No Comp Picks...

[csmopar]

Just now, Jared Cisneros said:

My argument is Ballard shouldn't discount FA like he does. It only makes the team weaker long-term. It hurt us with Luck, and it hurts us now. Didn't even need to save money from 2017-2019. Only now do we have to worry about the 2017 class getting paid.

Remember a year ago when everyone said the Browns flat out won FA and would be unstoppable...

 

That's just one example of many where teams have gotten completely carried away in FA as you are suggesting and failed to do squat.  This isn't the NBA (thank God) where in 1 season, you can buy yourself a dream team. 

 

Get a grip.  

[Yoshinator]

1 minute ago, csmopar said:

Remember a year ago when everyone said the Browns flat out won FA and would be unstoppable...

 

That's just one example of many where teams have gotten completely carried away in FA as you are suggesting and failed to do squat.  This isn't the NBA (thank God) where in 1 season, you can buy yourself a dream team. 

 

Get a grip.  

Bad example. Teams that generally buy players don't have a QB and are rebuilding. We had Andrew Luck. We were ready to compete with an influx of talent, especially combined with the 2018 draft class.

[csmopar]

5 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Bad example. Teams that generally buy players don't have a QB and are rebuilding. We had Andrew Luck. We were ready to compete with an influx of talent, especially combined with the 2018 draft class.

But none of that matters. Luck still quit.

[Yoshinator]

Just now, csmopar said:

But none of that matters. Luck still quit.

Show me a link where Ballard knew Luck was going to quit before FA in 2019. He didn't know. He didn't have that hindsight. Quit pretending he did. He's made bad decisions regarding FA for 3 consecutive years. This is the only year he knows Luck is gone.

[Superman]

9 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

My argument is Ballard shouldn't discount FA like he does. It only makes the team weaker long-term. It hurt us with Luck, and it hurts us now. Didn't even need to save money from 2017-2019. Only now do we have to worry about the 2017 class getting paid.

 

To the bolded: How?

 

Saving cap space, and at the same time developing young players, makes the team weaker in the long term? How?

 

Not signing FAs in 2018 hurt us with Luck? How? (And by the way, Ballard in fact did sign FAs in 2018; both of his noteworthy FA signings had great seasons in 2018.)

 

Also, I don't think you understand cap management. It's precisely because Ballard saved cap space in previous seasons that the Colts have such good cap standing right now.

 

One additional fact: Ballard signed 10 free agents in 2017. We went 4-12. Not sure why you think signing FAs is so critical, especially when the team is in a rebuilding phase.

[RollerColt]

2 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Show me a link where Ballard knew Luck was going to quit before FA in 2019. He didn't know. He didn't have that hindsight. Quit pretending he did. He's made bad decisions regarding FA for 3 consecutive years. This is the only year he knows Luck is gone.

There's no proof either way to be honest. He may or may not have known. 

[Yoshinator]

5 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

To the bolded: How?

 

Saving cap space, and at the same time developing young players, makes the team weaker in the long term? How?

 

Not signing FAs in 2018 hurt us with Luck? How? (And by the way, Ballard in fact did sign FAs in 2018; both of his noteworthy FA signings had great seasons in 2018.)

 

Also, I don't think you understand cap management. It's precisely because Ballard saved cap space in previous seasons that the Colts have such good cap standing right now.

 

One additional fact: Ballard signed 10 free agents in 2017. We went 4-12. Not sure why you think signing FAs is so critical, especially when the team is in a rebuilding phase.

We literally had 6-8 players remaining after Ballard expunged the team. Why would we need to save cap space? Everyone beside Luck, Hilton, Constanzo, Kelly, and Veniteri was a developmental player. There was the 2017 draft, some UDFA's, and a lot of FA's with a ton of cap space. Sign some people!

 

Not signing more FA's (or a high profile FA), was probably the difference between winning the division and getting the wildcard.

 

Our cap standing now doesn't mean a thing. Luck is gone. We have a bunch of money we haven't been spending that is going toward an uncompetitive team this year. Doesn't matter how we allocate the money to these draft classes in the next few years without a QB in the AFC. At least in Ballard's tenure as GM in the next few years.

[Yoshinator]

13 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

There's no proof either way to be honest. He may or may not have known. 

Now we're just lying. Look at Ballard's press conference with Luck's retirement and tell me he knew.

