they told him to "wait on it and see how you feel."   Or, he may have come up with it some time in the summer.  I don't have a problem with the retirement, just when it happened.  It left the organization in a very bad position and if it would have been announced in March, Ballard could have looked into doing something in FA or the draft. 

 

Or, Luck may have realized that we are no closer to competing for a SB than any other year he's been here, and would have to carry the team by himself to get there....just like very other year that he's been here

 

Maybe he just figured that the future looked like a constant cycle of injury and rehab....nothing different than previous years.....and faked leg pain to get out of it.

[DougDew]

Thanks @Mylesfor the typical confused reaction.  

 

You should stop pretending to be confused.  You know I'm right about this stuff.

 

[Myles]

5 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Thanks @Mylesfor the typical confused reaction.  

 

You should stop pretending to be confused.  You know I'm right about this stuff.

 

Not at all.   The roster was very bare of any depth.   Had a bad O-line and a broken QB.

[Yoshinator]

53 minutes ago, DougDew said:

The only problem Ballard has had has been the over expectations of the base, and misconceptions.  First off, he was not handed a bad roster.  He inherited a probowl C, a #1 WR, a strong LT, and  franchise QB.  Those are positions that all take first round picks that he didn't have to spend.  

 

He had a huge leg up on most new GMs who start with a new team.  He inherited some big time players on offense.

 

His adversity came with having to stick with one of the worst HCs the NFL has ever seen, and blew his first draft on trying to accommodate that defense.  Ballard's set back was Irsay probably forcing him to stick with Pagano for one season....not the roster he inherited.

 

Ballard did not inherit a core of young defensive players, because the previous defense was built to win now with vet FAs.  And, it did win when the franchise QB was healthy.  Mission accomplished, for the most part.

 

Ballard's biggest setbacks are having to deal with Pagano for a year and then having his Qb retire.  Most other decisions are on him, and there has been a normal mix of good and not so good decisions.

Ballard was handed a roster where 6-8 guys should of been on an NFL team at that point. Kelly was not a pro-bowler yet, Hilton was a #1 receiver with Luck (Brissett was the QB in 2017 and 2019, two of Ballard's three years as GM), Constanzo I agree, and Andrew Luck for 1 year out of 3. On defense, Geathers is the only player he inherited that remains with us. Oh yeah, and Vinny for 2 good years.

 

The roster was trash and Ballard rebuilt it through the draft and FA in 3 years. We were a SB contender with Luck and now we need a new QB.

[funktacious2]

I mean... we were 7-9. I get that we have high expectations, but sometimes you see teams have to be bottom feeders for several years before they can start sniffing sustained success (see: the 49ers). If we imagine that we'd lost Luck at the start of the Ballard era I imagine we'd be looking at our team in a much different light. We probably would not have reached the playoffs any of those years. 

 

Ballard inherited a bad, aging roster from Grigson and I felt right away this would be a 3 year project minimum before we were competitive. Well it only took two years and going into that year 3 we looked so promising. Then BAM Luck retires. 

 

Luck's impact on this team is enough that it certainly changes our team's outlook when he's gone. A 3 year rebuild turns into what? 5? And honestly? That's where I think we are. We were a few missed kicks, late interceptions away from the post season this year already. With the cap we have, and the draft stock we carry, as long as we can improve our QB situation, the rest of our roster is primed to continue to grow for a couple more years before we really have to start worrying about cap. 

 

So with that said... please don't retire Anthony Constonso!  My heart may not be able to handle the setback.