Ballard FA Grievances Thread (Merge)

[bluephantom87]

On 3/13/2023 at 3:45 PM, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

I'm waiting for Ballads supporters to say "Free Agency hasn't officially started yet and you be complaining about no signings"?

 

Then next week "Free Agency isn't over! There are still some players left to sign".

 

Then a week later "I'm sure glad Ballard doesn't overpay".

        

 

This is spot on!!! Ready made EXCUSES for a guy who has accomplished absolutely nothing as gm. The national media has gotten OFF his train but some on this board swear by him. I guess it's based on his "polished" talk on team building because HIS approach / philosophy has this team FALLING further and further back in the NFL landscape. Now according to Ballard there's not a qb worth moving up for. Not surprising because he thought the same of Allen, Herbert, Jackson and Mahomes* to name a few as teams moved up to snag their franchise guy DURING Ballard's lackluster tenure. Meanwhile Ballard has CHOSEN the uninspiring carousel of Tolzien, Hoyer, Brissett, Rivers, Wentz and Ryan. Yikes! This is also coming from the SAME guy that saw enough in Eason and the low ceiling Ehlinger to draft them?!! What have our draft picks under Ballard REALLY gotten us anyway related to CONTENTION or winning?

 

Take his four BEST picks in that long SIX YEAR span and what do you REALLY have? A guard in Nelson and lb in Leonard who BOTH are some of the HIGHEST paid at their NON premium positions. Both looked like a shell of themselves last season after MULTIPLE surgeries. Can they bounce back fully? Hopefully for the team's sake.

 

JT was a HIGH MILEAGE rb coming out of college which is one reason why his stock dropped in the draft. Now he IS the offense in Indy and starting to show wear which in turn led to him having ankle surgery THIS offense. Pittman is a big possession type receiver who would be a two on MOST teams if not a three on some but he just happens to be our wr1. Moving forward will the Colts pay both handsomely in the near future? We have a top rb in a passing league and a borderline upper tier receiver in a landscape of explosive ones. Who knows but NOTHING will change until Irsay decides to move from the house that's built on quicksand as the Colts continue to slowly sink into IRRELEVANCY.

[Aaron86]

[LJpalmbeacher2]

8 hours ago, bluephantom87 said:

 

This is spot on!!! Ready made EXCUSES for a guy who has accomplished absolutely nothing as gm. The national media has gotten OFF his train but some on this board swear by him. I guess it's based on his "polished" talk on team building because HIS approach / philosophy has this team FALLING further and further back in the NFL landscape. Now according to Ballard there's not a qb worth moving up for. Not surprising because he thought the same of Allen, Herbert, Jackson and Mahomes* to name a few as teams moved up to snag their franchise guy DURING Ballard's lackluster tenure. Meanwhile Ballard has CHOSEN the uninspiring carousel of Tolzien, Hoyer, Brissett, Rivers, Wentz and Ryan. Yikes! This is also coming from the SAME guy that saw enough in Eason and the low ceiling Ehlinger to draft them?!! What have our draft picks under Ballard REALLY gotten us anyway related to CONTENTION or winning?

 

Take his four BEST picks in that long SIX YEAR span and what do you REALLY have? A guard in Nelson and lb in Leonard who BOTH are some of the HIGHEST paid at their NON premium positions. Both looked like a shell of themselves last season after MULTIPLE surgeries. Can they bounce back fully? Hopefully for the team's sake.

 

JT was a HIGH MILEAGE rb coming out of college which is one reason why his stock dropped in the draft. Now he IS the offense in Indy and starting to show wear which in turn led to him having ankle surgery THIS offense. Pittman is a big possession type receiver who would be a two on MOST teams if not a three on some but he just happens to be our wr1. Moving forward will the Colts pay both handsomely in the near future? We have a top rb in a passing league and a borderline upper tier receiver in a landscape of explosive ones. Who knows but NOTHING will change until Irsay decides to move from the house that's built on quicksand as the Colts continue to slowly sink into IRRELEVANCY.

 

Excellent post. 

And I'll add if he drafts a QB at #4, he'll get another three seasons to fail because of the built in excuse of having a rookie QB at the helm. 

[gibson981]

Now that Ballard signed Minshew (and his 1970’s porn star mustache), I bet the QB room will consist of Elinger, Foles, and Minshew. Ballard will probably deal the 4th pick for a couple of late round picks this year and next year. He has the Colts on the way to being the sub-mediocre team they were in the mid to late 90’s. 

