Quote:
Originally Posted by rm1369
So why in the world do you even acquire Rivers or Ryan? Both had very short windows. Are you really suggesting you have no problem wasting one of those years making sure they were an acceptable answer? That makes absolutely no sense. Or is it that they won’t do it until they have a young QB in place? If that’s the case why get those guys anyway? At best, without full roster support, they make you playoff competitive and lower your draft position- making it harder to acquire the guy you do identify. It makes no fucking sense. It’s the same thing the Pacers did - they tried to ride the middle of the league, keep the fan based inline and strike gold somehow. They failed. Ballard is doing the same thing and I don’t know how in the world you can say it is anything but a failure. You are either pushing to win or rebuilding. He’s trying to ride a line between those two. It has and will fail.
|
They were looking for their Alex Smith. A vet who could hold the positions for a few years till they found a young QB to develop. Also feasibly the vet allows you to win games if you have a solid roster around him like a Tom Brady situation. I think they would have spent more if they thought one of those vets would get them to the superbowl. NBA and NFL are very different, stop comparing the two. You only need a few guys in the NBA and the pacers can't lure top free agents because indy isn't a destination town. The pacers finally figured out they have no stars and no one even knew who was on the roster. Thats not the case with the Colts.
Its not a binary situation. Look around the league and the records. This is a parity league. Most games are decided by the kicker at the end. The line between winning and losing is razor-thin. It's not terribly complicated what they are trying to do, don't understand why you are having difficulty with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rm1369
This is a big issue I have. He is always going to have a hard time winning titles without accepting the up and down process that even you have mentioned. Teams that manipulate the cap CAN have an advantage in a given year. Yes it’s dangerous, but always worrying about your cap situation 3-4 years from now also comes at a cost. And the down year helps you reload talent.
|
Saints are about to go into cap hell. He doesn't want to run his cap like that, thinks its nuts. Just the way it is. It is really a separate conversation. You want the team to run that way, fine, I don't. Neither one of us has a say. It seems subjective to me, and short-term gain you get will eventually hurt you in the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rm1369
He didn’t think they were good enough to go all in. Or he’s never going all in. Either answer is damning IMO.
|
If we had two years of QB play, yeah maybe he would have in that second year. But we never got one to find out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rm1369
I understand it can get worse. I want to like Ballard. He does acquire talent. Where I disagree with you is that I believe a GMs primary job is to construct a team, not acquire talent. Acquiring talent is certainly part of that, but the NFL is the ultimate league where you can be more or less than the sum of your parts. Ballard’s teams will always be less until he prioritizes certain positions and, most importantly, understands that huge weaknesses will be exploited and diminish the strengths he built. He has to understand that average isn’t a dirty word in this league.
|
This is a bunch of gibberish. Talent wins games, he is good at getting it. He prioritizes the same positions everyone else does just places more emphasis on the lines. The Eagles and 49ers prioritize the same strengths and they are doing well. The difference is they have consistency at QB and some of those positions are already filled. We had a LT and a QB when he got here. He needed a better oline, a DE, and a defense. I think we found the DE if Paye continues to improve, we have a defense. Now we need to find the LT and the QB again. And I think this oline gets back to what it was with a good LT in place.
And to compare here is the Raiders picks from 2019-2021
2021 Alex Leatherwood - Cut
2020 Henry Ruggs III - Cut
2020 Damon Arnette - Cut
2019 Jonathon Abram - Cut
2019 Josh Jacobs - 5th year declined
2019 Clelin Ferrell - 5th year declined
It can be so much worse.