Ballard presser from owners meetings

[crazycolt1]

3 hours ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Ballard said he would not discuss where they are at talking about Lamar. They could of already decided and didn’t feel like making the team look bad for not trying.

If Ballard has decided not to spend the draft capital and a huge contract on Jackson it doesn't make the team look bad, it makes them look smart imo.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

18 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

If Ballard has decided not to spend the draft capital and a huge contract on Jackson it doesn't make the team look bad, it makes them look smart imo.

I think you misinterpreted or I didn’t say that right. They could of already decided no but just didn’t want to put that out there.

[RollerColt]

10 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

I think you misinterpreted or I didn’t say that right. They could have already decided no but just didn’t want to put that out there.

Yep. No sense in telegraphing to our other competitors what we are planning to do. 

[ChuggaBeer]

Ballard is a stone cold killa  

 

No one knows what he's gonna do.  

[ChuggaBeer]

Ballard waling in to talk to the dip %s 

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Ballard never mentions Foles here when talking quarterbacks. But yet he hasn’t been released.

 

The quote: "It'll be a good competition," Ballard said. "I have a lot of faith in Shane (Steichen), just the little time we've been together, whatever the quarterback can do, he's going to put him in position to be successful. So adding a guy that is familiar with the offense of what he's done in the past and who's had some success for him, and that combined with Sam (Ehlinger) going forward gives us two young players that we'll continue to develop and as we move forward we'll see what happens.

[Jackie Daytona]

3 hours ago, DougDew said:

There is no reasons to decide now.  What they need to do is to be notified by AZ if another team wants to move up, then maybe the urgency is created.

 

Ok, working under this premise, there will be ZERO reason for AZ to not call and say several teams are offering x,y,z for the #3....even if they have no offers....

[GoColts8818]

37 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Ballard never mentions Foles here when talking quarterbacks. But yet he hasn’t been released.

 

The quote: "It'll be a good competition," Ballard said. "I have a lot of faith in Shane (Steichen), just the little time we've been together, whatever the quarterback can do, he's going to put him in position to be successful. So adding a guy that is familiar with the offense of what he's done in the past and who's had some success for him, and that combined with Sam (Ehlinger) going forward gives us two young players that we'll continue to develop and as we move forward we'll see what happens.

I think Foles is purely insurance incase something happens between now and when they have to release him.  Like if something strange happens in the draft and some how they don’t end up with a QB or if someone gets hurt in minicamp or camp or something.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

1 hour ago, esmort said:

 

Hopefully Ballard knows thats nonsense ... history has definitely not shown that later drafted QBs hit frequently ... a couple of outliers, with Purdy being on a team that can make even mediocre QBs look good.  We either need to be drafting a QB high 1st this year or rolling any resource possible into high draft picks to get a QB next year. 

Not to mention the when you wait to draft in the later rounds there is no guarantee that guy will be there.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

5 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

I think Foles is purely insurance incase something happens between now and when they have to release him.  Like if something strange happens in the draft and some how they don’t end up with a QB or if someone gets hurt in minicamp or camp or something.

I don’t understand not getting the QB they want at if they are picking at 4. But I do get something strange happening. Say something bad comes out about one of the top 4. Or maybe something shows up in a physical they take for a team. That part I understand. These guys all have high character so I don’t expect any character concerns to come out. But something medical could.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

17 minutes ago, Jackie Daytona said:

Ok, working under this premise, there will be ZERO reason for AZ to not call and say several teams are offering x,y,z for the #3....even if they have no offers....

Steichen mentioned today they will have a couple mock drafts of their own so they can have plans laid out for all sceneries. Part of that is probably talking yo AZ in case that need exists: 

[GoColts8818]

4 hours ago, Superman said:

 

That's not exactly what I got from it, but my interpretation is probably colored by my own perspective. 

 

What I got was this: 1) We had not quite finished our QB evaluations, and were not ready to commit significant resources to moving up; 2) From what we knew about the QBs so far, we weren't convinced that any of them are good enough to give up the additional draft resources/players; 3) We're probably okay if we don't get the consensus #1 guy this year.

 

This might be a minor difference in interpretation, but I read your comment to mean that they'd probably be fine drafting any of the top 4 guys, and I think that's probably not the case. More likely, I think they just feel no pressure to force it with any of these prospects. 