 

 

[csmopar]

20 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Show me a link where Ballard knew Luck was going to quit before FA in 2019. He didn't know. He didn't have that hindsight. Quit pretending he did. He's made bad decisions regarding FA for 3 consecutive years. This is the only year he knows Luck is gone.

you sir, are the one using hindsight. Ballard had a 3 year plan. Luck, as you say, caught him by surprise. Anyone looking could tell you the Colts plans have now been forced to change. Even Irsay has alluded to it. You're grasping at straws, non existent ones at that. 

[Yoshinator]

1 minute ago, csmopar said:

you sir, are the one using hindsight. Ballard had a 3 year plan. Luck, as you say, caught him by surprise. Anyone looking could tell you the Colts plans have now been forced to change. Even Irsay has alluded to it. You're grasping at straws, non existent ones at that. 

Except Ballard has said he isn't going to change his plans. In his end-of-year press conference, he said the team will still build through the draft and not FA. So apparently it wasn't a 3 year plan, and who knows how long it would of taken to go for it with all that cap space. I don't think Ballard would of ever had the guts. He was just going to do it through the draft.

[crazycolt1]

12 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

We literally had 6-8 players remaining after Ballard expunged the team. Why would we need to save cap space? Everyone beside Luck, Hilton, Constanzo, Kelly, and Veniteri was a developmental player. There was the 2017 draft, some UDFA's, and a lot of FA's with a ton of cap space. Sign some people!

 

Not signing more FA's (or a high profile FA), was probably the difference between winning the division and getting the wildcard.

 

Our cap standing now doesn't mean a thing. Luck is gone. We have a bunch of money we haven't been spending that is going toward an uncompetitive team this year. Doesn't matter how we allocate the money to these draft classes in the next few years without a QB in the AFC. At least in Ballard's tenure as GM in the next few years.

[Superman]

3 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

We literally had 6-8 players remaining after Ballard expunged the team. Why would we need to save cap space? Everyone beside Luck, Hilton, Constanzo, Kelly, and Veniteri was a developmental player. There was the 2017 draft, some UDFA's, and a lot of FA's with a ton of cap space. Sign some people!

 

Not signing more FA's (or a high profile FA), was probably the difference between winning the division and getting the wildcard.

 

Our cap standing now doesn't mean a thing. Luck is gone. We have a bunch of money we haven't been spending that is going toward an uncompetitive team this year. Doesn't matter how we allocate the money to these draft classes in the next few years without a QB in the AFC. At least in Ballard's tenure as GM in the next few years.

 

You're so all over the place. I can't tell if it's because you don't know what you're talking about, or if you're being intellectually dishonest. It seems like the latter.

 

1) "Literally" 6-8 players? An outright falsehood.

 

2) When you have a team with five reliable players, you're in a rebuild. So is your argument that Ballard should have tried to rebuild a roster that had five reliable players using free agency? (Also related, you say "sign some people!" Have you looked back at the Colts 2017 FA class?)

 

3) The FA approach in 2018 yielded two difference makers. Ebron and Autry probably helped this team go from being a 7 win team to a 10 win team. Once the line settled in and Eberflus figured out what the defense was doing, they started winning. What high profile FA was going to change any of that?

 

4) Our cap standing right now is absolutely critical. First, we actually have good players eligible for extensions, which is why cap space is so important to begin with. Second, now that we've actually had a couple of pretty good draft classes in a row (we think), we can move into the next phase of team building. 

 

5) Why do you think it will take "the next few years" to acquire a QB that we can win with? This is the biggest FA QB class maybe of all time, and a decent draft class of QBs. We have a decent mix of cap space and draft standing, where we could realistically come away with a solid veteran QB and a solid rookie QB, in one year. I don't know what's going to happen over the next month and a half, but I know it doesn't have to take "the next few years" to be good enough at QB. 

[GoColts8818]

29 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Show me a link where Ballard knew Luck was going to quit before FA in 2019. He didn't know. He didn't have that hindsight. Quit pretending he did. He's made bad decisions regarding FA for 3 consecutive years. This is the only year he knows Luck is gone.

Signing Glow, Houston, Ebron, Autry, Desir, and Moore were mistakes?  Man if those were mistakes then please keep making them Ballard!  As Ballard has said all along he’s making sure he has the money to extend guys like AC, Hilton, Mack, Leonard, Smith, Kelly, and Nelson when their contracts come up.  That’s what good GMs do.  
 

You know who tried to build a roster through free agency?  Ryan Grigson.  How did that work?  Oh that’s right it worked so well that his drafts stunk and that’s why the Colts had no one worth extending or signing by another team which is why they have no comp picks and the real reason why Luck retired early because he built such a bad line Luck got the snot beat out of him.  
 

