Well Ebron turned into a giant douche after Luck retired as well, which gave the Colts little incentive to re-sign him.

Agreed that having uncertainty at QB probably has something to do with it. When we had Peyton and Luck it was probably pretty easy to sell the Colts to FAs since they knew they'd be on a winning team unless the QB went down to injury.

But you can still land good FAs in smaller markets when uncertain at QB if the FO is willing to spend a little bit. For instance look at the Bungles last year. They, like us, were in dire need of pass rush. They were coming off a 4 win season and had plenty of uncertainty at QB with Burrow having had his knee blown up in Nov. '20. They had plenty of cap room, so they overspent a little to bring in Trey Hendrickson, who went on to have 14 sacks and 27 QB hits in '21. Imagine what that kind of production would have meant to the shit show that was our pass rush this past season.

When I was an elementary school/junior high kid, the Pacers were so bad that free tickets would be available in the school office for anyone who wanted them. We'd go to Market Square Arena and sit wherever we wanted and watch Waymon Tisdale and the Pacers try to win games. Then later they started getting good and we couldn't afford to attend games. I don't watch them anymore because they're never going to win a championship. I doubt the Colts will also within my lifetime. So it goes

I’m similar on the Pacers. I quit watching due to their refusal to rebuild. It was obvious they were content being middle of the road. I have no interest in that. I’ve started to pay attention a little more since the Sabonis / Haliburton trade.

Ballard’s Colts are starting to remind me a little of those Pacers teams I hated. The risk aversion is maddening to me. I enjoy following and rooting for rebuilding teams as well as top level teams. Swing and miss and I’m fine. Strike out and never take a swing and I’m pissed. It’s the mediocre teams where I see little future that frustrate me. And that’s what the Colts are right now. Irsay is the saving grace though. I believe he wants titles not just “good” teams. That was not the case with the Simons.

Yes, but why pay a premium for JAGs at WR?

o


As I said in the other thread, I like Ballard ...... as disappointing as the 2021 season was overall (particularly the 2-game losing streak which ended the season), I believe that the fact that the Colts were 9-6 with 2 games left to play in spite of some bad gaffes at crucial times from their quarterback is an indication that he is indeed in the process of building a complete team, as opposed to an extremely quarterback-dependent team (as were many of the teams that were lead by Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck between 1999 and 2018.)

I also like the acquisition of Matt Ryan.

o

https://twitter.com/AndrewBrandt/sta...hWagLx6aIAytfA

Andrew Brandt
@AndrewBrandt
·
4h
Chris Ballard has now foisted almost $75 million of dead money charges on the Eagles ($34M for trading Wentz) and the Falcons ($40.5M for trading Ryan).
Cap managers: run for the hills when he calls your team.

Ballard is doing an interview on the Pat McAfee show. Just started like 10 mins ago (around 1pm central) if you want to rewind and watch/listen on YouTube.

Thanks, going to check it out.

well shit.

Kevin Bowen
@KBowen1070
Chris Ballard tells @PatMcAfeeShow that Matt Pryor will get the first look at left tackle this season

Yeah. Mostly PR answers but he did say he likes Pryor a lot. Either that's genuine or he doesn't want to come off as desperate in negotiations. I tend to lean towards the former.

Was hoping they'd talk more about Ryan specifically. And holy shit McAfee cannot spit a fucking question out. It's like 90 seconds a piece and 5 "because's". Matt Ryan press conference at 3pm.