Colts have no player over 30 years old
 

https://horseshoeheroes.com/posts/co...n-01h96pew0hqe

What are your thoughts on this? Is it a positive or negative thing?

My thoughts are we have done a shit job of developing players. Seven years into Ballards regime not one player was decent enough to keep over 30. For me this is an indictment of Ballard, every year he drafts high end athletes that are not football players betting that his coaching staff can develop them. They can't so 7 years into his regime there are no gristled veterans, only year after year of having lots of potential with young pups. He cannot draft corner backs to save his life, the best one on the team he didn't want because he was to small and had to be talked into it, he has developed zero pass rushers, tight ends or receivers of any note. I am feeling negative this Sunday morning.

I'd say it is more an indictment of Grigson than Ballard because Grigson was in charge of the drafts of these older players.

One of the oldest players is Ryan Kelly - he was part of the last Grigson draft class.

Who should have the Colts kept from that class besides Kelly? I guess Ridgeway?


1 18 Ryan Kelly
2 57 T. J. Green - currently playing in USFL
3 82 Le'Raven Clark - currently on Eagles practice squad
4 116 Hassan Ridgeway - rotational DT for a few teams - currently with Texans
4 125 Antonio Morrison - no longer playing football
5 155 Joe Haeg - cap casualty from this off season, has not signed with another team
7 239 Trevor Bates - no longer playing football
7 248 Austin Blythe - retired


And the prior year's draft:

1 29 Phillip Dorsett - currently on Bronco's practice squad
3 65 D'Joun Smith - no longer playing football
3 93 Henry Anderson - currently on the Panther's IR list - will not play this year
4 109 Clayton Geathers - currently a college assistant football coach
5 151 David Parry - no longer playing football
6 205 Josh Robinson - currently playing in IFL (indoor football league)
6 207 Amarlo Herrera - no longer playing football
7* 255 Denzelle Good - retired

Interesting, and TOUGH question.

In this specific case, given the brand new 1st year coach, I would say it is a negative because there isn't yet a culture and young players can easily fall away in tough times with no senior guys to keep them on track. That said I could also see Steichen wanting to press the restart button and start completely new and not have anything stand in his way of building his team based on his protocols. Which could be a mistake, we're 7 days from beginning to find out.

In terms of blame, hell yeah there's blame here on Ballard. As OldColt noted, he is a notorious traits chaser and when those dudes don't pan out, well they are OUT of the league in a hurry because this league is built on the back of football players and real GMs and coaching staffs reward football players for doing what they were hired to do, which is not run against stop watches or jump against a measuring stick!

Beyond the drafting though, you also have to look at FA and again, this dude just fucking hates FA. Whatever fucking calculator he uses, it's different than the brand the rest of the entire fucking league uses. Again, he is obsessed with athletes, generally speaking the older FA vets aren't the super freak athletes, they are the dawgs, the guys who fill the holes and glue teams together. These are men that carry pride in what they do and fill their locker rooms with that professionalism. This fucker clearly doesn't believe that is a thing.

Still, no idea WHAT he does that anyone thinks he is good at?

Alright so then that raises the question of what's become of Ballard's first draft:

Malik Hooker - Currently starter for Dallas
Quincy Wilson - bounced around after 3 years in Indy, out of football
Tarell Basham - also bounced around, was just cut by Bengals last week
Zach Banner - again bounced around, was a fan fave in Pittsburgh. not on a team
Marlon Mack - he might still be in Indy if we hadn't drafted JT. He was potentially going to be a contributor in AZ this year but ended up on IR with achilles. Sucks for him, was a good pick.
Grover Stewart - starting DT still for Colts
Nate Hairston - bounced around a lot, was just cut last week by AZ
Anthony Walker - starter in Cleveland, we could've re-signed him but we've had an embarrassment of riches at the LB position

Every single one of those guys had multi-year careers in the NFL. That's an impressive draft in and of itself. That 3 of them are current starters, and 1 could've been (Mack) if not for injury, is even more impressive.

Just for fun let's check Ballard's 2nd draft:
Quenton Nelson - all pro and still current Colts starter
Darius Leonard - recent injuries notwithstanding, has been essentially best LB in the game
Braden Smith - still current Colts starter
Kemoko Turay - Atlanta practice squad
Tyquan Lewis - still in the Colts DE rotation
Nyheim Hines - solid contributor, traded to Buffalo, injured
Daurice Fountain - camp cut by Bears, signed to Lions PS
Jordan Wilkins - bounced around, camp cut by Browns (we should probably sign him if JT isn't playing)
Deon Cain - injuries derailed time in indy, recently cut in Philly
Matthew Adams - on Browns roster
Zaire Franklin - Colts starter

They're all still on rosters except Wilkins, who might still get picked up somewhere. 4 are still starting for Colts, with a 5th still getting significant snaps.