[gibson981]

Watch for the Mayflower trucks in the next couple of years. 

[philba101]

Bengals LT Jonah Williams asks for a trade after the Bengals signed FA LT Orlando Brown to a big contract. Maybe this is an opportunity to secure the left side of our line depending on how the Colts feel about Raimann coming into year two. Williams made 16 starts for the Bengals last year.

https://nfltraderumors.co/bengals-lt-jonah-williams-requests-trade-following-orlando-brown-signing/

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Keefer has a great article on how Ballard has already started changing his approach and instead of signing quick fixes he is thinking more long term.

 

The moves also speak to a much-needed organizational shift in thinking. The days of chasing a few pricey veteran free agents seem to be over. The Colts, instead, are prioritizing long-term stability over short-term gains, mindful that a young quarterback is all but assuredly on his way. Irsay, for one, wants to “grow his own” at that position.

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

 

[Dobbinblitz]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:18 PM, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

 

Excellent post. 

And I'll add if he drafts a QB at #4, he'll get another three seasons to fail because of the built in excuse of having a rookie QB at the helm. 

And I will add that not moving from the #4 draft slot provides him cover because he will be taking "the best available QB" instead making a bold move to move up and put it all on the line by selecting the top QB on their draft board. 

[Solid84]

2 hours ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Keefer has a great article on how Ballard has already started changing his approach and instead of signing quick fixes he is thinking more long term.

 

The moves also speak to a much-needed organizational shift in thinking. The days of chasing a few pricey veteran free agents seem to be over. The Colts, instead, are prioritizing long-term stability over short-term gains, mindful that a young quarterback is all but assuredly on his way. Irsay, for one, wants to “grow his own” at that position.

 

Uh, what? When did we start?

 

We’ve signed some good players here and there, but we’ve never signed “pricey” veterans excluding some overpayed, underperforming QBs, but those have been trades not FA. 

 

Edit: There’s truth to us not being a few quick fixes away from the playoffs, though. Ballard admitted as much himself, so kudos to him/the FO for thinking long term. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

5 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

Uh, what? When did we start?

 

We’ve signed some good players here and there, but we’ve never signed “pricey” veterans excluding some overpayed, underperforming QBs, but those have been trades not FA. 

 

Edit: There’s truth to us not being a few quick fixes away from the playoffs, though. Ballard admitted as much himself, so kudos to him/the FO for thinking long term. 

Keefer is talking about a reset. Something Ballard should of done when Luck retired instead of thinking colts were so close.  No more Gilmores for awhile.

[NewColtsFan]

42 minutes ago, Dobbinblitz said:

And I will add that not moving from the #4 draft slot provides him cover because he will be taking "the best available QB" instead making a bold move to move up and put it all on the line by selecting the top QB on their draft board. 

Interesting.    You see the lack if makjng a bold move as providing Ballard political cover.   He’d settle for taking the best quarterback available.    
 

But I think Ballard has put his head on the chopping block.   He could have made the trade to #1 and had his choice.   But he decided not to.    So if the first or second  QBs, whoever they are, are really good and Ballard’s choice is not,  I think he’s set himself up to get fired sooner than people here think.

 

[Solid84]

2 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Keefer is talking about a reset. Something Ballard should of done when Luck retired instead of thinking colts were so close.  No more Gilmores for awhile.

I was mainly responding to the “The days of chasing a few pricey veteran free agents seem to be over.”

 

We’ve not done that under Ballard. In fact it’s been his MO to at best sign the B tier players. 

[Solid84]

4 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Interesting.    You see the lack if makjng a bold move as providing Ballard political cover.   He’d settle for taking the best quarterback available.    
 

But I think Ballard has put his head on the chopping block.   He could have made the trade to #1 and had his choice.   But he decided not to.    So if the first or second  QBs, whoever they are, are really good and Ballard’s choice is not,  I think he’s set himself up to get fired sooner than people here think.

 

Honestly, I really appreciate he didn’t mortgage the future so he could go out guns blazing. He recognizes and appreciates that there are no “clear” generational QB talents this year and acts accordingly. Could one or more of them surprise and turn out great? Sure, but at this point that’s not obvious like with Mahomes and Allen. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

5 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

I was mainly responding to the “The days of chasing a few pricey veteran free agents seem to be over.”

