*Updated* Colts sign Stephon Gilmore (Merge)

[stitches]

Well.... I guess I can live without Rock 

 

That's one of those strategic and not wasteful moves I've wanted Balllard to do. Good job. Gilmore has been one of the best corners in the league over the last 5-6 years. And even if he's getting up there in age, and we managed to actually not give up long-term money for him... so even if he suffers a drop off cliff type of decline we are not stuck with bad money. 

[ProblChld32]

This will truly change the dynamic of our defense, I think he will surprise ALOT of people this season. I look for them to also draft someone like Cordale Flott from LSU in the 4th or 5th round. 

[Goatface Killah]

Im sure this wont stop the complain train........but our defense looks pretty damn good right now. Gilmore was like the 7th highest rated corner last year and is a great addition, even at 31 years old. He was still following top receivers all over the field playing man coverage last year. 

 

 

 

 

[Old Colt]

19 minutes ago, Hark said:

Great signing by CB! This defense should be pretty darn good.

Defense should be great, and they will have to be...  they are going to be on the field a lot given the lack of weapons on our offense.  I guess our new QB can pass and hand off to JT....  that is our offense now

[Les Poulains]

I love this. A signing with very high end potential. Yes, getting older, some injuries, but it's a risk I am more than fine with because this is actually ambitious.

[Pat Curtis]

Good signing.  He's great when there's no pressure on the QB and elite when the QB is hurried or hit.

 

Now that we've bolstered the Defense and ST's with trades and FA acquisitions, I hope they focus on the Offense in the draft in a couple weeks.  We also have to be tight on cap space as well I'd think?

[CR91]

This defense can easily be top 5.

[runthepost]

Good signing 

[NewColtsFan]

11 minutes ago, Pat Curtis said:

Good signing.  He's great when there's no pressure on the QB and elite when the QB is hurried or hit.

 

Now that we've bolstered the Defense and ST's with trades and FA acquisitions, I hope they focus on the Offense in the draft in a couple weeks.  We also have to be tight on cap space as well I'd think?

As to cap space….   Roughly ballpark us down around $10 mill.    With what we still have to do, I think we’d be ready to do some contract restructures.  

[RollerColt]

5 minutes ago, CR91 said:

This defense can easily be top 5.

And we've now got Matt Ryan to complement them. Still got work to do, but we're getting there.

[CR91]

Imagine this on third down

 

Rodgers and Gilmore on the outside

Kenny in the slot

Darius roaming

Willis in the box

Mcleod and Blackmon in the backend

Yannick, Buck, Dayo, Kwity crashing the line.

 

I don't envy offenses

[Pat Curtis]

Just now, CR91 said:

Imagine this on third down

 

Rodgers and Gilmore on the outside

Kenny in the slot

Darius roaming

Willis in the box

Mcleod and Blackmon in the backend

Yannick, Buck, Dayo, Kwity crashing the line.

 

I don't envy offenses

 

I just hope on 3rd and 2 our DB's aren't off 10 yards.  It was hard to watch.

[DougDew]

44 minutes ago, VaAllDay757 said:

When you're that good of a player it doesn't matter what scheme you're in....either you're playing zone or man coverage and gilmore is great at both it's not rocket science 

What were talking about is how good he will be considering the changes that have happened since his prime.  Its football, so no rocket science is needed, just common sense.

[colts52761]

are we out of cap space now?

 

[DougDew]

1 hour ago, luv_pony_express said:

 

Yeah, I like this.  I bristled a bit at the $23M/2yr -- but only $14M is guaranteed, which seems about right for a Pro Bowl level CB Gilmore's age.

 

Well done, Mr. Ballard.

The guarantee for one year is simply a stating of the obvious.  He is getting paid to start next year and play every snap that he can.  The back end $14m will be dependent upon how he plays this year, which I assume would require him to play very poorly to be cut.

 

I read somewhere that $14m was said to be Gilmore's market value presently. 

 

It seems like a pretty straightforward contract given the situation.

[Catloaf]

12 minutes ago, CR91 said:

Imagine this on third down

 

Rodgers and Gilmore on the outside

Kenny in the slot

Darius roaming

Willis in the box

Mcleod and Blackmon in the backend

Yannick, Buck, Dayo, Kwity crashing the line.

 

I don't envy offenses

I’m not sold at all on Willis but the rest are great!

[Yoshinator]

Just got up, nice news to wake up too. This is our Rock replacement. Our secondary looks much better now. Time to go into the draft and fill in the rest of our needs via BPA. 

 

Good job Balllard! 

[CR91]

6 minutes ago, colts52761 said:

are we out of cap space now?

 

 

Still have roughly 10 mil

[JediXMan]

5 minutes ago, colts52761 said:

are we out of cap space now?

 

Nope and if the Colts restructure a few contracts it could go up a bit.

[NewColtsFan]

6 minutes ago, colts52761 said:

are we out of cap space now?

 

No….  We should have roughly $10m left.  Ballpark.    And we can still restructure some current contracts to create more space.   We should be ok..,

[MikeCurtis]

5 minutes ago, CR91 said:

 

Still have roughly 10 mil

We are going to need at least 5M to sign our rookies of this 10M

 

 

[luv_pony_express]

11 minutes ago, DougDew said:

The guarantee for one year is simply a stating of the obvious.  He is getting paid to start next year and play every snap that he can.  The back end $14m will be dependent upon how he plays this year, which I assume would require him to play very poorly to be cut.

 

I read somewhere that $14m was said to be Gilmore's market value presently. 

 

It seems like a pretty straightforward contract given the situation.

