Quote:
Originally Posted by FatDT
The idea that it's too early to criticize the off-season, specifically free agency, makes no sense to me. Free agency moves fast. So fast the NFL created the assinine "legal tampering" period. And based on interviews I've read, teams and players still start talking earlier than they're supposed to.
Teams don't tamper with JAGs. They push for every advantage they can get to sign the best players in FA. What is it we are supposed to wait for before we develop an opinion on the moves the Colts do and don't make? There aren't more moves to be made. We whiffed on all the sure fire upgrades for the OL. All we could get was a 32 year old who apparently sucked at guard the last time he played there. At $3M for a single season, it doesn't appear he's expected to start. Maybe he'll get the chance to compete there, but is it likely? I've said it before, but it's clear Ballard knows the OL needs to be better. He wouldn't have tried to get Norwell, Jensen, or Pugh otherwise. Slauson isn't a solution to that problem. He's a "hopefully, but probably not".
Also don't see any reason to wait on anything related to releasing Hankins. There's nothing else to be decided there. Either you buy the idea that he can't play in our new defense or you don't.
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Certainly individual player moves are fair game for criticism - as to such moves, however, I think you have to evaluate the moves in the larger context of the salary cap rules and the stated goals of the organization. So many of the criticisms center upon the loss of a good player (Hankins/Melvin) without any discussion of the
cost that keeping the player would entail - both in dollar amount and length of contract. For a GM, these are paramount considerations - I'm sure Ballard would agree that both of those players are valuable, but he's determined that they aren't worth what it would cost the Colts (given their schemes) to keep them. He's said as much in his interviews.
As to the larger question of criticizing the entire offseason, I wholeheartedly disagree with you. To label the offseason a failure at this point is way too premature. There is much more that will be done before the season begins.