 

We’ve not done that under Ballard. In fact it’s been his MO to at best sign the B tier players. 

One thing I took from his story is colts are taking a QB at 4. He seems pretty sure of that in his story. So he was also talking about band siding the QB position also.

[Dobbinblitz]

20 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Interesting.    You see the lack if makjng a bold move as providing Ballard political cover.   He’d settle for taking the best quarterback available.    
 

But I think Ballard has put his head on the chopping block.   He could have made the trade to #1 and had his choice.   But he decided not to.    So if the first or second  QBs, whoever they are, are really good and Ballard’s choice is not,  I think he’s set himself up to get fired sooner than people here think.

 

Yes, I can see certainly see your point of view, but overall I view it as, in this way, he moves the focus to Steichen to make the #4 pick successful instead of Ballard making a potentially bad decision with all QB's available at the #1 position. I can also see the point of view of not mortgaging the future, but at some point you have to get out of a reload/holding pattern and take the risk to move this franchise forward. 

[NewColtsFan]

11 minutes ago, Dobbinblitz said:

Yes, I can see certainly see your point of view, but overall I view it as, in this way, he moves the focus to Steichen to make the #4 pick successful instead of Ballard making a potentially bad decision with all QB's available at the #1 position. I can also see the point of view of not mortgaging the future, but at some point you have to get out of a reload/holding pattern and take the risk to move this franchise forward. 

Your last sentence sums it up for me. 
 

And if Ballard’s decision not to make a move backfires….  His choice is anywhere from bad to maybe even Daniel Jones first three years level and Carolina and Houston get their guy with Stroud and Young, I think Ballard is toast.    It may not be until 2025, but I don’t see how he’d survive if the team looks like a 7-8 win team and languishing in 3rd or 4th in the South.  
 

At some point Irsay would make a change.  

[NewColtsFan]

45 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

Honestly, I really appreciate he didn’t mortgage the future so he could go out guns blazing. He recognizes and appreciates that there are no “clear” generational QB talents this year and acts accordingly. Could one or more of them surprise and turn out great? Sure, but at this point that’s not obvious like with Mahomes and Allen. 

I’m sorry, you lost me with the last sentence.    Are you talking about Mahomes and Allen NOW?   Or Mahomes and Allen coming out of college?   
 

Because coming out of college, neither was obvious. 
 

 

[Solid84]

14 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

I’m sorry, you lost me with the last sentence.    Are you talking about Mahomes and Allen NOW?   Or Mahomes and Allen coming out of college?   
 

Because coming out of college, neither was obvious. 
 

 

Sorry. Was talking about Mahomes and Allen weren't thought of as generational talents when coming out of college but turned out great.

[Nevbot]

17 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

I’m sorry, you lost me with the last sentence.    Are you talking about Mahomes and Allen NOW?   Or Mahomes and Allen coming out of college?   
 

Because coming out of college, neither was obvious. 
 

 

But, to the Chiefs and Bills it was obvious, hence getting aggressive and trading up.

In our case we are actively choosing to stand pat at 4 and take whatever QB falls to us.  I find it hard to believe that Ballard (or any evaluator in the league) doesn't have the 4 QB's rated EXACTLY even- So if the Colts take whatever QB they rate the highest at 4 and they hit on the pick- it will be more out of blind luck then actually being proactive to achieve your vision. Its passive, and a bit frugal.

Thing is, I actually agree with standing pat at 4 and not mortgaging anything for any of these QB's, or trading back a little bit.  If Will Anderson is there at 4 and it's between him, Levis and Richardson- I would pray that we trade back 2-3 picks if we can and maybe gain a 1st or 2nd.  Then and only then would i feel better about taking one of Richardson or Levis, because the sting of that player being a total bust is alleviated by a nice pick. 

The most boring and most predictable thing to happen (and I think it probably will) is that we simply just draft Levis at 4 and don't mess around.  Don't be fooled- the pick has always been Levis, but if Young or Stroud fall to us- I would have to believe we take one of them instead. 

I want Richardson or Levis at the 6-9 slot if we can pull it off.  

I want Young or Stroud at 4, if we can get lucky enough. 

I would take Will Anderson if there are no trade offers at 4 and he is still there. 

 

I don't think the decision will be as hard as everyone makes out.  By trading to 1, the Panthers at least made our decision tree much clearer at the 4 slot, even if they are taking a passer off the board for us to consider.  

