Chris Ballard pre draft press conference at noon

[stitches]

3 hours ago, Superman said:

 

Just take Jelani Woods and call it a day

42+future 3 for 31, take Ridder

73 take Khalil Shakir 

122 take Jelani Woods

 

2025 Superbowl. Ridder MVP.

 

 

[NewColtsFan]

29 minutes ago, cdgacoltsfan said:

Ummm..nope..Ballard said Tevi was our LT going forward..then weeks later signed Fisher to a contract.

What does that tell you?   Fisher was the plan all along.   He just wasn’t going to telegraph it.  
 

If we signed Tevi and said he’s our guy, then weeks later signed Fisher, then Tevi was not going to be the guy.   We wanted Fisher.  We just had to make it happen.   
 

One step at a time. 

[Superman]

36 minutes ago, stitches said:

42+future 3 for 31, take Ridder

73 take Khalil Shakir 

122 take Jelani Woods

 

2025 Superbowl. Ridder MVP.

 

 

 

 

[DougDew]

A question for the group:

 

Can Tariq Woolen project to FS?

 

Also.  I'd be surprised if after the draft we do not come away with Doyle's replacement.  Woods, Kolar, Ruckert, Hendershot, Austin Allen and probably three to four others I've missed.

 

We had Samori Toure in for a visit.  He's not a short area quicks player, but has long striding deep speed and good hands and technique....and over 6 feet tall.  Round 4 at the earliest, IMO.

[throwing BBZ]

3 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

Maybe to you.  Look tevi and Davenport were never signed to be starters.  They were signed to be depth.  Ballard’s move to replace AC was Fisher.  Well he got one wrong.  It happens.  He also drafted a guard to be right tackle and signed a Seahawks cast off to be a starting right guard and both turned out pretty good.  He also signed Reed, drafted Pinter, and traded for Pryor all of who turned out pretty good.  Then there is that Nelson guy.  Ballard has proven he hits way more than he misses when it comes to the oline.  

 

  OK now, you are proving your point with enough common sense that a Caveman could comprehend it.
 Except he really "didn't get it wrong". Fisher's price was reasonable, his run blocking quickly was rather good, his pass blocking was a little lacking, partly because his QB STANK at the quick release aspect known as FB 101.
  That we might work Fisher out if we miss again in the draft at LT, is very possible. 

[#12.]

Seemingly every reporter asked a variation of the same question.  Thanks for inquiring about Pryor, what happened with Fisher, why Reed wasn't re-signed, etc.

[Stephen]

5 hours ago, Superman said:

 

So what? The point remains that you do not have to spend huge resources on WR to get good WRs. For example, as good as Chase was, Kupp was better, and he was a 3rd rounder.

 

Also, it's an exaggeration to say Ballard disrespects the position. They've drafted two WRs in the second round in three seasons. That he's not salivating over draft prospects who will probably not live up to the pre-draft hype, and that he's not tripping over himself to pay slightly above average free agent WRs elite level money, doesn't mean he doesn't respect the position.

 

I also predict that we'll draft a WR on Day 2 this year. Just my expectation, based on the fact that we obviously need to address the position, and have not done so in free agency.

 

You really comparing the Rookie chase to kupp. Chase upside is much higher than kupp by the way.

[LJpalmbeacher2]

8 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Can't wait! How are you doing today! I've been taking care of my puppy, she's about 4 months old now. Been harder than I thought tbh. First time I raised a puppy myself. 

 

Miss my Rocky, a English Setter. Before him, Golden Years, a fawn Greyhound. ....the only 2 dogs I ever had but was around a lot of my dad's pointers & setters. 

 

Enjoy Jared, dogs are Awesome!!!

 

 

[LJpalmbeacher2]

8 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Got cut off because of the lag, but Ballard was laughing like crazy about something lol!

 

He probably found a nickel on the ground. 

[throwing BBZ]

7 hours ago, Smonroe said:

I don’t see how that (or any QB drafted) helps us win now, there’s no chips to push in there.  
 

We need to hope every other QB hungry team gets their guy this year so we can have more choices with a better class next year.  
 

I agree, he should go O.  BPA on their board at LT, TE, or WR.  But Ballard isn’t going to pass on a guy if he’s highly valued even if he’s a defensive player.  

