Ballard
 

This guy is a great general manager. He said when he came here he would build from the trenches. Said he would build the core thru the draft. Everyone says that. He actually did it. He made 29 picks between 2017-2019. Every one of them remains in the NFL. Ten project to be starters on the Colts. Twenty three are still with this team (props to Zac Keefer of Atlantic for this info). As long as we keep this administration we are going to be a good fun team to root for year in and year out. That's good, cause good or not I'll be rooting for them.

Ballard has done a great job.

If Luck hadn't retired, this team would be a strong superbowl contender. We'll see how Rivers can do at his age.

Ballard
 

Saw this on Reddit. Didnt fact check it but with all ballards trading its seems believable. He has done a great job, so glad we moved on from greaseball.

“Ballard turned three first round picks into Q Nelson, Braden Smith, Turay, J Wilkens, Ya Sin, Banogu, M Tell, Buckner, Pittman Jr.”


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I think he has strengthen the team overall, and he got shafted when Luck retired. That would doom a lot of front offices.

But I still want to see a couple things.

Can they find a QB? Rivers is a stopgap, and Eason is a 4th round pick with some tools to work with. I bet they take a QB next year too. Draft till you find one.

We need more playmaking on offense. Is Pittman, Campbell, and the Wisky RB the solution? We will find out.

We need passrush and a young pass rusher. We have a vet picking up the slack. Time for one of these young guys to pick it up.

I think we are a more solid and deeper team. I’m looking for a little more playmaking. Turnovers, pressures, sacks in D. Chunk plays, big plays on O.

My favorite Ballard quote from the draft (re: Easom) .................

“He was a fourth-round pick,” Ballard pleaded. “We didn’t move up to the first pick of the draft. Jacob’s got talent. He’s got to work and he’s got to earn it. … Let’s slow our roll a little bit in terms of tagging this guy as the next messiah walking into town.”

Instead of proclaiming him the next Ed Reed, he sends a clear message to a QB prospect with a questionable work ethic that he's currently competing for third place on this roster against Chad Kelly. He's doing exactly what he said he was going to do re: creating a culture of competition and accountability and I love it!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...on/ar-BB13h0el

I remember Polian saying (it may not have been in this exact context) that if you hit over 50% of your draft choices you were damn good.

QUIT. He faked a cankle injury and QUIT. Then he stole $24M of Jim's money on the way home. Other than that your post is spot on.

I can never question the toughness of a guy that stayed in a game and was pissing blood that night

I agree, but he did just up and quit.

And he faked all those surgeries he had have, right? The internal bleeding that he suffered from hard-hit versus Denver that was fake too?

Expectation of a 1st round draft choice:
-- Be a Day One starter
-- Perform as a superior NFL talent

1st round talent equivalents:
-- Quenton Nelson
-- Braden Smith
-- DeForest Buckner (projecting but I think it is a safe bet)

Gained 2nd round picks that flash potential but are not yet reliable superior performers (may become one, may not):
-- Kamoko Turray
-- Ben Banogu
-- Rock Ya Sin
-- Michael Pittman Jr

Lower round guys who appear to be great depth pieces:
-- Jordan Wilkins
-- Marvell Tell

That is UNBELIEVABLE value for three 1st round picks.

He still got three guys who are day one superior contributors (again, projecting for Buckner), 4 more guys whom we hope will turn into mainstays on the team and then two guys who are quality depth.

I love watching Ballard work the draft. If he continues to do what he has done so far, we are in great hands for years/decades to come.

How has Michael Pittman flashed potential in the NFL? He hasn't played a single down. What he did in college doesn't count anymore. I mean, I get that he HAS potential, but he hasn't shown any for us yet, so let's wait to start putting him on these lists until we see something.

I never said he isn't tough. He is. I said he quit.

No, just the last one.

/I'm not going to derail the Ballard thread any longer

Ballard will be on the Herd tomorrow. 4/29.

Cool. I'll check out the podcast since he's not on the radio here anymore. Thanks for the info

You can trash Andrew Luck all you want, but you have him to thank for us having Ballard. I seriously doubt Ballard would have ever come to the Colts if we didn't have Luck at the time. Recall that he turned down interviews from multiple teams (49ers, Jets, TB, maybe others), because he was waiting for the right situation. We happened to be able to provide that to him.

Then Luck unexpectedly retires a couple years after Ballard arrives, and Ballard STILL has us positioned to compete for the title a year later. All while managing our cap well with plenty of flexibility going forward.

