Zzzzzzzzz
 

This free agency approach by the Colts sucks. Are they trying to bore their fan base to death in the offseason?

Boredom in March typically means excitement in September-February, at least it has for the last 20 or so years.

Seems like it wasn't until Polian finally bit the bullet and spent money for a DT that we got to the superbowl.

It's tough to go only through the draft when you're drafting at the end of the first round. Polian had a few years where he drafted high like we did last year to restock on some stud players.

Even if you draft well, there's nothing wrong with supplementing that with some outside free agent talent. Hopefully for starters, but if nothing else, at least for quality depth.

Booger McFarland? He came to Indy via trade.

Ballard has added some FA's. He just not going to overpay like some teams.

Corey Simon, and that 2005 team should've won the Super Bowl and likely would've had Dungy's son not committed suicide and had Harper's wife not stabbed his leg in the week(ish) leading up to the game.

Yes, him and Simon. You're right that Booger was brought here in a trade, but same basic thing. He spent a draft pick to bring in someone because their drafting wasn't enough, they needed to bring in someone.

I know he's added some decent FA's last year, and apparently he's willing to overpay for an average WR for a year, so why not overpay for 1 or 2 guys who are actually good players? They need more talent on defense, and enough of it comes from the draft. I'm not advocating him being stupid and signing every available FA, but acquiring a few talented players isn't a bad thing.

Most dominant team I have ever witnessed.

Double digit spread lines were almost unheard of in the NFL until that team.

Colts team? ‘85 bears was most dominant team I ever saw. Then Dallas teams. That Houston Oilers team Reich upset was one of the best teams I ever saw that didn’t win a SB.

Five of the six lightest-spending teams made the playoffs last year, and two of the three lightest spenders played in the Super Bowl. Ten of the 12 playoffs teams from last year are in the bottom 14 in spending thus far. And two of the four in that cluster that didn’t make the playoffs (Atlanta, Carolina) have been in the Super Bowl and made the playoffs multiple times over the last four years.
• That leaves two of the 18 heaviest spenders that made the playoffs. One was eighth (Philly), the other was 12th (Baltimore).
• It’s not unusual that it’d skew this way—good teams don’t spend because they’ve already paid a lot of their own guys and likely don’t feel as desperate. But a quick look at the recent past shows that this year the divide between the habits of the haves and have-nots was much more pronounced.

So how do you explain it? Well, that part’s simple too.

“It’s just a bad class,” said one NFC exec. “This class was always ‘buyer beware.’ Even the guys who got franchised, not that they’re one-year wonders, but players like Frank Clark, Dee Ford—it’s more just that you wouldn’t be sure if you would want to go invest significantly in them.”

And maybe that’s why Bill Belichick was in Barbados while the rest of us were getting all hysterical back here.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/03/18/fr..._medium=social

I know it’s not over yet but I thought we would be a little bit more active in the second tier free-agent market.

Length of contract is a big part of this. The top FAs want big and long with lots guaranteed, Funchess is a one year that does not fuck us in later years.

There’s still:

Zach Brown
NDonkeyKong Suh
Justin Houston
Eric Berry

He comes away with those four and it’d be hard to argue we weren’t actually active in the FA market, to be honest.

There is no way he signs all four of them.

Let a man dream, man. Let a man dream.

In reality, if he wanted Berry/Houston (two Chiefs that he assuredly has plenty of familiarity with) I’d imagine he would’ve made his move on getting them by now.

Suh probably doesn’t “fit the culture.”

So that maybe leaves Zach Brown, which I would be very happy over, but I could also see Ballard avoiding because he’s happy with Adams.

Or if the OL actually showed up to play.

First off improving the SAM position should be the least of anybodies worries.

Secondly, does Eric Berry really fit into this defense wit Malik Hooker...I'm not sure he does?

Lastly, I believe that Houston is done, and his production continues to slide.

Sounds like Grigson plan to me.

Agreed the Big Nickle is the future, so Sam is a bit role. A Saftey three and Slot Corner are becoming much more important.

SS is a big hole for me. We might wait till after the draft to fill any holes. If he even does that.

I still say geathers will be back

Berry is finished. I’d rather take a shot on Houston.

Biggest hole on the roster right now and one of the most important positions on the defense in this scheme. Luckily there are some really good draft options. I expect Ballard will re-sign Geathers to a 1 year deal and draft a SS with one of his top 4 picks.

Which is wonderful, because Brown would be the MIKE in this defense, not the SAM.

Given that Eric Berry is an SS and Malik Hooker is an FS, I would think so.

Houston has probably experienced some decline but at 9 sacks in 12 games last year, he's still got some juice and would be likely the Colts' best pass rusher as of right now.

"...zzzZzzz...zzzZzzz..."

Honestly if the Colts could just trade their top three draft picks for Mississippi State's top three defenders, I'd take that deal, as it fills the Colts three biggest needs. Sweat is a freak athlete that should develop into a monster pass rusher at DE, Simmons is an excellent 3 tech, and Abram may be the best in the box safety in the draft, and he has enough range to switch him off and have him play free in a disguise/pinch.

Much as I hate Mississippi State, I do agree with you here.

Yeah, that would be pretty amazing. Taylor Rapp is another player to watch at SS. I still imagine Ballard will go DE & DL with 26 and 34, but I wouldn't be shocked if he has Rapp or Abram as BPA and takes them at one of those spots.

I would take that as well. But it doesn’t match up value wise.

WR might slip in there. He usually doesn’t pick that position high, but it depends what they value. Lots of decent and big receivers here.

There's only one WR for which I would be okay with that, and that is D.K. Metcalf because he may be Calvin Johnson 2.0. Otherwise, defense.

I'd say that, yes, and AJ Brown if he's available at 2.3

Nope, just Metcalf for me. You don't pass up that level of talent if available. But defense is sorely needed for this team.

No thank you. A guy with a slower 3 cone than Tom Brady is suspect to me. WRs run routes, not a straight line. If you can’t separate out of breaks with that frame and body something is amiss.

Calvin Johnson didn't run a 3 cone for this exact reason. He also ran slants, posts, curls, and gos about 75% of the time in his career and was obviously very productive doing that. I trust that Reich would use Metcalf in the exact same manner.

Check out this video, Brett Kollmann explains it really well.

I think we go defense in the first round.

I think that would be ideal, but it will really come down to what is there when we pick. You can't pass on a superior talent if it is there in the first round.

I hope the Colts go defense in Round 1. If the choice is Metcalf or a borderline 1st round defender, I think you have to take Metcalf.

No way metcalf will be there

Probably not, but he's the only forgivable reason to not go defense or trade down at 26.