Colts offseason discussion / Ballard Grievances (merge)

[AKB]

https://www.stampedeblue.com/2024/3/19/24106304/can-the-colts-possibly-have-success-with-chris-ballards-conservative-approach

 

Article from yesterday discussing the same topic 

 

Here's an excerpt from the article " During his tenure there have been two playoff appearances with zero division titles. He normally gets a pass for two things: Andrew Luck retiring and his drafting ability. The statute for Luck retiring has expired, and his ability to draft has been good but not incredible" 

[Jason_]

4 hours ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

We finally had a chance though to get an elite round one prospect on offense though.

 

4 hours ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

This team is pretty solid. Their only  big weakness is the secondary. I just wish we could of done some things to fix it before the draft so we had some experience back there.

 

the draft is still over a month away.  THIS is why people dump on you.  Not because you share information.  Because you flip flop from one extreme to the other with the changing of the wind and act like the sky is falling when we're barely 7 days into the 2024 NFL league year.

 

4 hours ago, AKB said:

 

You love stats, don't you? We are the 2nd most injured team in the league under Ballard's tenure

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep going back before Ballard and I bet you'll find similar results.  

 

3 hours ago, Superman said:

 

I actually don't have any problem with a good faith discussion about this stuff. But when it goes to the extremes every time, it's aggravating.

 

^THIS

 

3 hours ago, AKB said:

Joe flacco might be. Lol

 

I'm grateful for what Minshew was able to pull off last year, but even at his age I think Flacco would give us a better chance to win than Minshew did.  As long as Flacco can still throw the deep ball, that alone makes a huge difference for the offense.

[Indeee]

 

And as the forum finally came together into a union of commonality, love, and fellowship there was one who relished from afar... 

 

 

[AKB]

2 hours ago, Jason_ said:

 

 

the draft is still over a month away.  THIS is why people dump on you.  Not because you share information.  Because you flip flop from one extreme to the other with the changing of the wind and act like the sky is falling when we're barely 7 days into the 2024 NFL league year.

 

 

Keep going back before Ballard and I bet you'll find similar results.  

 

 

^THIS

 

 

I'm grateful for what Minshew was able to pull off last year, but even at his age I think Flacco would give us a better chance to win than Minshew did.  As long as Flacco can still throw the deep ball, that alone makes a huge difference for the offense.

I don't mind flacco. I just think it will be absolutely hilarious if we end up with another old bridge QB taking significant snaps under Ballard. It would basically be his trademark of colts gm reign 

[Yoshinator]

1 hour ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Hopefully this means Blackmon could be back.

 

 

Any FA that has competition to sign we don't get it seems.

[ShuteAt168]

35 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I don't know if you caught my earlier posts on this topic in this thread. I never believed the Sneed stuff. I was already critical of how we handled the re-signings, and said if the Sneed deal happens, I'll change my tune, but we know how that went. 

 

I agree. I'm not super impressed by being a couple plays away from the playoffs, because I think our goals should be much higher than that. And spending resources on players that, IMO, don't get us there, kind of signals more status quo, vs a real attempt to push through to the top of the conference. I would have rather sat on that cap space and guaranteed money, than spend it on non pass rushing DL and non pass covering LBs. I have said that for a week now.

 

I don't see this the same way you do, though. I think we need to see our QB actually do the job. We saw Luck carry a bad team, and then we didn't give him the proper support. We don't even know if Richardson can carry a good team. Until we have more clarity on the QB, we're still a year away from being a year away. Which is why I would have been fine keeping that cap space.

 

And like I said earlier, I think the best way to properly support Richardson on offense is with the draft. If we don't do that, I'll be even more critical of Ballard than I was last week.

What I don’t want to happen is that Ballard’s past failures basically force him to go DB at 15. Then we’re looking at a second-round WR instead of an elite prospect WR at 15. The last thing I want is uncertainty about AR because we don’t give him all the weapons we can. It would be the most Ballard occurrence ever for AR to struggle and then Ballard says “Look, gosh darn it, Anthony played his tail off but I need to get him more explosive weapons. That’s on me.” 

