Colts offseason discussion / Ballard Grievances (merge)

[AKB]

3 minutes ago, John Waylon said:

It’s entirely justified. I love Richardson. I love what I’ve seen, I believe in him as the guy. 
 

But we need to see him on the field this year. He was injured in every game he played last year.
 

All 4 of them. 😑
 

It’s still early to crown him as the savior. We need to see he’s durable enough to earn wear the crown, and that’s a very real and valid concern heading into this season. 
 

Hopefully he is. Would love to see it. Would love to see him light the league on fire this year. 
 

However, that’s not a given, and in the event (just in the hypothetical event,) that it doesn’t work out with him, Ballard has done nothing to make this team any better than it was in December when they lost the division to the Texans. 
 

The a Texans who actually have done things to get better since taking the division away from us in our house in December. 

the texans actually got to see their guy play, now they are all in. 

[1959Colts]

 

[2006Coltsbestever]

I agree with Ballard wanting to build through the draft more and even keeping his own if those players are good. Having said that, a GM also has to take chances and spend a little, getting the 2 or so difference makers in Free Agency or trade to get to the next level. I think most people in here just want to see a Colts team that is relevant every year as in good. That means winning 10 or 11 games every year and winning the Division at least every other year. If winning the SB happens than that is the cherry on top. Winning SBs are tough, just ask John Lynch. John has done everything imaginable and still hasn't won a SB, but his teams are very good every season. John hasn't got the QB right much like Ballard. Purdy is good but not good enough. The 49ers could have drafted Lamar Jackson in 2018 but took Mike McGlinchey (OT) instead. It is hindsight but people in here use hindsight on Ballard all the time.

[stitches]

 

 

YUS! More DTs! GIVE US ALL THE DTs!!! 

[DoubleE Colt]

14 minutes ago, 1959Colts said:

 

Tbh at this point I'm kind of assuming Ballard isn't interested in free agent CBs.........

[GoColts8818]

7 minutes ago, stitches said:

 

 

YUS! More DTs! GIVE US ALL THE DTs!!! 

Joy 

6 minutes ago, DoubleE Colt said:

Tbh at this point I'm kind of assuming Ballard isn't interested in free agent CBs.........

Again, if you believe Holder he seems to feel pretty strongly that’s where the Colts are going at 15 in the draft.  

[AKB]

6 minutes ago, DoubleE Colt said:

Tbh at this point I'm kind of assuming Ballard isn't interested in free agent CBs.........

i think we are gonna draft one first round

[Solid84]

8 minutes ago, stitches said:

 

 

YUS! More DTs! GIVE US ALL THE DTs!!! 

[JediXMan]

8 minutes ago, stitches said:

 

 

YUS! More DTs! GIVE US ALL THE DTs!!! 

He was getting bullied last year let’s hope he doesn’t play that many snaps.

[DoubleE Colt]

3 minutes ago, AKB said:

i think we are gonna draft one first round

Well you'd think it points towards that but the way things are going at the moment I fully expect our first pick to be another DT lol

[AKB]

2 minutes ago, JediXMan said:

He was getting bullied last year let’s hope he doesn’t play that many snaps.

i dont understand resigning him

[Yoshinator]

2 minutes ago, AKB said:

i dont understand resigning him

He's dirt cheap lol. 

[John Waylon]

15 minutes ago, stitches said:

 

 

YUS! More DTs! GIVE US ALL THE DTs!!! 

Oh what the #? What the * #?

 

[1959Colts]

15 minutes ago, stitches said:

 

 

YUS! More DTs! GIVE US ALL THE DTs!!! 

Yeah. I was just reading one of the latest mock drafts, hot off the press today...

and they have us drafting a DT with the 15th pick.

[Yoshinator]

Just now, 1959Colts said:

Yeah. I was just reading one of the latest mock drafts, hot off the press today...

and they have us drafting a DT with the 15th pick.

Ballard was like "I'll show them! Another DT it is! hahahaha!".

[stitches]

3 minutes ago, 1959Colts said:

Yeah. I was just reading one of the latest mock drafts, hot off the press today...

and they have us drafting a DT with the 15th pick.