We may disagree slightly but yeah this closer to my line of thinking.  I am sure they have a QB they like more in this group of four but I think Ballard doesn’t love him enough to trade the farm to go get him because he still has some questions (hence the evolution you mentioned) but if he can get him at four without giving anything up that’s worth it.  I was trying to say I don’t think Ballard has felt one had separated himself from the pack enough to make it worth the price of going up to get him.  
 

Still I am sure he has one or two he prefers over the others.  I also do think if the draft falls that he doesn’t get the one he prefers he will still roll the dice on whoever is there at 4.  That’s what all signs are pointing to.  So that might be where we disagree.  

 

Id also agree Ballard probably has a pretty good idea of how he thinks the draft is going to fall and probably has an idea on if the guy he wants is going to be there at four or not.  
 

To me that guy is Levis.  He seems to be the one the Colts have been the most invested in interns of scouting dating back the last couple of years.  I don’t think Ballard is going to fall for the combine wonder that is Richardson, I think Young’s size would really bother Ballard, and he just seems to have spent more time watching Levis than Stroud.  That’s just me reading the room I could be 100% wrong.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Irsay is right about Ballard here. This team has to look like it’s moving in the right direction.

 

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

3 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

We may disagree slightly but yeah this closer to my line of thinking.  I am sure they have a QB they like more in this group of four but I think Ballard doesn’t love him enough to trade the farm to go get him because he still has some questions (hence the evolution you mentioned) but if he can get him at four without giving anything up that’s worth it.  I was trying to say I don’t think Ballard has felt one had separated himself from the pack enough to make it worth the price of going up to get him.  
 

Still I am sure he has one or two he prefers over the others.  I also do think if the draft falls that he doesn’t get the one he prefers he will still roll the dice on whoever is there at 4.  That’s what all signs are pointing to.  So that might be where we disagree.  

 

Id also agree Ballard probably has a pretty good idea of how he thinks the draft is going to fall and probably has an idea on if the guy he wants is going to be there at four or not.  
 

To me that guy is Levis.  He seems to be the one the Colts have been the most invested in interns of scouting dating back the last couple of years.  I don’t think Ballard is going to fall for the combine wonder that is Richardson, I think Young’s size would really bother Ballard, and he just seems to have spent more time watching Levis than Stroud.  That’s just me reading the room I could be 100% wrong.

The big question is it possible Texans take Levis. What happens if Ballard has a choice of Levis and young?  

[GoColts8818]

10 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

I don’t understand not getting the QB they want at if they are picking at 4. But I do get something strange happening. Say something bad comes out about one of the top 4. Or maybe something shows up in a physical they take for a team. That part I understand. These guys all have high character so I don’t expect any character concerns to come out. But something medical could.

Or maybe Ballard thinks the draft is going to fall one way and it falls differently and the guy he thought was going to be there at four isn’t.  
 

I think it’s probably more injury protection and mentorship that’s keeping Foles around for now though.  Foles contract is basically nothing so they don’t have to cut him until final cuts if they dont want to.  Plus they normally keep four QBs for the pre-season anyway so it’s not like he’s stealing a roster spot.  So why not keep him around incase one of the other three gets hurt?  Also, if you are going to have a rookie QB he can benefit from having as many experienced QBs around him as possible so Foles could help on that front through camp and the pre-season and who knows maybe he gets put on the practice squad.  

[Zoltan]

54 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Ballard never mentions Foles here when talking quarterbacks. But yet he hasn’t been released.

 

The quote: "It'll be a good competition," Ballard said. "I have a lot of faith in Shane (Steichen), just the little time we've been together, whatever the quarterback can do, he's going to put him in position to be successful. So adding a guy that is familiar with the offense of what he's done in the past and who's had some success for him, and that combined with Sam (Ehlinger) going forward gives us two young players that we'll continue to develop and as we move forward we'll see what happens.

He’s gonna be a camp body my guess then released at cut day, basically have an old QB that has Super Bowl experience in the QB room with the rookie and maybe he’ll learn something

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

6 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

Or maybe Ballard thinks the draft is going to fall one way and it falls differently and the guy he thought was going to be there at four isn’t.  
 

I think it’s probably more injury protection and mentorship that’s keeping Foles around for now though.  Foles contract is basically nothing so they don’t have to cut him until final cuts if they dont want to.  Plus they normally keep four QBs for the pre-season anyway so it’s not like he’s stealing a roster spot.  So why not keep him around incase one of the other three gets hurt?  Also, if you are going to have a rookie QB he can benefit from having as many experienced QBs around him as possible so Foles could help on that front through camp and the pre-season and who knows maybe he gets put on the practice squad.  