[stitches]

3 minutes ago, AKB said:

NFL.com ranks Ballard as the 18th best gm. What do you think of that, and do you think he should be fired 

I personally think that's a fair ranking... I don't think he's one of the worst GMs in the league and he has obvious strengths... but he also has blind spots and obvious weaknesses that cannot be ignored and what's worse - he's stubborn enough to not acknowledge and try to fix some of those. I personally thought he should have been fired last year so we can start over with a blank slate of new GM, new HC and new QB. But once Irsay decided to keep him, my stance has been that he should be given the time to see his vision through with the new coach and new QB. Thus... I'm good with keeping him for this season... but his seat is getting very very warm in my books. If this season is not a resounding success IMO he's gone. I don't think he survives AR failing. I don't think he survives another year without playoffs... 

[Superman]

3 minutes ago, AKB said:

NFL.com ranks Ballard as the 18th best gm. What do you think of that, and do you think he should be fired 

 

I don't see a lot of value in the ranking. Truth is I'm way more familiar with Ballard than with any other NFL GM, so ranking him isn't something I want to get into. I don't have a big problem with anyone thinking he's 18th best, but I also wasn't promoting the past rankings that had him in the top five or ten. 

 

Should he be fired? Ehh... I would have been fine with firing him after 2022. I thought there was a chance it would happen. Once he was retained, I think his clock was reset, and I'm fine with that. I think the QB situation was the major reason the team didn't reach its potential in previous years, and I think a lot of that was out of Ballard's control. By keeping Ballard, I think Irsay signaled that he felt the same way. So now, it's about whether Richardson is good enough, and whether we can sufficiently build around him. And it's too soon to really discuss that.

 

Philosophically, I think Ballard's methods and his rigid cap strategy will continue to distance him from the very best GMs in the NFL. He's risk averse, he puts himself in too small of a box when it comes to player acquisition, and I don't think he sees the value in strategically breaking his cap management methods to make a brief push despite the fact that a quarter of the league is doing this in any given year. For us to compete for SBs with Ballard as GM, we'll have to absolutely crush several drafts in a row, and Richardson will have to be amazing. And that's probably putting us at odds with reality.

[AKB]

Just now, stitches said:

I personally think that's a fair ranking... I don't think he's one of the worst GMs in the league and he has obvious strengths... but he also has blind spots and obvious weaknesses that cannot be ignored and what's worse - he's stubborn enough to not acknowledge and try to fix some of those. I personally thought he should have been fired last year so we can start over with a blank slate of new GM, new HC and new QB. But once Irsay decided to keep him, my stance has been that he should be given the time to see his vision through with the new coach and new QB. Thus... I'm good with keeping him for this season... but his seat is getting very very warm in my books. If this season is not a resounding success IMO he's gone. I don't think he survives AR failing. I don't think he survives another year without playoffs... 

Quality response and I agree with everything you said. It's crazy to think that AR couldn't finish a single game last year. So if he ends up injured and flacco gets us another 9-8 type season he definitely should be fired imo 

[Superman]

3 minutes ago, ShuteAt168 said:

What I don’t want to happen is that Ballard’s past failures basically force him to go DB at 15. Then we’re looking at a second-round WR instead of an elite prospect WR at 15. The last thing I want is uncertainty about AR because we don’t give him all the weapons we can. It would be the most Ballard occurrence ever for AR to struggle and then Ballard says “Look, gosh darn it, Anthony played his tail off but I need to get him more explosive weapons. That’s on me.” 

 

I don't have any problem with a second round WR, or a DB in the first round. You and I probably view the draft very differently.

[AKB]

1 minute ago, Superman said:

 

I don't see a lot of value in the ranking. Truth is I'm way more familiar with Ballard than with any other NFL GM, so ranking him isn't something I want to get into. I don't have a big problem with anyone thinking he's 18th best, but I also wasn't promoting the past rankings that had him in the top five or ten. 

 

Should he be fired? Ehh... I would have been fine with firing him after 2022. I thought there was a chance it would happen. Once he was retained, I think his clock was reset, and I'm fine with that. I think the QB situation was the major reason the team didn't reach its potential in previous years, and I think a lot of that was out of Ballard's control. By keeping Ballard, I think Irsay signaled that he felt the same way. So now, it's about whether Richardson is good enough, and whether we can sufficiently build around him. And it's too soon to really discuss that.

