Dam has always been pretty rational, except about Pagano and the importance of coaching.

this is a very true statement.

although i would like to add at least 1 starting guard for rg and maybe mewhort for a vet minimum deal.

and gay. you forgot gay

You never say that about pass rushers

Or when he's proven wrong.

He's pretty good at breaking down players. Everyone has to agree on that. Well except Omaha

We don't need 3 O-Linemen. If we could get one solid guy to replace Vujo, then that would go a long way. As Vujo was clearly the weakest link on the line.

If you mean 3 starting LB's, I would say that we have 1 already, as I would pencil in Simon at SAM.

Nope disagree. We need 2 guards and a RT

IM TIRED AS FUCK SEEING THE QB GET KILLED AND THE RB GAINING 2 YARDS!!!

I'd actually say the only Olineman that should be secure is kelly and he needs a quality backup

WOW! glass half empty aye. You don't think the scheme change is going to make any difference then? Very Dammy like, but ok.

I actually think Kelly needs to step up his game, he hasn't been nearly as impactful (apparently not a word, but fuck it) in the run game as I was expecting.

I won’t read that shit.

The dude doesn’t know anything about football and has no integrity. Until he admits he was wrong I won’t listen to anything he says. He probably hasn’t watched a single player

Kelly is fine. Not sure why colts fans always want to single out the good players when there are players that are sub par.

No way we can turnover 3 olineman with good results. I am hoping for 2

Sure, except I am not a homophobic idiot, so that would not matter to me.

Baltimore signed Jeff out of college. The Colts claimed him off waivers.

That doesn't make him any less of a UDFA. You don't think all successful UDFAs are successful with the team that signed them out of college, do you?

Wait a minute, i singled out Vujo as the weakest link. A!! I'm saying about Kelly, is that he hasn't lived up to his 1st rd billing. So yeah, he's been fine, but I wanna see more.

How many times has an elite pass rush won a championship? I can think of three off the top of my head.

Who is your starting Oline with this mess?
My opinion is ,kelly and Castanzo. Other than than. Rebuild

My fear is that Ballard is setting the bar too low on what he will pay, and we won't get any quality help. I understand building through the draft, but Andrew Luck isn't getting younger, and may not stay healthy, if we don't start upping the pony and paying some freaking money on guys who can definitely help. All the while the Jaguars, Titans, and Texans are improving themselves.

I think that, once the draft ends, 32 teams queue up and start searching for talent. In any given year, a number of undrafted players will make a roster, and a few of them will find some level of success; but those are few and far between; and no one but a fool plans on building a team by sifting through the swill, looking for diamonds after the pigs finish feeding.

The Pats seem to win about every yr or every other yr..... who are their premier pass rushers? Where were they drafted?

I'm not willing to accept cheating, so I'll go for the elite pass rush instead.

Come on man. That's a cop out. You're better than that.

We have a lot of holes that need to be addressed, we have a lot of cap space sure. Some of you are advocating splashing out high salaries on a few guys, which is great in theory, but if they then fail in a new system (this happens all of the time) you are completely hamstrung. Also your impact signings get injured and you are back to square one, and have used up all of the cap space that you are now unable to play even a remotely competent backup.

In my eyes, if we can get to NFL average at almost every position through this free agency period and the draft, and provide considerably more depth throughout the roster that is going to make us far more consistently competitive in the long run. And will be proven to be the best solution when looked at in 3 or 4 years time.

Would i like to see the Colts making a few more signings sure of course, i am a fan and it is exciting and they will over the next few weeks, but with the reality head on i am fine in the approach that Ballard is taking and believe that he has proven to be an excellent judge of talent so far in his career and is one of the most highly sought after personnel guys around.

We really could do with upgrading 15-20 positions on this roster, not just 7 or 8.

QB's are probably fine, so long as Luck is healthy we don't carry 3 guys.
RB's we need at least 1 guy, although both Jones and Michael could be nice compliments if they are healthy.
TE's, we have Doyle, then 2 largely unproven guys who have a lot of intrigue, but might very well decide to upgrade here.
WR's, we have 2 guys, so could very easily be looking at 3 new players.
OL, we have some bodies, but every single guy has some questions against him, Kelly has struggled with injuries, Castonzo's play has been solid, but not at the level it was a few years ago, and the rest are borderline starter quality or significantly below. 3 guys or even 4 wouldn't be a huge surprise.

DL, we are pretty solid here other than the obvious pure out and out pass rusher. So may very well add 1.
LB, we probably have 3 guys who deserve to be on the roster in Simon, George and Walker the rest are all in danger of failing to play another down in the NFL. So adding 3 or 4 guys here wouldn't be a stretch.
CB's, currently have an inexperienced Wilson, and then Hairston in the nickle, all others need to be upgraded, so again you could be adding 3 guys here.
S, we have 2 guys who are both big health concerns, and then a third who has proven to be solid, will likely look to add 1 other into the mix.