 

Yeah, he missed 14 games the past two seasons -- some due to COVID, but most due to a torn quad.  I'm not surprised that a number of teams were interested in him.  I'm also not surprised that he got the contract he got.

 

Anyway, this is a really nice FA move for Ballard.

[John Waylon]

[richard pallo]

7 minutes ago, MikeCurtis said:

We are going to need at least 5M to sign our rookies of this 10M

 

 

Need to restructure for Landry.  Need to do it.

[JediXMan]

This Gilmore signing is huge for our young secondary. What a difference a few weeks makes. Feel much better about the secondary with the adddtions of Gilmore and McLeod.

[DougDew]

9 minutes ago, luv_pony_express said:

 

Yeah, he missed 14 games the past two seasons -- some due to COVID, but most due to a torn quad.  I'm not surprised that a number of teams were interested in him.  I'm also not surprised that he got the contract he got.

 

Anyway, this is a really nice FA move for Ballard.

I think that it completes filling of the major holes needed to field a competent team next season....reasonably positioned to contend for the Division.

 

Still a little shaky at LT, TE, WR and S (I'm just not familiar with McLeod); but can certainly go into the draft and preseason with the guys we have there, IMO.

[krunk]

Like i said, let the man finish rolling out his plan. Then judge from there. Good signing.

[krunk]

27 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Just got up, nice news to wake up too. This is our Rock replacement. Our secondary looks much better now. Time to go into the draft and fill in the rest of our needs via BPA. 

 

Good job Balllard! 

I think he replaces Rhodes. Faycson replaces Rock.

[tvturner]

43 minutes ago, CR91 said:

Imagine this on third down

 

Rodgers and Gilmore on the outside

Kenny in the slot

Darius roaming

Willis in the box

Mcleod and Blackmon in the backend

Yannick, Buck, Dayo, Kwity crashing the line.

 

I don't envy offenses

I'll believe the pass rush when I see it

[luv_pony_express]

1 minute ago, DougDew said:

I think that it completes filling of the major holes needed to field a competent team next season....reasonably positioned to contend for the Division.

 

Still a little shaky at LT, TE, and WR; but can certainly go into the draft and preseason with the guys we have there, IMO.

I'd say that Ballard's got his work cut out for him all along the offensive line -- with the departures of Glowinski and Reed, not re-signing Fisher, and the retirement of Doyle.  I'd probably use a slightly stronger term than "a little shaky" -- I think it's a major source of concern...even with Q, Smith, and Kelly still there.

 

Make me choose between addressing that and improving our receiver room, I'd go with the OL in a heartbeat.  The best receivers in the world don't matter if you're QB spends half the game scrambling or staring at the sky.

[IrsaysArmy]

Big time addition. If Ballard knocks this draft out of the park it’ll be his best off-season by far. Let’s go Colts 

[AKB]

Last FA signing unless we do some big restructures. Still have to pay the rookies as well. 

[DougDew]

2 minutes ago, luv_pony_express said:

I'd say that Ballard's got his work cut out for him all along the offensive line -- with the departures of Glowinski and Reed, not re-signing Fisher, and the retirement of Doyle.  I'd probably use a slightly stronger term than "a little shaky" -- I think it's a major source of concern...even with Q, Smith, and Kelly still there.

 

Make me choose between addressing that and improving our receiver room, I'd go with the OL in a heartbeat.  The best receivers in the world don't matter if you're QB spends half the game scrambling or staring at the sky.

I think of it like MAC and Pinter are guys that can give you competent play.  Pryor I'm a little less confident about.  And there is no doubt that Ballard will have to address the WR spot, despite what he says.....so I'm not concerned that a better WR than Pascal will be playing opposite Pittman come September.  Even if Ballard drafts a LT, OG, TE, they won't be ready early, so we might have to roll with the other three players, and they have shown to be at least competent. 

[Moosejawcolt]

50 minutes ago, CR91 said:

Imagine this on third down

 

Rodgers and Gilmore on the outside

Kenny in the slot

Darius roaming

Willis in the box

Mcleod and Blackmon in the backend

Yannick, Buck, Dayo, Kwity crashing the line.

 

I don't envy offenses

All based on each player fulfilling their potential. A lot of ifs

[JediXMan]

A lot of Raiders fans who wanted him are now dismissing this signing. Funny how that works out lol.

[CR91]

12 minutes ago, tvturner said:

I'll believe the pass rush when I see it

 

If the colts can't get home with Yannick then we're just cursed. He's been the picture of consistency

[teganslaw]

Good signing! I was hoping that would happen. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

7 minutes ago, CR91 said:

 

If the colts can't get home with Yannick then we're just cursed. He's been the picture of consistency

The good thing is he is with the DC that actually knows how to use him. He has been following Bradley everywhere.

 

 

[Yoshinator]

Honestly, our whole defense is pretty solid now. I'd like a depth CB like Cordale Flott or Alontae Taylor in the 4th round as a guy to develop, and maybe an EDGE as well in the 3rd or 4th. Other than that, we can probably go offense for the most part in the draft. Trade down a couple times and let Ballard do his thing.

 

All of a sudden, after one big signing, the defense looks much better and the draft seems doable. Gilmore isn't a 1st round pick by himself, but Gilmore, Matt Ryan, and Yannick for a 1st, 3rd, and Rock seems more even. That isn't even factoring in the swaps of draft picks and the extra 3rd that can turn into a 2nd next year. This is why I wanted a big FA signing like Gilmore. 

[Smonroe]

19 minutes ago, AustinnKaine said:

Last FA signing unless we do some big restructures. Still have to pay the rookies as well. 

According to Spotrac, the draft picks as they stand now would account for less than $3.8M.  

 

Of course that would change depending on whether Ballard moves around in the draft.