 

Philosophically, I think Ballard's methods and his rigid cap strategy will continue to distance him from the very best GMs in the NFL. He's risk averse, he puts himself in too small of a box when it comes to player acquisition, and I don't think he sees the value in strategically breaking his cap management methods to make a brief push despite the fact that a quarter of the league is doing this in any given year. For us to compete for SBs with Ballard as GM, we'll have to absolutely crush several drafts in a row, and Richardson will have to be amazing. And that's probably putting us at odds with reality.

Idk I think the roster he built from 2018 that peaked could've completed with any roster. At that point and even a couple years following I heavily supported Ballard but I too believe he should've been fired with Reich and co 

[GoColts8818]

6 minutes ago, ShuteAt168 said:

What I don’t want to happen is that Ballard’s past failures basically force him to go DB at 15. Then we’re looking at a second-round WR instead of an elite prospect WR at 15. The last thing I want is uncertainty about AR because we don’t give him all the weapons we can. It would be the most Ballard occurrence ever for AR to struggle and then Ballard says “Look, gosh darn it, Anthony played his tail off but I need to get him more explosive weapons. That’s on me.” 

There is no promise any of the elite WRs are going to be there at 15.  If they are I know I would prefer to go WR at 15 and CB in the second.  If not and the best player is a corner then you take the corner.  That’s the thing we have to see how the draft will play out and we don’t know yet.

[stitches]

4 minutes ago, AKB said:

Quality response and I agree with everything you said. It's crazy to think that AR couldn't finish a single game last year. So if he ends up injured and flacco gets us another 9-8 type season he definitely should be fired imo 

Actually let me revise something I said... "I don't think he survives another year without playoffs". I think it's possible he survives that IF and only if AR actually looks amazing and the reasons for us missing the playoffs are somewhat flukey or our of his control(horrible luck with injuries for example, really bad beats in close games, etc.) 

[Jason_]

2 minutes ago, AKB said:

I heavily supported Ballard but I too believe he should've been fired with Reich and co 

 

The reason I disagree with that is I felt that Ballard should have an opportunity to hire the coach (and draft the QB) he actually wanted, not just the coach that was the best of the leftovers after McD bailed.  So I was fully onboard with keeping him and resetting the clock with a new HC/QB combo.

[AKB]

Just now, stitches said:

Actually let me revise something I said... "I don't think he survives another year without playoffs". I think it's possible he survives that IF and only if AR actually looks amazing and the reasons for us missing the playoffs are somewhat flukey or our of his control(horrible luck with injuries for example, really bad beats in close games, etc.) 

I agree with that I do see a world where if AR plays a majority of games, and can carry us slightly, Ballard would be safe off of that alone. But if we get similar results as last year, and AR misses significant time, or we can't win because of our secondary, I see him getting fired. 

 

Ballards draft is always my favorite part of the off-season, and I almost always feel better about the team after the draft, but for the last 5 years or so it's only gotten us to .500 so it's growing a bit old. 

[stitches]

1 minute ago, AKB said:

I agree with that I do see a world where if AR plays a majority of games, and can carry us slightly, Ballard would be safe off of that alone. But if we get similar results as last year, and AR misses significant time, or we can't win because of our secondary, I see him getting fired. 

 

Ballards draft is always my favorite part of the off-season, and I almost always feel better about the team after the draft, but for the last 5 years or so it's only gotten us to .500 so it's growing a bit old. 

Yep, I feel the same way. I like a lot of what he does in the draft... with some caveats of course... but yeah, usually feel better about the team after the draft. So... lets see how he fools us into believing the hype this year... 

[AKB]

2 minutes ago, Jason_ said:

 

The reason I disagree with that is I felt that Ballard should have an opportunity to hire the coach (and draft the QB) he actually wanted, not just the coach that was the best of the leftovers after McD bailed.  So I was fully onboard with keeping him and resetting the clock with a new HC/QB combo.

I believe Ballard used that to his advantage. Just like he did with waiting all those years to draft a QB. Just like he did with letting Reich make roster decisions at QB and just like he's gonna do when he scapegoats gus for this upcoming mediocre season when hes fired. Then the convos will be about Shane not having his DC. 

 

The pattern is so obvious it's blatant at this point. 