Would you really be shocked if we did take one, though? Would you?

[Bravo]

Trading back or CB with 15th pick easily at this point.

 

CB will be the first pick and then maybe WR.

 

Cant believe Ballard hasn’t upgraded the CB or Safety room yet (I know still only a week in of FA)

[1959Colts]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/draft/2024/03/19/nfl-mock-draft-2024-vikings-drake-maye-jj-mccarthy/73025128007/

NFL mock draft: New landing spots for Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy as Vikings trade to No. 3

Nate Davis

USA TODAY

 

15. Indianapolis Colts: DT Byron Murphy II, Texas

DeForest Buckner just turned 30 and is entering the final year of his contract. And though he may still be near his peak, why not bolster the havoc you can create on the inside by enlisting someone like Murphy at what has arguably become the league's most coveted defensive position. No quicker path to the likes of C.J. Stroud and Trevor Lawrence than right up the gut.

[richard pallo]

2 minutes ago, Yoshinator said:

He's dirt cheap lol. 

No doubt.  And I’m sure it’s with the blessing of our new DL coach.  So I don’t see it as seeing if he can improve a depth player.

[dw49]

2 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

 

I could re-post a thread I put out a few days before the FA period began. I said "everyone better be prepared to be disappointed ." Ballard would overpay for his own and not bring in any of the players we were hoping for. " You can argue the point about "over- paying" but those contracts have to be considered "top of the market " deals . These players did not IMO give the Colts any "hometown discounts."  

 

I mean LOL on this signing . We spent 14 mill on a back up DT because this guy played so poorly . Now as we are waiting on Snead or another top CB or at least a good safety and what do we see?  Fuller having dinner with the Chargers and Ballard resigning the guy he paid 14 mill to replace. If I were the Colts , I would have waited a long time before I made this signing public. I'm not and never will be a Ballard basher , but I feel like a fool as I keep checking the various sites looking for FA signings. I can't say Ballard as "messed" up as I don't know who he wanted , who he went after and also did players he wanted have no desire to come to Indy. Just saying that this sucks....

[richard pallo]

3 minutes ago, 1959Colts said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/draft/2024/03/19/nfl-mock-draft-2024-vikings-drake-maye-jj-mccarthy/73025128007/

NFL mock draft: New landing spots for Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy as Vikings trade to No. 3

Nate Davis

USA TODAY

 

15. Indianapolis Colts: DT Byron Murphy II, Texas

DeForest Buckner just turned 30 and is entering the final year of his contract. And though he may still be near his peak, why not bolster the havoc you can create on the inside by enlisting someone like Murphy at what has arguably become the league's most coveted defensive position. No quicker path to the likes of C.J. Stroud and Trevor Lawrence than right up the gut.

I actually thought DT would be our second choice if CB wasn’t taken.  WR would be picked in later round.  I’m assuming Bowers goes before we pick.

[Indyfan4life]

I'm getting dangerously close to being done with Ballard.

[JediXMan]

4 minutes ago, Indyfan4life said:

I'm getting dangerously close to being done with Ballard.

He seems like a guy that knows he’ll be here for at least another 5 years. He’s moving like he has unlimited amount of time to do what he wants.

[ColtStrong2013]

8 minutes ago, Indyfan4life said:

I'm getting dangerously close to being done with Ballard.

unfortunate for you as a fan…

[1959Colts]

 

[ColtStrong2013]

3 minutes ago, 1959Colts said:

 

I said yesterday that my friend Destin told me they were going after somebody… 

[Yoshinator]

12 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

unfortunate for you as a fan…

I mean honestly, I'd probably bet my life savings that the Colts will never make or win a SB with Ballard as our GM. If someone stopped being a fan until we got a new GM, I don't think they'd miss anything special.

[ColtStrong2013]

22 hours ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

  23 hours ago, Dobbinblitz said:

The Titans still have roughly 46 mil in cap space. all others in the division in the 16-22 mil range.

 

22 hours ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

my friend destin told me they are looking at a big move- not sneed, as he’s going to the colts. 

he wasn’t lying… 
 

3 minutes ago, Yoshinator said:

I mean honestly, I'd probably bet my life savings that the Colts will never make or win a SB with Ballard as our GM. If someone stopped being a fan until we got a new GM, I don't think they'd miss anything special.

