[Chaka]

Yes, we definitely see this differently on many of the things you’ve identified. But I’m sure you’d agree that QB is a position that we need to get right. The salary numbers for the top QBs are staggering, but they are well worth it, so I don’t mind paying a guy after I have a bit more certainty that he’s up to the task. But giving Brissett another $28 million for one more year now, before he’s proven much of anything, is absolutely a risky move. I don’t see how you can deny that.

So, to attempt an (probably poor) analogy, we’ve just put a 16-year old who barely has his boater’s license and had questionable scores on his licensing tests at the wheel of our very expensive, fully decked-out yacht. Maybe he’ll grow into the job, be great and all will be well. I certainly hope so. But if he starts steering the boat into the dock, crashing into other boats or running it aground (sorry I’m not a boater so I don’t know what else bad yachtsmen can do), I don’t want there to be any hesitation to pull him out of the captain’s chair. I while I agree with you that Ballard has been pretty decisive with prior players, I’m not sure those situations were analogous. Correct me if I’m wrong, but guys like Hankins didn’t have large guarantees left in their contracts.

At this point, I’m not expecting Brissett to be anything more than average, if that. Prior to Luck’s retirement, people here were pretty critical of his skills, arguing that he isn’t very accurate and is slow to get the ball out. These shortcomings will severely limit his upside unless he can improve. If he does, we’ll all be happy. I just have memories of sitting in front of the TV in 2017 and watching the Colts games towards the end of the season, and thinking for the first time that "I'm really not enjoying this." I realize this is a different team, but I'm plagued by those memories nonetheless.

As far as the message it sends, I think my approach reinforces what I thought was one of Ballard’s guiding principles – if our guys perform, they will be taken care of. The difference between this and a franchise tender scenario is obviously that a player who is going to be franchised has usually excelled first, so has a reasonable expectation of receiving a big contract. Not many franchise tags are placed on backup players. And I do realize and agree that we’re in a highly unusual situation here, with Luck’s retirement.