Well then that’s on Ballard and would look really bad. I guess my point was if I was Ballard I am ok with any of the four so ok with whatever happens. I would be surprised if Foles agreed to that.

[GoColts8818]

1 hour ago, crazycolt1 said:

If Ballard has decided not to spend the draft capital and a huge contract on Jackson it doesn't make the team look bad, it makes them look smart imo.

Clearly they aren’t the only ones who have made this decision.  It’s complicated by the fact the Ravens don’t want to move him.  So there is no incentive for them to take less than two first rounders it would cost just to sign Jackson in some kind of trade.  Infact, they would probably want more for a trade.  
 

Also, I know we found out today that Jackson requested a trade at the beginning of March but I am guessing people in the NFL probably knew before today and had they wanted to try to work out a trade for Jackson they would have by now.  They also could have tried to work out a contract with him but they aren’t.

 

Unfortunately for Jackson, there isn’t a team willing to give him what he wants and Jackson just isn’t wanting to accept that message.  If there was he didn’t need to ask for a trade he could have just worked out a contract with him.  To me Jackson asking for a trade is just a sign that he’s not accepting the answer he’s getting, no one wants to pay him what he wants.  
 

Even if there was there is the fact the Ravens aren’t willing to move him.  I know people get caught up in when someone asks for a trade of oh you have to trade him where is he going?  However, the team can simply deny that request.  That appears to be what the Ravens have done here.  So that leaves Jackson with three options, sit out, play on the franchise tag (which he has already said he would do), or try to find a team to sign him for what he wants plus be willing to give up two first round picks and structure the contract so the Ravens can’t match it.  
 

When this is all done I think you are going to see the middle option play out.  Jackson will sign his tender and play on the tag and the Ravens will spend all year trying to get him to understand they gave him a chance to get what he wanted and no one would do it so the Ravens are his best option.  Rather Jackson will agree with that or not no one knows.  

[GoColts8818]

8 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Well then that’s on Ballard and would look really bad. I guess my point was if I was Ballard I am ok with any of the four so ok with whatever happens. I would be surprised if Foles agreed to that.

The draft is unpredictable.  Teams aren’t going to tell other teams exactly what they are going to do but Ballard can make educated guesses (as do all GMs) and sometimes you get it wrong.  It happens.  It’s sorta like buying a car when the salesman tells you oh someone else was just in here looking at this car and you have to decide if that’s just a line to try to get you to do what they want or do you roll the dice on there really being someone else looking at the car.  You can probably make an educated guess but it can still be wrong.  
 

As for Foles he doesn’t really have a choice if he wants to play football.  His only way out would be to retire.

[Hawkeyecolt]

7 hours ago, DougDew said:

Couldn't pull the trigger.  What does that mean?  "If I had bigger *, I would have accepted the offers"?

Or if he was actually offered anything more than a 7th Rd pick he might of said yes. 

[NewColtsFan]

18 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Well then that’s on Ballard and would look really bad. I guess my point was if I was Ballard I am ok with any of the four so ok with whatever happens.

Ultimately, no matter what happens, I don’t think Ballard will allow himself to look bad.  
 

He is NEVER going to allow himself to publicly admit that he didn’t get the player he wanted.   If Arizona trades out, and the team that moves up takes Levis then Ballard takes Anderson and later will announce that Anderson was the highest ranked player on the Colts board.  Maybe even number one by a wide margin.  
 

Then, I’d guess that he would trade up from pick 35 into the first round and takes Hooker and say Hooker was the 4th ranked QB on their board.   I’m not saying all this would be true, I’m only saying this is what I’d believe Ballard would say in the post-draft news conference.   He’d create a response where things worked out just fine by his viewpoint.   I don’t see Ballard admitting things went bad for the team and him. 

[Hawkeyecolt]

I think he’s playing a game of chicken with Foles.  Foles mentioned retirement last year.  The Colts can cut him at anytime to save money but they save more if Foles retires or is traded.  Does Foles really want to show up for another training camp knowing the Colts are going to cut him anyways?  Until the Colts really need the cap space they can keep him on the roster. 

[VikingsFanInChennai]

5 hours ago, DougDew said:

There is no reasons to decide now.  What they need to do is to be notified by AZ if another team wants to move up, then maybe the urgency is created.

 

Its doubtful that teams that have Goff, Garapollo, or Ridder, now want to use the capital move up to get a QB with some question marks.  They can find other QBs with question marks later in the draft.