I mean- considering we had Peyton manning for 14 seasons and won 1, that would probably be a reasonable bet… 

 

 

[krunk]

You would think after all this time people would know how Ballard operates during free agency and stop looking for stuff you know isn't going to happen. He isn't going to break the bank on guys everybody else covets. His area is after the frenzy has died down.

[Superman]

54 minutes ago, AKB said:

So I put a lot of thoughts into one simple sentence, that doesn't represent the complaint that most anti-ballard fans have. Sure, each year has its personality traits, but overall his BBB FA approach, combined with drafting to FILL needs, with highly athletic but not overall spectacular players. He does a very good job at drafting players that provide value, and he plugs them into spots where the roster appears deficient. (Ryan Kelly, Wentz, Nelson, Leonard, Franklin, Paye, Dayo, Buckner) all picks, some first round to fill a gap

 

The first example you give is the Rivers year. That was the peak of our roster under Ballard, if Luck had not retired, and we had him grow another year with that team, that was our year. Hilton, Zaire, and Speed have all talked about it on his podcast. 

 

I disagree that his plan has not been the same for seven years. If we are gonna zoom in on the ridges and humps, we can find a difference between each season and strategy. But Ballard has not changed. He took his sweet time signing over-the-hill QBs and old QBs and avoided drafting a QB (which he has publicly revealed multiple times is because of the accountability that often follows taking a QB with your top pick), and now he's drafted a QB with very limited film, whom just suffered a serious shoulder injury, and we are now on to another .500 season most likely. 

 

I suppose if .500 and ALMOST making the playoffs, or ALMOST winning the division is what fans are into, then sure, Ballard is great. But overall I believe, and many other fans believe that Ballard hasn't changed much, if at all. And that the differences in each approach are more circumstantial than belief system-dependent. 

 

It's not ridges and humps. There was a completely different strategic focus in 2018 and 2019, compared to 2020 and beyond. We had homegrown talent that started off very well, and needed to continue to develop together. They supplemented the roster with specific veterans that produced nicely -- Ebron, Autry, Houston, etc. Even Funchess, who got hurt right away, was specifically targeted to match up with what Luck did well in 2018.

 

Everything they did after 2019 was an attempt to salvage a window of contention that they had been building toward, specifically by spending a ton of money on veteran QBs that didn't stick. They went from trying to support Luck, to trying to replace Luck. And they did a poor job of it, so this is not meant as a defense, simply an acknowledgment of what they were doing and why.

 

I also think the way people have latched onto Ballard's comments about drafting a QB is disingenuous, and a blatant misrepresentation of his point. And I don't know what you mean by 'taking his sweet time signing QBs,' when the Colts moved quickly on Rivers and Wentz. 

 

At this point, we probably agree that Ballard needs to do more, and use different methods to build the roster. But looking back and saying 'no division titles in 7 years, Ballard is doing the same old thing' is lacking context, IMO.

[JediXMan]

Jets are having a decent FA.

[Smonroe]

6 minutes ago, Superman said:

…

 

At this point, we probably agree that Ballard needs to do more, and use different methods to build the roster. But looking back and saying 'no division titles in 7 years, Ballard is doing the same old thing' is lacking context, IMO.

I agree for the most part, but no division titles in 7 years is a fact in any context.

 

I do think Ballard is a good GM, even though I don’t agree with some of his moves.

 

But, bottom line, come training camp will he have done enough to bridge the gap between us, the Texans or the Jags?  No more excuses, we have our QB on his rookie contract.  

[Jason_]

2 hours ago, PRnum1 said:

The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result...

 

No it's not

[ProblChld32]

1 hour ago, AKB said:

i think we are gonna draft one first round

That’s because there is going to be Top CB talent available at 15. Mitchell , Terrion Cooper all could be available at 15 depending on how the cards fall. I just think there still needs to be a vet presence in the DB room.