These are pretty good drafts that really have one major flaw, no skill position players still on the team.

edit: Ballard's 3rd draft was pretty bad. Speed is the only left on the team. and I think Rock Ya-Sin is the only other one still playing.

o


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbwkZnNWUPo

o

If you look at positions that you actually need to win in football, skill positions, like Hoosierinfl said, Ballard has hit on zero. You cannot win in the NFL if you cannot catch passes, rush the passer or defend passes. Maybe that is all about to change, I certainly hope so. Receivers often take a few year, pass rushers almost always take time and we have all brand new starting cb's (almost). I have no idea what to expect in 7 days.

All about his build from the inside out approach.

Was listening to Venturi earlier this week and he was talking about the current roster. He sarcastically said "they kept thousands of DL but have no WR's and CB's, it's maddening"- and then went on to blast the fact that we are headed toward having two UDFA starting at the corner spots. He isn't wrong. Ballard has not changed a damn bit despite saying he had to adapt.

If we draft 22 year olds, and Ballard has been here seven years, his oldest drafted players would not be 30 yet. Looks like Grigson is the one to point the fingers at.

I think we have some decent pass catchers, albeit some are not called WRs. Pass rushers like Paye and Dayo look to have a breakout year.

Yeah, I know, my glasses are Colts blue, until they prove incapable.

You are technically correct. In a year or two you won't be. I hope you are correct about our pass rush. I can no longer muster any hope with this group, last two years did me in on having a glass half full. It is half empty until I see something different (Sunday maybe). I feel good about AR but it is hard for me to remember the last time we had a consistent pass rush. I cannot manage to get enthused about this team. I don't know if this is a rebuilding year, a transition year or are we actually trying to compete. I don't think the Colts know. A ton hangs on how good of a coach Steichen is. If we got lucky and he is exceptional, if he can put those athletes into positions where they can actually use their athletic abilities, in positions to succeed, all bets are off. Can he adapt to the players he has? I think so but we won't know that for sure for a while.

Ballard's first draft pick here is currently 27. Clearly, you have no agenda.

Math is hard.

Its FUNdemental.

How does that really matter? He is the Head Coach....the head coach basically does jack shit in terms of coaching, he is now organising everything, and his underlings are the ones who are doing the coaching. We need to hope he has hired some great coaches, to maximise the talents we have at our disposal.

This is the fundamental thing that bugs me about top offensive co-ordinators or defensive co-ordinators getting head coaching jobs. The job is entirely different, what they have proven as assistant coaches, has very little to do with what they will need to be able to do in a head coaching capacity. Can you organise players and staff, can you make the right calls in the tough game situations (Time Outs, challenges etc, things you have never done before), can you work with the GM and owner and agree on the roster management, are you able to cede control of the other side of the ball effectively and let that coach, coach. The fact that you might have been a QB whisperer in a previous coaching stint, doesn't really help if you are no longer the QB coach and dealing with the mechanics and coaching the QB's on a daily basis.

Having an experienced staff with a mix of young innovative coaches are what i believe make a good head coach.

Okereke and Campbell are on the Giants. Tell is on the Bungles IR after spending last year on their PS. But yeah '19 wasn't very good and IMO neither was '17 since we only have 1 player from each still on our roster.

I don't want a bunch of 30 year olds. I'm not George Allen and I don't think it means shit.

Hell the Chiefs don't have a bunch of 30 year old players. But they have Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.

Those are the keys to winning.

If he's only been the draft pick guy for seven years, wouldn't't that mean that no draft picks made by Ballard have reached the age of 30?

Stop with the math already

Listen I had a brain fart. I was wrong, messed up because I didn't bother to count. Not the first not the last time this is going to happen. My point was lack of development of players that can serve as the veteran foundation for the team, a point I made about as poorly as can be made. I do appreciate that if I say something stupid it is sure to be pointed out. Like home.

Great head coaches rarely have losing seasons or lousy teams. There are tons of different ways to do it but they do it. They put their players in positions to succeed, set the tone for the team and are the ones who not only hire but supervise the assistant coaches. I think head coaches, along with the gm, are the two most important people in the organization. I think most of us are impressed with Steichen so far, I hope that we are after the season.

I agree with you that Frank sucked.