 

I think the wild card team is TEN, who appears done with Tannehill and probably not thrilled with Willis.

What will Colts do if Arizona notifies them that another team wants their draft pick? 

 

Colts won't be able to give up more draft capital unless they're willing to give up a top player who Cards wants. 

 

I'm trying to see why Arizona would want to tell Colts who would give less draft capital, especially with Ballard ... maybe, that's kind of the protocol that teams follow just to make sure they hear all the trade offers before they make the decision to trade down. 

[Yoshinator]

15 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Ultimately, no matter what happens, I don’t think Ballard will allow himself to look bad.  
 

He is NEVER going to allow himself to publicly admit that he didn’t get the player he wanted.   If Arizona trades out, and the team that moves up takes Levis then Ballard takes Anderson and later will announce that Anderson was the highest ranked player on the Colts board.  Maybe even number one by a wide margin.  
 

Then, I’d guess that he would trade up from pick 35 into the first round and takes Hooker and say Hooker was the 4th ranked QB on their board.   I’m not saying all this would be true, I’m only saying this is what I’d believe Ballard would say in the post-draft news conference.   He’d create a response where things worked out just fine by his viewpoint.   I don’t see Ballard admitting things went bad for the team and him. 

I think an example of this was the 2021 draft. After Kwity, you could argue that Ballard got sniped quite a bit based on his picks. Ballard and Reich looked defeated by their body language in the presser and had to defend themselves from people that thought the draft class was poor. You are right though; Ballard will never admit he got sniped. I think the best way to tell whether he's being honest after the draft is to see whether his draft is consistent with what he says before the draft. If it is, he's being truthful, if not, then maybe he doesn't want to admit he got sniped by another team. 

[DougDew]

8 hours ago, VikingsFanInChennai said:

What will Colts do if Arizona notifies them that another team wants their draft pick? 

 

Colts won't be able to give up more draft capital unless they're willing to give up a top player who Cards wants. 

 

I'm trying to see why Arizona would want to tell Colts who would give less draft capital, especially with Ballard ... maybe, that's kind of the protocol that teams follow just to make sure they hear all the trade offers before they make the decision to trade down. 

Because AZ might covet the 4th pick instead of the lower first round pick another team might offer.  Sometimes its not solely about getting the most total sum of capital....if AZ, say, still wants Anderson or Carter, so they might want to deal with us before anybody else.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

6 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Because AZ might covet the 4th pick instead of the lower first round pick another team might offer.  Sometimes its not solely about getting the most total sum of capital....if AZ, say, still wants Anderson or Carter, so they might want to deal with us before anybody else.

If AZ doesn’t want to drop any further though then there is really no need to trade with colts.

[DougDew]

4 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

If AZ doesn’t want to drop any further though then there is really no need to trade with colts.

They are not going to tell the Colts that they want pick 4.  They would try to milk what they could from us.  There would probably be an understanding with Ballard that AZ wants pick 4, so the compensation might not be a lot, but AZ could always threaten to sell the pick if the other team blows them away.  And I could see TEN being just that threat.

[throwing BBZ]

14 hours ago, DougDew said:

There is no reasons to decide now.  What they need to do is to be notified by AZ if another team wants to move up, then maybe the urgency is created.

 

Its doubtful that teams that have Goff, Garapollo, or Ridder, now want to use the capital move up to get a QB with some question marks.  They can find other QBs with question marks later in the draft.

 

I think the wild card team is TEN, who appears done with Tannehill and probably not thrilled with Willis.

 

 AZ would of course be interested in our bid.

Seattle has great draft capital and should be drafting 3rd.

[DougDew]

22 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 AZ would of course be interested in our bid.

Seattle has great draft capital and should be drafting 3rd.

Stroud, Young, and Levis will probably go 1-2-3.  How much trading there is going to be after HOU pick is unknown.  I think a couple of solid position players go off the board before Richardson, so TEN could wait to trade up into the 5 to 9 area too if they want Richardson.

 

I think there could be a possibility that TEN wants to trade to 3 for Levis, thereby getting their QB and sticking it to the Colts at the same time, kinda like we did with JT and JAX a few years ago.

[Superman]

11 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

I was trying to say I don’t think Ballard has felt one had separated himself from the pack enough to make it worth the price of going up to get him.  

 

Got it, I think that's fair.

[Superman]

14 hours ago, Smonroe said:

I agree with all of your interpretations except #1.
 

They’ve watched every piece of tape that’s out there on each of those guys, probably from their 6th grade team on.  