 

  After all these years,13,800 posts, and you are talking about one pick affecting us WINNING NOW? Ballard just told ALL OF YOU that every team has weak spots, but we can address any that we see right up to the final cut.

 What in the hile is so hard to comprehend that EVERY pick past the few ELITE traited few has a high failure rate. And most Rookies have trouble with the jump in competition.

 And You think the opportunity to Upgrade the QB position THIS season, and hopefully for the long term is a bad planning.   

 Actually, it is the one OBVIOUS thing TO DO if YOUR guy is reasonably attained. Unless they project Sam to be a top 15 QB IN TIME.

[stitches]

11 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

I think it’s WR.  But reasonable people can disagree.   You don’t have faith in Pryor.   Maybe we find one at pick 42?   Maybe?

 

Or maybe we sign Duane Brown in May when the comp formula is no longer an issue?  

As it stands right now, after the Gilmore signing, it seems like we won't be getting any comp picks, so... We might as well sign whoever we want to sign while other teams are waiting.

[stitches]

10 hours ago, TaylorTheStudMuffin said:

This was a telling quote from Ballard on how it’s best to draft WR and develop your own. Now it’s time to draft some more higher in the draft instead of expecting late round picks to do something. I don’t mind this strategy as long as we bring TY back and we have a vet back there.

 

I will never agree with Ballard on WRs. "Good defensive coordinators find a way to take them away". YES, sometimes they do... When you have a single one that's a threat. But they have to spend tons of time, resources and attention to do it. It means every single other passcatcher on your team will have one on ones, or every single one of your other passcatchers will have weaker defender against him, or the box will be less stacked for your superstar RB to wreak havoc on the defense. 

 

10 hours ago, TaylorTheStudMuffin said:

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

6 hours ago, stitches said:

I will never agree with Ballard on WRs. "Good defensive coordinators find a way to take them away". YES, sometimes they do... When you have a single one that's a threat. But they have to spend tons of time, resources and attention to do it. It means every single other passcatcher on your team will have one on ones, or every single one of your other passcatchers will have weaker defender against him, or the box will be less stacked for your superstar RB to wreak havoc on the defense. 

 

Keefer I think was the one that followed up and said what if you have two. That was a good follow up.  

[Superman]

17 hours ago, Stephen said:

You really comparing the Rookie chase to kupp. Chase upside is much higher than kupp by the way.

 

Talk about missing the point...

 

Please note, just because a person mentions two players in the same sentence does not mean those two players are being compared.

 

Also, it's hilarious to talk about Cooper Kupp's upside. He just won the triple crown, and was outrageously good in the playoffs. If Chase comes close to Kupp's 2021 season at any point in his career, he will have outperformed his draft stock. So what does that say for Kupp, who was a third rounder?

[Superman]

10 hours ago, stitches said:

I will never agree with Ballard on WRs. "Good defensive coordinators find a way to take them away". YES, sometimes they do... When you have a single one that's a threat. But they have to spend tons of time, resources and attention to do it. It means every single other passcatcher on your team will have one on ones, or every single one of your other passcatchers will have weaker defender against him, or the box will be less stacked for your superstar RB to wreak havoc on the defense. 

 

Yeah, getting multiple good pass catchers is important, and I hope Ballard is just responding to the idea of paying (picks and money) to get a veteran, vs drafting and developing your own. That seemed to be what he was responding to, and what his point was. The Dolphins just gave up a ton of picks, and $30m/year, for Tyreek Hill, and they don't have Patrick Mahomes to get him the ball. 

 

And given the market right now, I think it makes more sense to develop young guys, but I think we're behind the curve on that because Campbell hasn't stayed healthy, and the other young guys aren't likely to become really productive contributors. I think we definitely need to invest in young WRs, and I hope that we come away with at least one from R2/R3 this year. There are more and more WRs coming in and producing right away (my main point of disagreement with Ballard, they produce faster now than ever before, so let's stop talking about 20 years ago when Reggie Wayne was drafted), and there will probably never be another bad WR draft class. Meanwhile, it costs about $10m to take a flier on DJ Chark. So I do agree that we need to draft our own. 

 

I also think there's a chance we sign Julio Jones, which meh, but at least he's a pro who has chemistry with Matt Ryan. 

[Moosejawcolt]

23 hours ago, Stephen said:

You really comparing the Rookie chase to kupp. Chase upside is much higher than kupp by the way.

