I highly doubt that he thought Rashawn Slater wasn't a LT, and if he did, that means he does have an arm criteria and it's unreasonable. For arms, 33" is what is needed to be a successful OT. A couple of the guys didn't hit the threshold (Carman Jackson and Liam Eichenberg specifically). Teven Jenkins did, and when you combine his testing and tape, passing on him seems like stubbornly sticking to criteria instead of trusting the evaluation. Maybe you're right and there's something in the medicals or character that I don't know about, but people talked about Kwity Paye being a Top 15 talent based on tape and testing (which is absolutely insane to me watching Paye's tape), in my opinion based on testing and tape, Teven Jenkins was a Top 15 talent in this class EASILY. Lining him up next to Nelson for the next decade would've been so fun to watch.

Also, of course he's going to come out and say he didn't really like any of the OTs in the class as LTs after his gamble backfired. Do you really expect him to come out and say "I gambled that one of the OTs worth taking would last to 54 and lost"? Of course he's not going to do that. I do think he was willing to roll those dice because Eric Fisher, Alejandro Villanueva, and Russell Okung still don't have 2021 teams. I doubt he honestly believes Sam Tevi is a starting LT.

You really are stubborn, aren't you?

He’s watching more film

I honestly feel like they didn’t expect Paye to be there and he made a difficult decision but stuck to his guns

Jenkins is big strong and nasty. Believe me I was pissed about this pick but the more I research the more I agree with it

Paye next to Buckner and Stewart should be just as nasty. Josh allen ran circles around our defense he singlehandedly beat us in the playoffs

Paye is a rare freak at a position of need, he played fucking running back in high school the dude was on the 4*100 track team he put up everson griffin type numbers on his pro day and his sack numbers are low because he played in a run heavy conference

I was pissed now I can’t wait for the first time he slams Henry

Yet Ballard thinks that Turnstile Tevi is good. Everyone has their shortcomings, and it looks like OT evaluation could be one of Ballards.

If Paye is so great the why the fuck did he never actually get to the QB in college?

There are others words besides stubborn that come to mind:D

I believe there’s some truth in there though. Just my opinion but I think that Ballard was expecting to have better LTs available at 54. When he says “not prototypical LT” I read that as not good enough for 21, but he would have taken one at 54. Unfortunately there was run on LTs and all the decent ones were gone. Ballard chanced it and it didnt roll his way.

Hopefully paye will turn out good for the D, lots in the media seem to think so. I dont watch college football so that’s all I have to go one besides whats been said on this esteemed board.


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For me, whether Ballard miscalculated or he wasn’t as impressed with the options everyone else was is mostly irrelevant. What is relevant is that the team has a huge hole at LT and salary cap space. Does he work to correct the issue this year? Or does the team roll into the season risking their QB because Ballard didn’t find a clear enough win this offseason? That’s where I have had an issue with Ballard’s methods in the past - the constant look to the future at the expense of today. If he signs one of the vets I think there is little to complain about. If he doesn’t then I think there is valid reason to be pissed

100% agree.

Lots of complaining on here but we have not seen the finished product yet.

Once we sign a vet OT, we are in great shape for an improved season.