Quote:
Originally Posted by Thorgrim
It’s a pretty compelling case that he makes. On one hand I can talk myself into believing we can find success next year but it would require me to ignore the cumulative results of Ballard’s tenure. Having lost so much draft capital while facing some serious holes yet to fill it’s beginning to feel like next year will be another sub-par season, maybe just for different reasons. Teams go from last in their division to first and I won’t rule it out. After all even a blind squirrel…
But should we be putting all our eggs in that basket? Now I could see Carlie keeping him for another potentially lost season while she takes on greater control of the draft. It would allow her to see if Jones and other players return to form and produce. It would also give her a bit of time to consider a new coach and GM. But like you, I have to trust Carlie. What other choice do I have?
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No doubt he makes some great points. His 3rd point (ignoring position groups in the offseason) has always been one of Ballard's weaknesses, and we all know the QB story all too well. What's scary though is his 2nd point as Ballard appears to have lost his edge in the draft. Take 2023 for example - we drafted a whopping 12 players and in year 3 of that draft class only 2 players have made any sort of impact on the season (Downs and Ade Ade) with one of them being a rotational guy.
Like you I'm torn. Seems like our best chance to have success next year is to roll it back and hope Jones can stay healthy and that he and Steichen can figure out how to beat the defensive blue print Pitt put in place. But long term wise it's probably better to move on. If you're the owner of a company and under your current COO you've finished in the red for 5 straight years and 7/9 since the COO has been put in place then you'd be crazy to not replace him.