Kupp is no Chase. Chase is a pure dominant #1 for any team. Kupp is really good and under rated skill set, but he is also great in part because of McVay's scheming.

[NewColtsFan]

14 minutes ago, Moosejawcolt said:

Kupp is no Chase. Chase is a pure dominant #1 for any team. Kupp is really good and under rated skill set, but he is also great in part because of McVay's scheming.

He’d also be a number one for a number of teams….   Including the Colts.  And I say that as a compliment to Kupp, not a knock on Pittman. 

[Farns01]

As a common layman I thought CB explanation of college receivers vs Pro made sense.  They play a faster pace so about 50 % more padding on the #’s.  The defenses in college are not as good as the pros so a good receiver in college will struggle in the pros.  Yes I realize there will be exceptions but as he has said before it can take 3 years for a receiver to be successful in the NFL.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

31 minutes ago, Farns01 said:

As a common layman I thought CB explanation of college receivers vs Pro made sense.  They play a faster pace so about 50 % more padding on the #’s.  The defenses in college are not as good as the pros so a good receiver in college will struggle in the pros.  Yes I realize there will be exceptions but as he has said before it can take 3 years for a receiver to be successful in the NFL.

That’s why he said a lot of WR are overgraded  in the draft. I agree with what he said about they can contribute right away but they might not reach their full potential for a few years. I 

 I am excited to see Pittman this year because all those crossers will be back he had with rivers plus those 50-50 balls now. He is going to have a huge year as long as he and Ryan stay healthy.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Let’s not kid ourselves Chase had a big advantage playing with Burrow who he already had chemistry with. That helped a ton.

[throwing BBZ]

18 hours ago, stitches said:

As it stands right now, after the Gilmore signing, it seems like we won't be getting any comp picks, so... We might as well sign whoever we want to sign while other teams are waiting.

 

 Right! Of course you are talking about after the draft when we know better where our weak spots are. 

[Moosejawcolt]

On 4/22/2022 at 3:41 PM, stitches said:

42+future 3 for 31, take Ridder

73 take Khalil Shakir 

122 take Jelani Woods

 

2025 Superbowl. Ridder MVP.

 

 

The scuttle butt I hear is that this class is garbage. Agents r trying to talk up their clients, but no respected GM feels anyone is worth a 1st round pick.

[NewColtsFan]

2 hours ago, Moosejawcolt said:

The scuttle butt I hear is that this class is garbage. Agents r trying to talk up their clients, but no respected GM feels anyone is worth a 1st round pick.

What the heck?!?

 

“No respected GM feels anyone is worth a first round pick.”   Ok, I’m calling nonsense.   Complete and total nonsense.   
 

First, where did you read/hear this?   Link. 
 

Second, I’ve followed the draft for roughly 55 years and what you say is true this year has never been the case.   Ever.

 

So this would be the first time.   Ever.

 

PS….  What I suspect you MEANT to say, is there is no clear cut obvious first OVERALL  pick.   And that’s not an unfair position, though I  suspect you’d get plenty of pushback from  plenty of GMs. 
 

I look forward to your response.   (I think….)

 

 

[stitches]

2 hours ago, Moosejawcolt said:

The scuttle butt I hear is that this class is garbage. Agents r trying to talk up their clients, but no respected GM feels anyone is worth a 1st round pick.

IMO this class is getting severely underrated precisely because of that narrative. And make no mistake, it is a narrative because when it's all said and done at least 2 QBs will likely be selected on day 1 and if I had to guess Malik Willis will go in the top 10. 

 

None of them are a surefire franchise QB. In that respect this is a weaker class indeed, but there are several of them that have the resume, traits and skills worth development to warrant a 1st round pick and a few more of them will likely deserve 2nd round pick. 

 

I've been saying for a while that we shouldn't be lead by narratives and if we love any of them, this is a good year to try to get in position to draft one, precisely because it seems like a buyers market and it's likely to be cheaper than normal to move up. You don't need to love all of them, you need to love one of them.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Rick Venturi mentioned on the colts podcast that ridder is the only QB that he would take if he fell. 

[richard pallo]

7 hours ago, stitches said:

IMO this class is getting severely underrated precisely because of that narrative. And make no mistake, it is a narrative because when it's all said and done at least 2 QBs will likely be selected on day 1 and if I had to guess Malik Willis will go in the top 10. 