Your dislike of Ballard for whatever reason is clouding your judgement here.  Has Ballard been perfect?  No, but what GM is?  However he has been better than the previous guy and if I was going to make a list of flaws with Ballard his management of the cap and not getting comp picks is not where I would start.

[Defjamz26]

I wonder if the unexpected retiring of Luck and Keuchly will have owners pressing the league to add comp. picks for retired players. There’d have to be a lot of protective language in there to prevent players from retiring and then un-retiring and the team still getting a comp. pick.

 

A couple rules that could make sense:

-Player must stay retired for 2 years

-Player must be under 30 years old at time of retirement 

-Account for awards, accolades, playing time, salary, etc...

-Account for round drafted

-Make the pick un-tradeable 

[TheMose]

Yikes. This is painful to read. How dare Ballard build a Super Bowl contender team through the draft and not the way I want him to do it. Now we have all this money to pay for multiple contracts in the near future instead of using it to mortgage our future on an overpaid free agent that most likely will not pan out. #FireBallard  

[csmopar]

9 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Except Ballard has said he isn't going to change his plans. In his end-of-year press conference, he said the team will still build through the draft and not FA. So apparently it wasn't a 3 year plan, and who knows how long it would of taken to go for it with all that cap space. I don't think Ballard would of ever had the guts. He was just going to do it through the draft.

You are making zero sense. 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

You're so all over the place. I can't tell if it's because you don't know what you're talking about, or if you're being intellectually dishonest.

I'm gonna go with the former. 

[Yoshinator]

7 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

You're so all over the place. I can't tell if it's because you don't know what you're talking about, or if you're being intellectually dishonest. It seems like the latter.

 

1) "Literally" 6-8 players? An outright falsehood.

 

2) When you have a team with five reliable players, you're in a rebuild. So is your argument that Ballard should have tried to rebuild a roster that had five reliable players using free agency? (Also related, you say "sign some people!" Have you looked back at the Colts 2017 FA class?)

 

3) The FA approach in 2018 yielded two difference makers. Ebron and Autry probably helped this team go from being a 7 win team to a 10 win team. Once the line settled in and Eberflus figured out what the defense was doing, they started winning. What high profile FA was going to change any of that?

 

4) Our cap standing right now is absolutely critical. First, we actually have good players eligible for extensions, which is why cap space is so important to begin with. Second, now that we've actually had a couple of pretty good draft classes in a row (we think), we can move into the next phase of team building. 

 

5) Why do you think it will take "the next few years" to acquire a QB that we can win with? This is the biggest FA QB class maybe of all time, and a decent draft class of QBs. We have a decent mix of cap space and draft standing, where we could realistically come away with a solid veteran QB and a solid rookie QB, in one year. I don't know what's going to happen over the next month and a half, but I know it doesn't have to take "the next few years" to be good enough at QB. 

We're going to draft a QB most likely. It'll take him a year to start, another year to get playing time, and a third to get good enough to possibly compete. We are in a conference with Mahomes, Jackson, Watson, guys with upside like Darnold, Mayfield and Allen, plus whatever QB's get drafted to the AFC in the next few years. Then we have to hope the QB doesn't bust.

[Superman]

11 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

I wonder if the unexpected retiring of Luck and Keuchly will have owners pressing the league to add comp. picks for retired players. There’d have to be a lot of protective language in there to prevent players from retiring and then un-retiring and the team still getting a comp. pick.

 

A couple rules that could make sense:

-Player must stay retired for 2 years

-Player must be under 30 years old at time of retirement 

-Account for awards, accolades, playing time, salary, etc...

-Account for round drafted

-Make the pick un-tradeable 

 

I doubt it. Comp picks are meant to be an equalizing, based on what happens in free agency. Players retire early, get cut, etc. That's not what the comp pick system is for.

[Yoshinator]

10 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

Signing Glow, Houston, Ebron, Autry, Desir, and Moore were mistakes?  Man if those were mistakes then please keep making them Ballard!  As Ballard has said all along he’s making sure he has the money to extend guys like AC, Hilton, Mack, Leonard, Smith, Kelly, and Nelson when their contracts come up.  That’s what good GMs do.  
 

You know who tried to build a roster through free agency?  Ryan Grigson.  How did that work?  Oh that’s right it worked so well that his drafts stunk and that’s why the Colts had no one worth extending or signing by another team which is why they have no comp picks and the real reason why Luck retired early because he built such a bad line Luck got the snot beat out of him.  
 