[King Colt]

ESPN said today Ballard is interested in Lamar Jackson. Please God don't let this happen!

[Solid84]

GM Rankings by Gregg Rosenthal:

 

GM Rankings - By Gregg Rosenthal, NFL.com

 

Chris Ballard at 18:

Quote

The Colts are a long way from having one of football's best rosters during the Philip Rivers season. They invested in an offensive line that atrophied. The receiving corps is below average. Most veterans acquired last offseason (Matt Ryan, Stephon Gilmore, Rodney McLeod, Yannick Ngakoue) are gone. The defensive line and Jonathan Taylor provide something to build off, but all the swinging and missing at quarterback has overshadowed some foul-tip outs elsewhere on the roster.

 

[gibson981]

On 3/28/2023 at 4:04 PM, King Colt said:

ESPN said today Ballard is interested in Lamar Jackson. Please God don't let this happen!

Can we get the Marion County Prosecutor to indict Ballard?

[Blueblood23]

Looks like the roster is not as strong as many on this board proclaimed.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/colts-roster-ranked-fourth-worst-123032813.html

[stitches]

 

Do you guys and gals agree with NFC East Personnel Director? 

[OLD FAN MAN]

On 8/11/2023 at 12:43 PM, stitches said:

 

Do you guys and gals agree with NFC East Personnel Director? 

yes

[NewColtsFan]

On 8/11/2023 at 9:43 AM, stitches said:

 

Do you guys and gals agree with NFC East Personnel Director? 

Not a lot….   

 

IMO,  our problems boil down to not getting the QB right, and not getting enough bang for the buck from the OL for the last two years.   
 

Hopefully, the Colts have taken steps toward correcting those issues.   With a modest amount of success this year, the Colts might have an entirely different perspective next season.   
 

A good quarterback covers up a lot of other issues.   A good offensive line helps cover up more issues.   The Colts 24 would be a spring board for being a potential contender in 25.    In short, I don’t think this team is as far away as it might appear to outsiders. 
 

 

[John Hammonds]

I think I've been converted.

 

Was thinking about Irsay's comments from last year, about "upper quartile of upper quartile" and "rare air".

We were upper quartile back in the early 2000's.  And why?  Well, we had no fewer than SEVEN potential Hall Of Fame players on the roster at the same time. (Manning, Edge, Marvin, Reggie, Saturday, Freeney, Mathis)  SEVEN!  Yeah, that's Rare Air.  How often does that ever happen?

And our roster the last three years?  No way.  Doesn't compare.  Our roster the last five years?  Nope.

Chris Ballard has been very adept at building a roster of guys that are Pretty Good.  Lots of 2nd round players.  Lots of small school overachievers.  Teams that have a chance to make the playoffs.  But Rare Air players?  Desperately few.  Teams that dominate?  Upper quartile teams?  Ehhhh.

And I'm thinking that Ballard is pressing the Big Fat Reset Button this year.  Change the model.  No more Pretty Good.  Let's populate the team with Rare Air players.  This year, it's Anthony Richardson (or, at least we hope he becomes one!).  Next year, it could be Marvin Jr.  That alone could give you potentially 3 HOF players, along with Nelson.

Yeah.  Abandon the Pretty Good Model.  Adopt the Rare Air Model.

I'm all in on targeting Marvin Jr next year.

[Indyfan4life]

I want a freaking receiver that can change the game. I’m so tired of seeing Pierce drop basically everything thrown his way. 

[bluephantom87]

 

Does Irsay continue to WAIT for delayed gratification under the mediocre gm known as Chris Ballard? EIGHT years and counting...

There will be some to have pushback that Ballard is one of the best but I ask based on what? Nationally I hear that the Colts lack playmakers / explosive players across the board. Ballard's record continues to dip the wrong side of .500 which suggests he is more of a SUBPAR gm with his 80's TEAM build philosophy vs the modern aggressive pass first landscape of today's NFL.

 

I believe the Colts finally have the RIGHT hc in Shane but he is a rookie. The Colts are actually scoring at a high clip with a turnover prone BACKUP qb but this soft schemed marginally talented defense under Gus can stop no one. The Saints came in struggling on offense yet amassed over 500 yds, put up 38 pts on the Colts and won by ELEVEN. Do you realize that SIX teams won yesterday scoring less than the 27 pts put up by the Colts with TWO of them only scoring 15 and 13 pts respectively in wins. The Titans are being applauded for SCORING 28 pts for the first time all season under the rookie qb Levis. Wow!