Just in the past 15 years, because before then, it was not a passing league, but a running league. Manning changed all of that. In a passing league, you have to be able to do both: keep the QB upright and get the opponents' QBs down.

That's not a cop out, they're cheaters and their cheating has effected their results in a positive manner. I don't believe they would've won a championship without it.

We're dealing with the modern NFL, so pass rush is the second most important position to deal with, and the QB position is already dealt with.

How long are you all expecting this "rebuild" to take? I keep reading on the internet (not necessarily here) that we're only just starting year 2 of a 3 year rebuild. To me that is crazy, we already have a QB. 3 year rebuilds are for teams that don't have a QB. Teams turn it around every year. Eagles, Jags, and Rams last season alone are good examples. If we have the QB and the coaching staff, which we're assuming we do, why be slow to acquire good, young talent? Being deliberate for the sake of being deliberate doesn't sound like a wise NFL strategy.

With a healthy Luck, competent drafting and free agency, I figure we'll be competing for a super bowl in 2020.

Depends on what is done. With the right guys coming in, winning the division wouldn't be out of the question this year with the potential for Super Bowl aspirations next year.

I definitely agree Fat, the Colts were leading a half in 9 games last year in spite of Pagano and a backup QB. I thought that if Ballard brought in a few select free agents like an all pro guard, maybe a run stopping linebacker or two and a wide receiver, with a healthy Luck the Colts would contend for the AFC South. I think because Ballard apparently thinks this is a three year rebuild, it will be. The rest of the teams in the south have gotten better, and because the Colts seem to be sitting on their hands they ,by comparison, have gotten worse.

You guys remember this story that came out last month?
http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com...the-2017-colts

Its an analysis of how the Colts lost their games this past year, and how historically bad they were at closing teams out, and how historically predictable they were with 4th quarter playcalling.
The take home message is that this roster is much better than 4 wins, and good coaching will make a mountain of a difference.
So no, we don't need a rebuild and overhaul of the roster.
Yes we need some new guys on the o-line, and some new LBs, and probably now a WR with Moncrieff gone.
But that's not an overhaul/rebuild. And I'm 100% on board with Ballard's approach of edit: not* overpaying for FAs, which upsets team chemistry. He wants leaders and to build from within.

He needs a culture change more than a talent change, and this approach is the way to do it.

Yeah, I suppose getting rid of Pagano and Chud are huge plusses.

Why does everyone think of this in a binary fashion? It's not either talent or coaching. It's talent AND coaching. We have made an important, necessary first step in getting in a new coaching regime who will bring in a modern scheme. Now is the time to bring in some talent......using the draft to bring in playmakers/studs/superstars and using free agency to fill out the roster in areas of need/add depth/create competition. We all need to be a bit more patient. I really think Ballard/Reich will right the ship.....we've been taking on water for a long time but if Luck is really healthy we have the most important playmaker and with a modern scheme and some toys on defense and offense we will get there................or we will all go crazy/drink heavily/insert the vice of your choice.

Melvin signed a 1 year 6.5 million contract with the Raiders...I mean seriously, we couldn't pay him that much?

Yes, we could but that's not what he wanted from the colts. Per JMV Drew Rosenahaus and Melvin were asking Colts for a long term deal with money that was "way more" than 6.5 per year. When the Colts weren't willing to overpay he decided to "bet on himself" and accept a short term prove it deal w/Raiders.

Two very good posts. Ballard is not going to use free agency pay huge coin to guys that have a resume that they haven't played up to recently, because either they are past their prime, or they are not working for it.

In free agency he's going to bring in solid, good locker room guys that can compete to fill the glaring holes.

When this team has established an identity of success, then Ballard can bring in the rare difference maker in free agency. But for now, he's going to get his difference makers from the draft.

Looks like Ballard is getting pretty active in bringing guys in now. Hopefully they can get some deals done.

Blowing all those leads last year we all knew was going to happen before it happened By the end the players also had to have known. That mindset, the bullshit nobody is responsible pagano mindset, has got to be completely purged. We’ll get to judge how successful Ballard has been at that by how they play the game next year. I’m optimistic because Ballard keeps talking about changing the ‘culture’. We shall see

And pagano talked about nonsense as well

Honestly, I don't give a shit if they don't get a Michael Crabtree or Honey Badger type. Whatever.

But letting the best OL continue walking is pretty dumb. You're gonna have to overpay for someone there if you want your QB to survive the year.