[Superman]

7 minutes ago, stitches said:

Actually let me revise something I said... "I don't think he survives another year without playoffs". I think it's possible he survives that IF and only if AR actually looks amazing and the reasons for us missing the playoffs are somewhat flukey or our of his control(horrible luck with injuries for example, really bad beats in close games, etc.) 

 

I think 2025 is the year. Either we're really contending or on the way, or that's Ballard's last year. I think 2024 has to be very bad for him to be fired after this season.

[throwing BBZ]

42 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Philosophical question: How many "good players" does it take to offset the absence of one "great" player? Would losing Ryan Kelly, Mo Alie-Cox, and Grover Stewart be worth adding a player like Justin Jefferson?

 

 Let's play hypothetical. Since it's Jefferson, gonna have to insert Ebukam for the not so good Mo. And the only answer is, make the deal and see what happens.

 My prediction is we add a WR in rd 3 fits in very nicely in Steichen's pass attack.

 We are going to run the ball more than most teams (lowering Jefferson value), and be using many good assets to disect the D. He is an incredible talent, what is his playoff record?

[NewColtsFan]

1 hour ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

We finally had a chance though to get an elite round one prospect on offense though.

You write in the past tense like it’s already happened.   We might still go offense in the 1st.   Nothing is set in stone.  

[AKB]

1 minute ago, NewColtsFan said:

You write in the past tense like it’s already happened.   We might still go offense in the 1st.   Nothing is set in stone.  

I understand what Chloe is saying. She's saying she thinks Ballard should've filled the secondary needs with this wide FA class to make it an easier decision to nab an offensive weapon for AR at 15 

[Superman]

Just now, throwing BBZ said:

 

 Let's play hypothetical. Since it's Jefferson, gonna have to insert Ebukam for the not so good Mo. And the only answer is, make the deal and see what happens.

 My prediction is we add a WR in rd 3 fits in very nicely in Steichen's pass attack.

 We are going to run the ball more than most teams (lowering Jefferson value), and be using many good assets to disect the D. He is an incredible talent, what is his playoff record?

 

I think you're dodging the question, but fine. Ebukam, Kelly, Stewart, for Justin Jefferson. Put it this way -- would the Vikings accept that trade offer? 

 

If we offered those three guys, plus two firsts, the Vikings would say 'we don't want those players, so throw in another high draft pick, and then we'll seriously consider it but probably still tell you no after a couple hours.' 

 

My team building philosophy is get the QB, support the QB with high value positional players, fill out the rest of the roster however you can. If it costs you a few Ebukams and Kellys, so be it.

 

And you're not seriously asking about a WR's playoff record, right? (Especially not a WR with four years in the league...) What was Larry Fitzgerald's playoff record before 2008? Be serious, please.

[stitches]

2 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

And you're not seriously asking about a WR's playoff record, right? (Especially not a WR with four years in the league...) What was Larry Fitzgerald's playoff record before 2008? Be serious, please.

I knew some people believed in such a thing as QB wins. I didn't know WR wins was a thing  

[Patrick Miller]

Im so glad Ballard is resigning all the guys that helped us miss the postseason! Hopefully this comment/ opinion does not get deleted because it is found irrelevant. I know Some will say it’s still early, but how much money do the Colt have left?

[Superman]

23 minutes ago, AKB said:

Idk I think the roster he built from 2018 that peaked could've completed with any roster. At that point and even a couple years following I heavily supported Ballard but I too believe he should've been fired with Reich and co 

 

I think the peak was probably 2019-2021. Imagine having a trustworthy QB in 2021, with JT having an All Pro season, and the defense forcing 30+ turnovers and being top ten in scoring... We're probably not beating the Chiefs, Bills or Bengals in the playoffs, but maybe we're in the conversation. 

 

That was on the back of two pretty good drafts, 2018 and 2020, and would have required better QB play. And I still don't like what we did on defense, schematically. 

 

When we look back, I think there's a lot of meaningful context. That's a big contrast from the persistent war chant of 'no division titles' that always pops up. And still, I think Ballard leaves a lot of meat on the bone because of his rigid methods, and he isn't a good enough drafter to make up for it.

[RollerColt]

9 minutes ago, Patrick Miller said:

Im so glad Ballard is resigning all the guys that helped us miss the postseason! Hopefully this comment/ opinion does not get deleted because it is found irrelevant. I know Some will say it’s still early, but how much money do the Colt have left?