[Superman]

1 hour ago, DougDew said:

But even if the Colts would have had Luck through 2023, Ballard displayed little urgency to replace TY and AC who were obviously not going to be around very long.  And he never found an EDGE.  Those are 3 key positional issues that Luck would have had to play through, unless there is a scenario that I don't see where Ballard would have committed more urgency to those positions.  Rivers, Wentz, and Ryan were mainly salary cap resource uses and Ballard doesn't seem to sign high priced positional players via free agency.  So its not like allocating the salary cap to QBs..even if Luck was here....made a dent in how he approached TY, AC, and EDGE.

 

How he chose to address the LT position all of these years is still really bizarre to me.  And in the end, he filled it with his second 3rd round pick, drafting Raimann behind even Woods.

 

Again, revisionist. Just like people saying 'Grigson ignored the OL!' He didn't ignore it, his moves just didn't work.

 

Ballard drafted several WRs, including Campbell, who suddenly couldn't stay healthy after a mostly injury free college career. He signed Funchess, specifically to match up with Luck. If either or both of those guys hit, we can transition pretty smoothly from Hilton to the new chapter.

 

Ballard signed Autry in 2018, and Houston in 2019. In the same time frame, he drafted Lewis, Turay, Banogu, Basham. Later on, he drafted Paye and Dayo. These decisions had mixed results.

 

He signed Eric Fisher, who was pretty good in the run game, but terrible in pass protection. The other stopgap guys at LT that year flamed out. Then they drafted Raimann, and he was meant to be a reserve while Pryor played LT in 2022; Pryor was a disaster, Raimann got thrown to the fire, but now he looks pretty good. 

 

If "displayed little urgency" is a euphemism for 'he didn't use a first rounder or sign a big name free agent' at those positions, then fine. Other than that, it's not true. 

 

To the bolded, if you look up the numbers, you might be surprised. Setting aside the possibility of a new contract for Luck (his contract would have expired after 2021), the Colts spent more cap space on QBs from 2019-2021 than they would have if Luck had kept playing.

[Superman]

23 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

I agree for the most part, but no division titles in 7 years is a fact in any context.

 

I do think Ballard is a good GM, even though I don’t agree with some of his moves.

 

But, bottom line, come training camp will he have done enough to bridge the gap between us, the Texans or the Jags?  No more excuses, we have our QB on his rookie contract.  

 

I'm more than fine with judging Ballard based on the team's results. I just think if we're going to talk about what happened 4 years ago, we should acknowledge the historical context.

[NewColtsFan]

1 hour ago, stitches said:

Would you really be shocked if we did take one, though? Would you?

Yes!  
 

Why would Ballard use his first round pick in a guy who will be a backup who won’t play much.   Has he ever done that?   
 

A WR might start, certainly play a lot.   So would a corner.   But a DT is going to get very, very few snaps behind Buckner, Stewart and every other DL that can also slide inside when needed. 
 

So yes, I’d be completely surprised.  

[Solid84]

15 minutes ago, Superman said:

If "displayed little urgency" is a euphemism for 'he didn't use a first rounder or sign a big name free agent' at those positions, then fine. Other than that, it's not true. 

This seems to always be the counter point, but in reality there are several steps between 1st rounder/"big name free agents" and jags.

[csmopar]

5 hours ago, John Waylon said:

Because his * is on the line. Square on the line. If Richardson doesn’t work out, he’s curtains. We've given this guy a pair of presidencies now to make this team into anything, and it’s stuck squarely in the middle, if not slightly  worse, and his record  reflects that. 
 

If Richardson doesn’t work out, the absolute best thing Ballard could do to keep as much of that stink off of himself as he could would be to build a team that showed improvements in other areas. It’s the ONLY thing that gives Ballard any chance of surviving a Richardson bust. But he can’t point to any of the units on this team and say “at least we’ve made that better” in his own defense. 

 

This “sitting around to wait and see” approach hasn’t worked. It doesn’t work. It won’t work. 

Is it though? Fans may think it is, but I don’t think it actually is. Irsay seems content with Ballards approach for at least the foreseeable future. 

[Hawkeyecolt]

Between the Davis and Bryan signings I have to believe Eric Johnson will be unemployed or on the Practice Squad next year.