[Kray007]

Originally Posted by sherck

The two positions that Bill Polian said you never pass on.....passer and pass rusher.

Passer: Tolzine, Brissett, Hoyer, Luck, Rivers, Wentz, Easton, Ellinger, Ryan, Foles, Richardson, Minshew, Flacco, Daniel Jones and Leonard.

He has tried; I will give him all the credit in the world that he has tried. Through the draft, through inherited players, through free agency. Headliners and no names.
He has tried and he has failed. Two playoff appearances, one with Luck and one with Rivers with MASSIVE inconsistent quarterback play through the years.

Pass Rushers: Sheard, Simon, Anderson, Woods, Hankins, Autry, Hunt, Basham, Mingo, Houston, Steward, Bucker, Ward, Muhammad, Paye, Odeyingeo, Lewis, Turey, Banagu, Ngakoue, Ebukam, Latu, Davis, Bryant.

Again, he has tried. He has used high draft picks (2024 first defensive player picked in the draft...), he has used mid draft picks, he has signed free agents to big contracts and small contracts. He has tried...and failed.

Since 2017 and the start of Ballard's time as GM, we have had ONE player with a double digit sack season. Houston in 2019 with 11.0 sacks. That's it.



So, two REALLY important positions on any NFL team and while Ballard has devoted a TON of draft and cap resources to them, he has failed to find guys who can do it at high levels of NFL skill.

Honest assessment.

With all due respect, after beating a lot of bushes, Chris Ballard found a Quarterback…Daniel Jones. He’s 7th in the league in QBR and 10th in the NFL’s system. He’s tough, he’s smart, he’s accurate, and he does a great job running Shane Steichen’s system. He’s also tough enough, dedicated enough to play through an injury that would have sidelined most other Quarterbacks. He’s the epitome of a high level Quarterback.

As far as pass rushers are concerned, you can’t seriously complain because a low level free agent or a non premium draft pick didn’t develop into Dwight Freeney. After you get past the first ten selections in the draft, picking a DE is a dice roll. Myles Garrett doesn’t slip far enough in the draft for the Colts to snag him, and there are ten Terrell Bashams for every Maxx Crosby.

At DE, Laiatu Latu has a ton of potential. Is he a finished product? No, but, he’s PFF’s 11th ranked edge player; they credit him with 10 sacks and 54 pressures. The team hopes he’s on the same trajectory as Maxx Crosby who went from 50’something pressures in year two to 100 plus in his third.