Gerald McCoy

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

I honestly believe Ballard is as big on culture, locker room, and making sure a player is a good fit with the team as he says he is. Some GMs pay lip service to those concepts as they go out and blow huge chunks of cap on mercenaries that have the opposite effect. Ballard seems to evaluate each player on the basis of how he'll fit the team both on and off the field. I don't necessarily always agree with his decisions, and I do think McCoy could have potentially helped the team on a 1 year deal, but I can also see the argument against it from a football perspective (he's 31 and his numbers have been on the decline), I have no idea how his off the field fit factored into the decision, and it's possible that Eberflus is telling Ballard that he doesn't want any 300+ pound DL and he feels his scheme works best without them. I also think Montez Sweat would've been a better use of the 26th overall pick than trading down 20 spots and only getting a 2019 2 for the trouble, but Ballard has made enough smart moves thus far to get the benefit of the doubt from me.

I don’t see one year contracts for Suh or McCoy as huge chunks of cap space considering the current space available. As far as scheme and locker room fit, that plays directly into the flexibility I’ve mentioned about NE. They take measured risks all the time. You can wave it all away as a product of cheating if you want, but there is a long ass list of over the hill vets, scrub cast offs, and talented malcontents they have taken chances on. And a large number of them have paid off. Those that didn’t were cut and the consequences were minimal. Ballard’s method is certainly safer. We’ll see if it provides the desired results long term.

And let’s be clear - I’m not asking for Ballard to be fired or anything like that. Overall I’m very happy with him as GM. That just doesn’t mean I agree with everything he does by default. If the, in my view, extreme focus on the future continues for several years and they are always good and not great then I’ll start having a real problem.