 

None of them are a surefire franchise QB. In that respect this is a weaker class indeed, but there are several of them that have the resume, traits and skills worth development to warrant a 1st round pick and a few more of them will likely deserve 2nd round pick. 

 

I've been saying for a while that we shouldn't be lead by narratives and if we love any of them, this is a good year to try to get in position to draft one, precisely because it seems like a buyers market and it's likely to be cheaper than normal to move up. You don't need to love all of them, you need to love one of them.

I agree this is a good year to move up and get a quarterback for the reasons you mentioned.  I can see 42+next years 3rd for 31.  I would take Howell.  Just my preference.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  Makes the end of the 1st a little more interesting.

[shasta519]

On 4/23/2022 at 1:59 AM, stitches said:

I will never agree with Ballard on WRs. "Good defensive coordinators find a way to take them away". YES, sometimes they do... When you have a single one that's a threat. But they have to spend tons of time, resources and attention to do it. It means every single other passcatcher on your team will have one on ones, or every single one of your other passcatchers will have weaker defender against him, or the box will be less stacked for your superstar RB to wreak havoc on the defense. 

 

Yeah. Part of me wonders if Ballard was just trolling there…or was specifically referring to the investments that LV and MIA made.

 

Hard to imagine watching this past season and downplaying the value of a true stud WR. 
 

I definitely believe he prefers to draft them. I would imagine that is the case with just about every position, except for QB (until Thursday that is…hahahah)

[shasta519]

8 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

What the heck?!?

 

“No respected GM feels anyone is worth a first round pick.”   Ok, I’m calling nonsense.   Complete and total nonsense.   
 

First, where did you read/hear this?   Link. 
 

Second, I’ve followed the draft for roughly 55 years and what you say is true this year has never been the case.   Ever.

 

So this would be the first time.   Ever.

 

PS….  What I suspect you MEANT to say, is there is no clear cut obvious first OVERALL  pick.   And that’s not an unfair position, though I  suspect you’d get plenty of pushback from  plenty of GMs. 
 

I look forward to your response.   (I think….)

 

 

I think he meant QBs. But I also doubt it’s true. The 2013 class was far worse and still had a guy go in the 1st round.

 

I can’t imagine a guy with Willis’ upside getting to the 2nd round.

[shasta519]

8 hours ago, stitches said:

IMO this class is getting severely underrated precisely because of that narrative. And make no mistake, it is a narrative because when it's all said and done at least 2 QBs will likely be selected on day 1 and if I had to guess Malik Willis will go in the top 10. 

 

None of them are a surefire franchise QB. In that respect this is a weaker class indeed, but there are several of them that have the resume, traits and skills worth development to warrant a 1st round pick and a few more of them will likely deserve 2nd round pick. 

 

I've been saying for a while that we shouldn't be lead by narratives and if we love any of them, this is a good year to try to get in position to draft one, precisely because it seems like a buyers market and it's likely to be cheaper than normal to move up. You don't need to love all of them, you need to love one of them.

Exactly my thoughts. All of the QB carousel this offseason is setting up nicely for a buyer’s market. And I hope other teams are buying the narrative of a weak QB class and are scared to pull the trigger.

 

It’s a mid-2nd round pick that could help solve the position. The opportunity cost of that is not very big.

 

People want to wait til next year. But if people don’t like the idea of giving up a 2 right now, they don’t won’t like giving up a 1 next year, especially if this team is primed to make a push with Ryan at QB.

 

Last year, Ballard used a 2nd round pick on a project DE/DT with a torn Achilles…because of the upside (even though there would be no immediate return on that). Drafting a QB is definitely in his wheel house.

[shasta519]

1 hour ago, TaylorTheStudMuffin said:

Rick Venturi mentioned on the colts podcast that ridder is the only QB that he would take if he fell. 

“He” being Venturi?

 

I would gladly take Corral. 

[NewColtsFan]

56 minutes ago, shasta519 said:

I think he meant QBs. But I also doubt it’s true. The 2013 class was far worse and still had a guy go in the 1st round.

 

I can’t imagine a guy with Willis’ upside getting to the 2nd round.

Thanks.   I think you’re probably right.   But I think Willis is a likely first round pick in most any draft.   Perhaps not top-10, but certainly top 15-30 ish….    
 

Everything I’ve read said he’d go in the first in last years draft but after the top 5.    So, the back half of the first round.   
 

Appreciate you responding….