 

They’ve talked to all of their coaches and had investigators looking into their backgrounds.  

 

They know pro days are meaningless, so they’re a formality.   
 

I believe at this point they’re just trying to reassure themselves on their pick. And thinking about contingencies if something odd happens.  Like Carolina taking Richardson or Levis ( .01% chance).

 

Of course, they’re not going to tip their hand, nor should they.  

 

Steichen's role in the evaluation, as well as the rest of the offensive staff which is mostly new, would be significant factor here. When the Panthers traded up, Steichen had been on board for a month. I doubt that he had gone top to bottom on these QBs, and he's going to be a heavily involved in the decision. 

[Smonroe]

16 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Steichen's role in the evaluation, as well as the rest of the offensive staff which is mostly new, would be significant factor here. When the Panthers traded up, Steichen had been on board for a month. I doubt that he had gone top to bottom on these QBs, and he's going to be a heavily involved in the decision. 

 

Could be. But I think in six weeks he's seen every piece of film available on all of them.

 

I'm guessing the he and Ballard have a guy (Levis) picked out and Shane has been working on the offense.  Also guessing that they'll start the season with Minshew running that O.

 

Personally (assuming both Stroud and Young are gone), I'm happy with any of the next three QBs.

 

Just my 2c's.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Colts still haven’t put Ballards presser up.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

2 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

 

Could be. But I think in six weeks he's seen every piece of film available on all of them.

 

I'm guessing the he and Ballard have a guy (Levis) picked out and Shane has been working on the offense.  Also guessing that they'll start the season with Minshew running that O.

 

Personally (assuming both Stroud and Young are gone), I'm happy with any of the next three QBs.

 

Just my 2c's.

I think if it’s Levis he will start but I don’t  think it will be handed to him. He will have to earn it in camp.

[Smonroe]

Just now, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

I think if it’s Levis he will start but I don’t  think it will be handed to him. He will have to earn it in camp.

 

I'm guessing they take Levis (again assuming Stroud and Young are gone) because he does have the most experience starting games.  So you may be right.  Personally, I think AR has a higher ceiling but we don't know his floor.

 

Levis and AR are both raw, they need a lot of coaching.  AR the most.  The Colts have a better chance of winning with Minshew at the start.  Again, just MHO.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

4 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

 

I'm guessing they take Levis (again assuming Stroud and Young are gone) because he does have the most experience starting games.  So you may be right.  Personally, I think AR has a higher ceiling but we don't know his floor.

 

Levis and AR are both raw, they need a lot of coaching.  AR the most.  The Colts have a better chance of winning with Minshew at the start.  Again, just MHO.

Levis isn’t anymore raw then young or stroud. I would prefer just starting the rookie and start to build something then switching after a few games.

[Smonroe]

24 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Levis isn’t anymore raw then young or stroud. I would prefer just starting the rookie and start to build something then switching after a few games.

Sorry, I beg to differ.  Levis isn’t in the same area code as Stroud or Young.  
 

Not in reading Ds and going through progression.  And especially not as far as touch.  
 

It’s night and day.  Just watch the tape.  

[krunk]

12 hours ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

The big question is it possible Texans take Levis. What happens if Ballard has a choice of Levis and young?  

People havent taken this serious but i think there is a chance Houston does take Levis. I said before Levis ran the Shanahan offense at KY and Slowik comes from the Shanahan coaching tree. Its certainly possible i think.

[ChuggaBeer]

1 minute ago, krunk said:

People havent taken this serious but i think there is a chance Houston does take Levis. I said before Levis ran the Shanahan offense at KY and Slowik comes from the Shanahan coaching tree. Its certainly possible i think.

Wouldn't it be something to have a choice between Young and Richardson at 4?      Would Ballard be able to overlook the size of Young?  Who is probably the best QB in the Draft.  ( I wrote clearly the best and changed it t probably the best because that is only my opinion)

 

There really is no telling how this draft is going to play out.   That is why I don't want to get my hopes up on any of them.  

[DougDew]

14 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

If Ballard has decided not to spend the draft capital and a huge contract on Jackson it doesn't make the team look bad, it makes them look smart imo.

I think she means that the Colts can't just dismiss the idea out of hand.  They have to look like they considered it.

 

The Colts have no QB, so everybody in the NFL...and out of the NFL...would be upset if they just dismissed an NFL star like Lamar out of hand.  So the Colts are one of the teams that has to look like they had some interest before they say No.   

 

Even though we all know they had zero interest from the beginning.