 

This team has a lot of JAG type players and the DEPTH behind them falls off a cliff talent wise at most positions ESPECIALLY on the defensive side of the ball. The Colts have been headed in the wrong direction for awhile now. I said a few years back that we are closer to being cellar dwellers in the south (when those  teams start to get better) than we are to challenging for the division. So keep on applauding the trade downs (while passing on some top tier talent) in the draft to garner more picks that turn mostly into high "RAS" score players that don't necessarily translate at the nfl level or the CONTINUED lack of ELITE level players at premium positions and lastly by penny pinching in FA searching for bargain basement talent or waiver wire rejects. Yes ALL gms whiff but many have turned teams around quickly in Ballard's tenure while we are left with excuses in a RESULT driven league....

[shakedownstreet]

Hunnert

[twfish]

If you had high expectations to begin the year and still have them after losing our starting QB, all 3 starting CB's our starting DT then you may need to be checked into an Asylum. People are eager to brush off the whole QB purgatory thing but show me a team that does well with a bad QB? Not only did Luck's retirement set us back but Reich begging for Wentz set us back just as far and no one is talking about that. 

[AwesomeAustin]

Our defense is really bad. There is no defending that. Who is to blame is the question. I always thought it was unconventional Ballard decided who the DC will be.  All I know is this isn’t working so I expect there to be change soon. 

[Superman]

3 hours ago, bluephantom87 said:

 

Does Irsay continue to WAIT for delayed gratification under the mediocre gm known as Chris Ballard? EIGHT years and counting...

There will be some to have pushback that Ballard is one of the best but I ask based on what? Nationally I hear that the Colts lack playmakers / explosive players across the board. Ballard's record continues to dip the wrong side of .500 which suggests he is more of a SUBPAR gm with his 80's TEAM build philosophy vs the modern aggressive pass first landscape of today's NFL.

 

I believe the Colts finally have the RIGHT hc in Shane but he is a rookie. The Colts are actually scoring at a high clip with a turnover prone BACKUP qb but this soft schemed marginally talented defense under Gus can stop no one. The Saints came in struggling on offense yet amassed over 500 yds, put up 38 pts on the Colts and won by ELEVEN. Do you realize that SIX teams won yesterday scoring less than the 27 pts put up by the Colts with TWO of them only scoring 15 and 13 pts respectively in wins. The Titans are being applauded for SCORING 28 pts for the first time all season under the rookie qb Levis. Wow!

 

This team has a lot of JAG type players and the DEPTH behind them falls off a cliff talent wise at most positions ESPECIALLY on the defensive side of the ball. The Colts have been headed in the wrong direction for awhile now. I said a few years back that we are closer to being cellar dwellers in the south (when those  teams start to get better) than we are to challenging for the division. So keep on applauding the trade downs (while passing on some top tier talent) in the draft to garner more picks that turn mostly into high "RAS" score players that don't necessarily translate at the nfl level or the CONTINUED lack of ELITE level players at premium positions and lastly by penny pinching in FA searching for bargain basement talent or waiver wire rejects. Yes ALL gms whiff but many have turned teams around quickly in Ballard's tenure while we are left with excuses in a RESULT driven league....

 

This is merged with the Ballard complaint thread.

[stitches]

I am on the record that we should have fired him last off-season and let the new GM pick his HC and QB. But once Irsay decided to keep him, you cannot fire him right after he's picked your new HC and used a top 5 pick on the new QB. I want him to get at least one more year to see his vision around AR through. I don't want a lame duck coach and I don't want a lame duck QB. IMO changing GM now is one of the worst things we can do. 

[NewColtsFan]

13 hours ago, bluephantom87 said:

 

Does Irsay continue to WAIT for delayed gratification under the mediocre gm known as Chris Ballard? EIGHT years and counting...

There will be some to have pushback that Ballard is one of the best but I ask based on what? Nationally I hear that the Colts lack playmakers / explosive players across the board. Ballard's record continues to dip the wrong side of .500 which suggests he is more of a SUBPAR gm with his 80's TEAM build philosophy vs the modern aggressive pass first landscape of today's NFL.