Keeping Pittman, Stewart and Moore was fine. The other signings feel like plan b on the surface but honestly none of what’s transpired is surprising in the least. This is what he said he’d do leading up to free agency. Pick up a few guys but mostly sign our own. 
 

We may be done signing other free agents now that I think about it, because I think at the moment we’ve lost more than we’ve gained so that could earn us a comp pick. 

[John Hammonds]

Hi folks.  Sorry to disrupt the "why haven't we fired Ballard yet" discussion, but I wanted to ask if anyone has heard if we've made any kind of offer or approach to CB Xavien Howard or not.  Or if they've heard of a reason why he's still on the unsigned FA list.

[GoColts8818]

10 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

Hi folks.  Sorry to disrupt the "why haven't we fired Ballard yet" discussion, but I wanted to ask if anyone has heard if we've made any kind of offer or approach to CB Xavien Howard or not.  Or if they've heard of a reason why he's still on the unsigned FA list.

https://www.si.com/nfl/texans/news/xavien-howard-strong-interest-signing-houston-texans-free-agency-nick-caserio-demeco-ryans

[John Hammonds]

5 minutes ago, GoColts8818 said:

https://www.si.com/nfl/texans/news/xavien-howard-strong-interest-signing-houston-texans-free-agency-nick-caserio-demeco-ryans

I figured it was simply that he was 30, coming off of an injury, and still wanting buku dollars.

[CardiacColts]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

I think you're dodging the question, but fine. Ebukam, Kelly, Stewart, for Justin Jefferson. Put it this way -- would the Vikings accept that trade offer? 

 

If we offered those three guys, plus two firsts, the Vikings would say 'we don't want those players, so throw in another high draft pick, and then we'll seriously consider it but probably still tell you no after a couple hours.' 

 

My team building philosophy is get the QB, support the QB with high value positional players, fill out the rest of the roster however you can. If it costs you a few Ebukams and Kellys, so be it.

 

And you're not seriously asking about a WR's playoff record, right? (Especially not a WR with four years in the league...) What was Larry Fitzgerald's playoff record before 2008? Be serious, please.

Wow, I didn’t realize how closely we were aligned from a team building standpoint. Can’t say I’m surprised. Couldn’t agree more.
 

For me, I just want to see AR play the whole season. Get him weapons in the draft. Let the offense jell for a year and see what we have. If the offense shows promising development this season, allow them to build continuity for 2025, and throw the kitchen sink at the defense with FA mercenaries if we need to. 
 

That said, still hoping we plug a few more holes in the secondary before the draft. 

[cdgacoltsfan]

Like an *, every year I look forward to free agency because the Colts have cap $:and I keep thinking they will address a need or two. Ballards lack of filling a need or two ( even just once) is beyond frustrating.

[csmopar]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

I don't see a lot of value in the ranking. Truth is I'm way more familiar with Ballard than with any other NFL GM, so ranking him isn't something I want to get into. I don't have a big problem with anyone thinking he's 18th best, but I also wasn't promoting the past rankings that had him in the top five or ten. 

 

Should he be fired? Ehh... I would have been fine with firing him after 2022. I thought there was a chance it would happen. Once he was retained, I think his clock was reset, and I'm fine with that. I think the QB situation was the major reason the team didn't reach its potential in previous years, and I think a lot of that was out of Ballard's control. By keeping Ballard, I think Irsay signaled that he felt the same way. So now, it's about whether Richardson is good enough, and whether we can sufficiently build around him. And it's too soon to really discuss that.

 

Philosophically, I think Ballard's methods and his rigid cap strategy will continue to distance him from the very best GMs in the NFL. He's risk averse, he puts himself in too small of a box when it comes to player acquisition, and I don't think he sees the value in strategically breaking his cap management methods to make a brief push despite the fact that a quarter of the league is doing this in any given year. For us to compete for SBs with Ballard as GM, we'll have to absolutely crush several drafts in a row, and Richardson will have to be amazing. And that's probably putting us at odds with reality.

I’ve been saying for years, we will look just like the chiefs did for the decade prior to Mahomes and under Alex Smith. Solid talent that can win games and sometimes make a playoff push. But we really we need that stud QB for everything to really fall into place.

