Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaka
Maybe so, but you have to plan and make assumptions about your players on any team, even one that jumps headfirst into the free agent fray. For example, it would have been ridiculous to use a high round pick on a QB when Luck was playing full time given the type of system we were trying to install. Same with Castonzo - knowing that we have him allows us to focus our attention elsewhere, where more immediate needs are present. Maybe we would have that luxury when Ballard’s plan was fully in place, but burning high draft picks on positions where we are already set does not seem the best use of our resources under the circumstances, and only delays implementation of the overall plan.
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What you are saying is true in general. However I’m not knocking Ballard for not having a replacement for Luck. My criticism has always been of essentially willingly wasting a year(s) with a franchise QB. It is very likely that from 2015 to 2022 that 2018 team will have been the closest to a title team the Colts have. So the best opportunity in a 7-8 year span was pissed away for a future that MAY come 4 years later. That is assuming he drafts a competent QB this year. In a league where the average career is 3.3 years that seems extremely wasteful to me. I get that he didn’t expect Luck to retire, but that to me is irrelevant. Luck admitted he considered retirement due to the shoulder and any player is one play away from retirement anyway. You’d think Colts fans of all people would understand how fragile it all is.
On AC it’s a little different. Again, I’m not criticizing Ballard for not having a great LT ready to step in. However, I won’t pretend like this has never been discussed or brought up. Going into the 2018 draft many said OT was the biggest OL need. Someone to play RT and then eventually slide in to the LT spot. I quoted one of my posts from the debates about Nelson where I said pretty much exactly that. So I’m not going to knock Ballard for it, but I’m also not going to pretend it was something he had no way or no reason to consider. If people on here are saying it then Ballard definitely sees it as well. He chose to draft admittedly a hell of an OG at 6 instead. But it was a decision he knowingly made.