We have the best GM in football in my opinion.

Yeah he’ll of a job all I can do is tip my cap, I mean come on we got Pittman and Taylor

He also got us Buckner. Basically, he was our 1st rounder this year.

I think we had to pay that out or we would have been in danger of not spending enough cap. I think that also led to the lucrative deal Brisset got that he didn’t really earn.

People ignore that fact when they let the hate flow through them.

Stupid take

Luck is totally irrelevant to this team now. His only relevancy is how Ballard is going about structuring the team since we lost him. Investing in defense and building a strong running game. Not chasing the next great qb to carry an otherwise pedestrian collection of players. When he first came here he said it wasn't about one guy and he meant it. We are going to be fine

That whole "It's not about one guy thing" is BS though. It's always about the franchise QB. Without one, it's a huge uphill battle. Has Ballard built a good team otherwise? Sure. But he could have done that with Luck here too. We would be one of the superbowl favorites this year with him. Now we have to resort to signing a geriatric QB and hope that works out.

Disagree. Franchise qbs may make fans feel better but they guarantee nothing. Look at all the rings Marino has. Elway didn't get one until he was no longer a franchise qb. We had a franchise qb for 19 years (13 Manning, 6 Luck) and won one Super Bowl. We won that one in a downpour. Not arguing we would be better with Luck, we would be better with Unitas or Sid Luckman to but they ain't coming back either. Any civilian has the right to quit any job for any reason. We need to just get over it. This is a good team, there is no reason to send time on what ifs.

QBs get way too much credit for winning and way too much credit for losses.

Who ever said they guarantee anything? No one said that. But there is NO denying that they give you a far better chance at winning games.

Us winning one superbowl doesn't prove your point. How many winning seasons did we have under those franchise QB's? Most of the time in the playoffs, you end up playing other teams who have their own franchise QB's and they may be better than you. It doesn't negate the positive effect of having one on your team.

I would MUCH rather have that one superbowl and the many, many winning seasons that we've had under Manning and Luck than be in the position of other teams in our own division who kept searching for franchise qb's and failing while being stuck in mediocrity.

If you're a GM and you don't have a franchise QB, you're trying like hell to get one or develop a QB into one. There is a reason why franchise QB's are the highest paid, and the next highest paid positions are those who can get to them and disrupt them or the guy protecting their blind side.

I think we are probably on the same page, its hard to have a complicated conversation this way. Where we seem to disagree is I would rather have a star at GM than any one player. Over time good administrations win.

I just wrote a huge long thing about my stance on Luck and when I clicked to send it I was logged out and I lost it all. Damn I had some good stuff in there now im pissed.

That happens to me all the goddamn time.

Maybe it depends on what device + browser + settings you are using, but whenever that happens to me - I don't lose the post.

Once you are prompted to log in - go ahead and log in.

Then hit the back button on your browser and I have always been able to recover the post.

The one time our star GM has actually made the playoffs was with a franchise QB.

Do it again, quitter LOL :eek:

Its been four years and my goal isn't playoffs. You and I are on completely different pages. You believe only one Super Bowl in 19 years doesn't prove my point. For me that is the whole point, winning Super Bowls. I am over loving making the playoffs because one outstanding player pulls us there only to inevitably getting our asses handed to us by a more rounded team. I agree, however, that one Super Bowl is better than a lifetime of mediocre play. I don't believe those are the options. Multiple Super Bowls are possible without a super qb, just look at New England with the POS they have had a qb. Nice to argue over football with you. Stay safe.

I can speak for myself, you don’t need to tell me what I believe. Tom Brady is a franchise QB. Is he the goat? No. But he is a franchise QB.

We won only one Super Bowl, meanwhile the pats won 6 with a franchise QB. KC won one. Denver went to two, won one in a fraction of the time with the same QB. Seattle went to three and won one. Pittsburgh won two with a franchise QB.

Is a super bowl win possible without one? Sure. But don’t expect some dynasty. Has there been a dynasty in the last 30 years that did not have a franchise QB?

You seem to have concluded that since we only won one super bowl then having a franchise QB is not important. But it is those QBs that got us to the opportunities. The point is you have to build a team around those QBs and not to squander your opportunities. How many one and dones did they have? Came out flat? How many opportunities were lost with Luck?

A franchise QB can’t get it done by himself, but it is much easier to win one with one than it is without one.