Your dislike of Ballard for whatever reason is clouding your judgement here.  Has Ballard been perfect?  No, but what GM is?  However he has been better than the previous guy and if I was going to make a list of flaws with Ballard his management of the cap and not getting comp picks is not where I would start.

You're twisting my words. The mistake was not adding more high-end FA's through FA while Luck was here. Don't give me the Grigson garbage. Ballard can draft, Grigson couldn't.

[Superman]

2 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

We're going to draft a QB most likely. It'll take him a year to start, another year to get playing time, and a third to get good enough to possibly compete. We are in a conference with Mahomes, Jackson, Watson, guys with upside like Darnold, Mayfield and Allen, plus whatever QB's get drafted to the AFC in the next few years. Then we have to hope the QB doesn't bust.

 

I still don't get the complaint. This team isn't good enough to win without a solid QB because Ballard didn't spend enough in free agency? No team can win without a solid QB.

 

The biggest domino has yet to fall. In the meantime, this team is pretty well positioned. A couple good draft classes in the building already, some already playing really good football and others still developing, a good OL, a lot of cap space, and the opportunity to add a QB whenever they find one they like.

 

The Colts aren't top three right now because Andrew Luck retired, no other reason worth talking about. And no sane, honest person can blame Chris Ballard for that.

[Yoshinator]

18 minutes ago, TheMose said:

Yikes. This is painful to read. How dare Ballard build a Super Bowl contender team through the draft and not the way I want him to do it. Now we have all this money to pay for multiple contracts in the near future instead of using it to mortgage our future on an overpaid free agent that most likely will not pan out. #FireBallard  

You know, as miserable as I've been since 2014 with what happened with Luck's career. I can look back at it when I see posts such as yours with an appeal to authority and say: "Maybe this fanbase doesn't deserve a championship".

[csmopar]

11 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

You know, as miserable as I've been since 2014 with what happened with Luck's career. I can look back at it when I see posts such as yours with an appeal to authority and say: "Maybe this fanbase doesn't deserve a championship".

if you're so miserable, just leave. Quit trying to spread negativity to the rest of us. 

[Myles]

16 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

You're twisting my words. The mistake was not adding more high-end FA's through FA while Luck was here. 

Like Funches and Houston?

[Yoshinator]

1 minute ago, csmopar said:

if you're so miserable, just leave. Quit trying to spread negativity to the rest of us. 

You can't quit reacting to me, so stop it.

2 minutes ago, Myles said:

Like Funches and Houston?

2 FA's in one year. Woohoo.

[csmopar]

11 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

You can't quit reacting to me, so stop it.

2 FA's in one year. Woohoo.

[Dogg63]

26 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

You know, as miserable as I've been since 2014 with what happened with Luck's career. I can look back at it when I see posts such as yours with an appeal to authority and say: "Maybe this fanbase doesn't deserve a championship".

[Jason_]

22 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

You can't quit reacting to me, so stop it.

2 FA's in one year. Woohoo.

 

you're doing it again.  step away for a few hours and calm down.

[Cynjin]

15 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

So my only question is... If Ballard knew we weren't getting comp picks last April, and we had all this cap space, and he had no idea Luck was retiring yet, WHY DIDN'T HE SIGN MORE IMPACT FA's? 

 

To answer your questions, Ballard did it just to * you off and apparently he succeeded.

[Lucky Colts Fan]

58 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

2 FA's in one year. Woohoo.

 

When you think of FAs, do you only think of players that other teams didn't re-sign?  Do you not think of the players that Ballard re-signs to remain Colts?  Cuz they're technically FAs.

 

That's guys like Doyle and Vinny in 2016, Darius Butler and Robert Turbin in 2017, Desir and "Coach" Slauson in 2018, Geathers and Hunt in 2019.  Add those guys to Ebron, Autry, Houston, Funchess, etc. and Ballard has done pretty well without breaking the bank for little return (LeVeon Bell) or bringing a cancer into the locker room (Antonio Brown).  Especially considering he's asking guys to come live and work in Indianapolis, Indiana instead of LA, NY, NOLA, or sunny FL (with no income tax).

 

It seems like you're in another one of your fits where you get tunnel-vision about something and keep getting yourself more and more worked up about it.  No, Ballard hasn't made "Madden moves" in FA every year, but all things considered, it's not nearly as bad as you're making it out to be.  Spotrac even named the Colts 2018 "Most Valuable Free Agent Class" in the entire NFL.

 

Quote

"By far one of the most successful free agent classes in the league, the Colts took a few low-risk moves on bringing in (Eric) Ebron & (Ryan) Grant to add weapons for (Andrew) Luck, and both have been effective. Denico Autry has been one of the more productive edge defenders in the game, and Matt Slauson has been another positive piece to a finally improved offensive line."