[csmopar]

51 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

   "why haven't we fired Ballard yet" lol

Because despite what some on here think, Chris Ballard is the greatest GM in the history of the Colts. 

[NewColtsFan]

52 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

Hi folks.  Sorry to disrupt the "why haven't we fired Ballard yet" discussion, but I wanted to ask if anyone has heard if we've made any kind of offer or approach to CB Xavien Howard or not.  Or if they've heard of a reason why he's still on the unsigned FA list.

By PFF grade, Howard has had two poor seasons in a row.   I believe both were in the 50’s. 

[NewColtsFan]

1 minute ago, csmopar said:

Because despite what some on here think, Chris Ballard is the greatest GM in the history of the Colts. 

I know you’re being facetious, but I’m pretty sure that honor goes to Polian.  A first ballot Hall of Fame GM.   

[John Waylon]

2 hours ago, Superman said:

I don't see this the same way you do, though. I think we need to see our QB actually do the job. We saw Luck carry a bad team, and then we didn't give him the proper support. We don't even know if Richardson can carry a good team. Until we have more clarity on the QB, we're still a year away from being a year away. Which is why I would have been fine keeping that cap space.

 

And like I said earlier, I think the best way to properly support Richardson on offense is with the draft. If we don't do that, I'll be even more critical of Ballard than I was last week.

I just don’t want to stunt AR’s growth in any way with undue pressure. I don’t want him to have to develop that same Superman mentality (no pun intended,) that Luck had to, and Peyton before him had to as well. And the organization has made it a point that they want to avoid that as well. 
 

Richardson is still a very young player. And I don’t mean as in his age, I mean his time playing the QB position. He’s still a very young player and his plate is already full enough with learning all that goes along with that. One of the best ways we can help him on game day is to give him a defense that doesn’t go out and cough up more points when he comes to the sidelines. With a guy like Luck or Peyton we had guys who had trained their whole lives in the QB arts and had plenty of experience. Richardson really hasn’t. I don’t want to start getting into big deficits where Richardson has to come out and throw a ton and start forcing him into making mistakes he might not otherwise. 
 

The other big factor at play here is that our division isn’t getting any easier in the foreseeable future. Myself personally, I’m definitely weary of the Texans and what Ryans is building down there. I think Stroud is going to be a very tough out for a long time.
 

While we’re standing still, they’re getting markedly better. Too many around here overlooking the Texans because “we’re going to get better in our second year”. Ok, so are the Texans. So we’re just giving up ground to them in this holding pattern while we wait to see what Richardson turns out to be. 

Like you, I don’t have any faith in Bradley as a DC, but how could he ever have a chance with what he had to work with last season and being given again this season and some rookies? What DC could have success under those perimeters?
 

There’s just not many masters served by standing still like we seem to be so content to do. 

[csmopar]

4 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

I know you’re being facetious, but I’m pretty sure that honor goes to Polian.  A first ballot Hall of Fame GM.   

Nope I’m serious

[John Waylon]

40 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

I figured it was simply that he was 30, coming off of an injury, and still wanting buku dollars.

Guys want to play for Ryans right now. I’d bet dollars to donuts that being able to go play for Ryans made a significant impact on his decision to go down there. Ryans is going to be a better Mike Vrabel. 

1 minute ago, csmopar said:

Nope I’m serious

[NewColtsFan]

4 minutes ago, csmopar said:

Nope I’m serious

I suppose it’s possible here that some think that.   I’d hope it’s very few, and certainly not me.   We all know I’m a big Ballard supporter,  but Polian is FAR better than Ballard.  

[LJpalmbeacher2]

8 minutes ago, csmopar said:

I’ve been saying for years, we will look just like the chiefs did for the decade prior to Mahomes and under Alex Smith. Solid talent that can win games and sometimes make a playoff push. But we really we need that stud QB for everything to really fall into place.

 

I respectfully think it could be the opposite?

I think AR5 IS/WILL BE that Stud QB but will have a roster around him lacking talent and playmakers  that  the best teams have. I think it will be similar to What Bert Jones went through, a overall team inferior in talent and coaching to what Jones faced(Steelers-Raiders,Noll-Madden..etc...). Hopefully AR5 will at least not have a injury plagued career also.