 

I believe the Colts finally have the RIGHT hc in Shane but he is a rookie. The Colts are actually scoring at a high clip with a turnover prone BACKUP qb but this soft schemed marginally talented defense under Gus can stop no one. The Saints came in struggling on offense yet amassed over 500 yds, put up 38 pts on the Colts and won by ELEVEN. Do you realize that SIX teams won yesterday scoring less than the 27 pts put up by the Colts with TWO of them only scoring 15 and 13 pts respectively in wins. The Titans are being applauded for SCORING 28 pts for the first time all season under the rookie qb Levis. Wow!

 

This team has a lot of JAG type players and the DEPTH behind them falls off a cliff talent wise at most positions ESPECIALLY on the defensive side of the ball. The Colts have been headed in the wrong direction for awhile now. I said a few years back that we are closer to being cellar dwellers in the south (when those  teams start to get better) than we are to challenging for the division. So keep on applauding the trade downs (while passing on some top tier talent) in the draft to garner more picks that turn mostly into high "RAS" score players that don't necessarily translate at the nfl level or the CONTINUED lack of ELITE level players at premium positions and lastly by penny pinching in FA searching for bargain basement talent or waiver wire rejects. Yes ALL gms whiff but many have turned teams around quickly in Ballard's tenure while we are left with excuses in a RESULT driven league....

So you don’t like Ballard, but acknowledge you like the new HC.   
 

Do you know who picked the new HC?  
 

That’s right…..  

[RollerColt]

22 hours ago, stitches said:

I am on the record that we should have fired him last off-season and let the new GM pick his HC and QB. But once Irsay decided to keep him, you cannot fire him right after he's picked your new HC and used a top 5 pick on the new QB. I want him to get at least one more year to see his vision around AR through. I don't want a lame duck coach and I don't want a lame duck QB. IMO changing GM now is one of the worst things we can do. 

I agree with this. I thought for sure he was fired after Irsay took control of the team last year. 

 

What's done is now done. I haven't been a fan of Ballard's strategy lately, but it is what it is. He is now tied to the success of Steichen and Richardson. If they fall, they all fall. 

[Superman]

23 hours ago, stitches said:

I am on the record that we should have fired him last off-season and let the new GM pick his HC and QB. But once Irsay decided to keep him, you cannot fire him right after he's picked your new HC and used a top 5 pick on the new QB. I want him to get at least one more year to see his vision around AR through. I don't want a lame duck coach and I don't want a lame duck QB. IMO changing GM now is one of the worst things we can do. 

 

Yeah, once you let him hire a HC and draft a QB, you can count on him being here at least through 2024. And I think the 2023 year is a reset anyway.

 

My bigger questions are whether he can draft well enough to build around a young QB, and whether he can keep up with the rest of the league with roster management and cap strategy. We have the QB. Now what do you do to contend with him?

[stitches]

3 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Yeah, once you let him hire a HC and draft a QB, you can count on him being here at least through 2024. And I think the 2023 year is a reset anyway.

 

My bigger questions are whether he can draft well enough to build around a young QB, and whether he can keep up with the rest of the league with roster management and cap strategy. We have the QB. Now what do you do to contend with him?

IMO at this point we know what we can expect from him. He will have some limited FA activity and try to reinforce the team with bargain bin type of signings. And the biggest chunk of this team's roster building strategy will be drafting. I don't know if this will ever be enough in today's league. Most other teams at the top go way above that in FA and trade AND they draft about as much as we do. He will need one or two draft classes to really hit. Like... 2018 type of hit. Otherwise we will always have talent deficit compared to the best of the best. 

[Superman]

2 minutes ago, stitches said:

IMO at this point we know what we can expect from him. He will have some limited FA activity and try to reinforce the team with bargain bin type of signings. And the biggest chunk of this team's roster building strategy will be drafting. I don't know if this will ever be enough in today's league. Most other teams at the top go way above that in FA and trade AND they draft about as much as we do. He will need one or two draft classes to really hit. Like... 2018 type of hit. Otherwise we will always have talent deficit compared to the best of the best. 

 

Yup. The Eagles seem to draft better, and are more aggressive in trades and free agency (where they also have a solid track record). It would be hard to keep up with that even if you nail every draft class. 

 

I think 2020 offseason is the upper limit of Ballard's aggresssiveness scale. He felt like most of the roster was settled, traded for a really good player, made another big FA signing, and was kind of aggressive going after guys he liked in the draft. I think it takes more than that these days.