 

  

[TheMose]

1 hour ago, Jared Cisneros said:

You know, as miserable as I've been since 2014 with what happened with Luck's career. I can look back at it when I see posts such as yours with an appeal to authority and say: "Maybe this fanbase doesn't deserve a championship".

The overwhelming consensus with the Colts fanbase and even the entire league, is that Ballard has been doing amazing things with this team and making smart calculated moves instead of getting swept up in the dangerous game that is free agency. But I guess all of us are just bootlickers and you are a football genius that is fighting the tyranny that is Chris Ballard. You are poison in this forum 

[csmopar]

3 minutes ago, TheMose said:

The overwhelming consensus with the Colts fanbase and even the entire league, is that Ballard has been doing amazing things with this team and making smart calculated moves instead of getting swept up in the dangerous game that is free agency. But I guess all of us are just bootlickers and you are a football genius that is fighting the tyranny that is Chris Ballard. You are poison in this forum 

[jvan1973]

3 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

So he was trying to rebuild a really bad roster, yet we were a top 3 team in the AFC. I wonder why that is. I think we both know. He had Luck for one year, but thought he had him at this point in 2017 and 2019 when FA begun. You are using hindsight Ballard didn't have. He added nothing of note to give us a realistic chance to win in FA when he thought he had Luck all three years. Absolute joke, now he's gone.

Absolute joke indeed 

[jvan1973]

It's all rigged anyway,   what difference does it make?

[Lucky Colts Fan]

1 minute ago, jvan1973 said:

It's all rigged anyway,   what difference does it make?

 

Yeah, the refs always favor the teams that "won" Free Agency in the offseason.

 

That's why Oakland and Cleveland were 2 of the top-5 most penalized teams in 2019...

 

Signing big names like OBJ, AB, Burfict, etc. =    

 

[crazycolt1]

1 hour ago, Jared Cisneros said:

You know, as miserable as I've been since 2014 with what happened with Luck's career. I can look back at it when I see posts such as yours with an appeal to authority and say: "Maybe this fanbase doesn't deserve a championship".

Just maybe it's you who don't deserve to celebrate if this team is successful. You have a hate built up in you aimed at Ballard that is unwarranted. 

Maybe it's time for you to step away from this forum while you get yourself together. 

Relax, take your meds and chill the hell out. 

[RollerColt]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001105653/article/nfl-free-agency-fabrication-beware-of-winning-the-offseason

 

It's not just us. At least some in the media agree that going on a spending craze for free agents is not a good long term solution.

[Four2itus]

4 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Letting Irsay pocket $100 million a year in excess cap space over the last 3 years with Andrew Luck when you're nowhere near signing your own draft classes doesn't benefit the team at all

No offense, but what in the bloody hell? I see 5 glaring inaccuracies in the above quote.

[Superman]

4 hours ago, csmopar said:

but but but Ballard wasn't here in 2015, and we had Luck, we should get all 32 of those picks. 

 

Wouldn't that be nice...

 

We probably won't get another comp pick until 2022.

[csmopar]

1 hour ago, crazycolt1 said:

Just maybe it's you who don't deserve to celebrate if this team is successful. You have a hate built up in you aimed at Ballard that is unwarranted. 

Maybe it's time for you to step away from this forum while you get yourself together. 

Relax, take your meds and chill the hell out. 

[Mel Kiper's Hair]

Wow! By reading some of these posts one would think that this was the forum for the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Bucs,  the Washington Football Club, or Arizona Cardinals. I imagine most of those franchises would gladly trade to be in the situation we are currently in. Solid O line, young promising players on defense, a decent coaching staff, a scouting department that over the last 2 drafts has proved to be one of the better ones in the league, a GM who is smart with the salary cap, and an owner who lets the GM run the team. Does it suck that Andrew Luck retired? Heck yeah it does! Does it probably push the timeline back for Super Bowl contention? Probably does. I know personally I would be thrilled if we were to win a Super Bowl in the next 3 seasons. Super Bowls are not easy to come by but you don't have to have a Mahomes, or Watson, or Manning, or Luck, or Brady to win one. You can win a Super Bowl with a Rypien, a Johnson, a Dilfer, a Flacco, or a Foles if you build a good ALL AROUND TEAM! That is what CB is trying to do. Would it be great if we had a top 5 QB? You bet! Is it a necessity? Not if you build a good all around team. I think Ballard is doing that and will continue to do that.