2022 NFL Free Agency

[CletusPyle]

Sometimes I wonder if one of the required personality traits of an NFL GM, is you have to be asshole? Or is that just for the Colts?

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

Assuming you're replying to me. Here's some some deals I would have liked the Colts to have made:

Mitch Trubisky - 2 yrs/$14M (possible $27M w/ incentives), $5M guaranteed
Allen Robinson - 3 yr/$45M, $30M guaranteed
Haason Reddick - 3 yr/$45M, $30M guaranteed
Emmanuel Ogbah - 4 yr/$65M, $32M guaranteed (although he re-signed with the Dolphins, so might not have been possible)
OJ Howard - 1 yr/$3.5M, $3.1M guaranteed (very Ballardesque signing)

We could have signed Trubisky, Robinson, Reddick, and Howard and still had plenty of cap space remaining even if we had to outbid for Robinson and Reddick. Reddick would have also allowed to us to hang onto Rock.

First off, who's to say he didn't try to get some of those guys? Hopefully he didn't even consider Trubisky and Howard is whatever to me. Robinson was offered more money than that to play for the Super Bowl champs and move to Los Angeles as opposed to Indianapolis. Haason Reddick signed for exactly that much to go play in Philadelphia where he played at Temple. So are we knocking Ballard because he didn't offer them $48m? $50m?

Without Ngakoue, we were at something like $50m. Those four would cost something like $40m of that. Not saying he'll go after him or win the bid, but a Terron Armstead doesn't fit into that equation. Of course, the Colts simply might not grade those players as high as others.

And I know it's the naughty word for fans... but he has to consider the future. I want him to re-sign Quenton Nelson and Jonathan Taylor. If guys like Julian Blackmon and Khari Willis earn paydays, that's something to consider. Even moreso if guys like Kwity, Dayo, or Pittman become studs at those positions.

[Discflinger]

Your numbers are off but I don’t care enough to say what is. It’s less than we would like. We are getting Baker. We’ll see then.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

First off, who's to say he didn't try to get some of those guys? Hopefully he didn't even consider Trubisky and Howard is whatever to me. Robinson was offered more money than that to play for the Super Bowl champs and move to Los Angeles as opposed to Indianapolis. Haason Reddick signed for exactly that much to go play in Philadelphia where he played at Temple. So are we knocking Ballard because he didn't offer them $48m? $50m?

Without Ngakoue, we were at something like $50m. Those four would cost something like $40m of that. Not saying he'll go after him or win the bid, but a Terron Armstead doesn't fit into that equation. Of course, the Colts simply might not grade those players as high as others.

And I know it's the naughty word for fans... but he has to consider the future. I want him to re-sign Quenton Nelson and Jonathan Taylor. If guys like Julian Blackmon and Khari Willis earn paydays, that's something to consider. Even moreso if guys like Kwity, Dayo, or Pittman become studs at those positions.

Can you do last year next? Then the year before that? The year before that? It’s the same every off season - Colts are among the leaders in cap space yet are in such a unique situation that they can’t actually use it like other teams do. Or maybe they just have a risk adverse GM who only wants to bargain shop. Without a doubt Ballard is looking at extensions for Nelson and Taylor and saying the team has to maintain cap flexibility. Hell, he’s already thinking the same for Paye and Dayo. They likely won’t ever have salary cap problems. They will also never peak and win a SB. The Colts are operating in a way that puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Maybe after 3-4 more years of the same some of you will start to see. Hopefully they at least win a playoff game in that time. We can be certain they’ll maintain a salary cap situation that would make any accountant proud though.

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by rm1369

Can you do last year next? Then the year before that? The year before that? It’s the same every off season - Colts are among the leaders in cap space yet are in such a unique situation that they can’t actually use it like other teams do. Or maybe they just have a risk adverse GM who only wants to bargain shop. Without a doubt Ballard is looking at extensions for Nelson and Taylor and saying the team has to maintain cap flexibility. Hell, he’s already thinking the same for Paye and Dayo. They likely won’t ever have salary cap problems. They will also never peak and win a SB. The Colts are operating in a way that puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Maybe after 3-4 more years of the same some of you will start to see. Hopefully they at least win a playoff game in that time. We can be certain they’ll maintain a salary cap situation that would make any accountant proud though.

I can't understand how / why he isn't graded on what he is tasked with, building a team that wins in the playoffs. From my vantage point, I really don't care if the Colts are a 2 win or 8/9 win team on the fringe of the playoffs- to me those are effectively the same team. Yeah one is a little more "fun" to watch but they are functionally equivalent.

His primary job is to field a team that is playoff caliber every single year and a legitimate SB contender on a semi-frequent basis- he has had 5 years, he has failed miserably at that task. Anyone that looks at this team as it sits now and thinks it is a better version of what it was at this point last year, is a dumb ass. As we sit here on Saturday March 19th, this team is not just swiss cheese, it is ripe with mold. We sit here after a humiliating end to our season, being laughed at by the rest of the league for F'king things up so badly, knowing we HAVE to get better at several positions, and this stooge is still stuffing paper cash under his mattress while the rest of the f'king league is dealing in bitcoin. How anyone justifies this MF'rs refusal to address the WR position- basically SINCE he has been here, is beyond me. I was listening to someone yesterday while driving- some talking head on either Fox or ESPN talk radio and they were breaking us down. They made an astute point- all the rancor in Indy is about the QB, gotta get a QB, gotta find someone that can lead, but you could put prime Joe Montana on this team as it sits and he would look bad- because in their opinion our WR situation is THE WORST IN THE AFC----- THE WORST IN THE AFC!!! People thought he was just bluffing when a couple months ago he said he was really comfortable with the WR room so he didn't look desperate for the position in FA----- NO, given the names that have gone off the board, it looks like he really is comfortable. So is Michael Straham actually really good- if so, then Frank must absolutely f-king suck at his part of this! I'm not sure he even knows what a tight end is supposed to look like at this point, and he clearly is using some type of off-brand evaluation system for identifying DE's.

He has had 5 years to prove what he is about, this isn't year 2, year 3, this is 5 years of doing this same shit, and as of March 19, 2022, this team is not even close to being a contender.

Just pause and think about this- by the end of today we will like have either Mayfield, Ryan, or Jimmy G under center. Do this, take off your blue and white hat, jersey, glasses and think about being a general football fan and the Monday night game on November 19th is The Colts vs the Baltimore Ravens. You know damn well as that general fan that loves to watch football the very first thing you think is "The Colts have Mayfield at QB, he isn't very good, I'll probably change that leaky faucet tonight vs spending my time watching that"---- and YOU know that's how we all do this.

We are NOT going to get where we all want to be with this dude running the personnel end of things, he is too rigid in his framework and his thinking 20 years forward is going to prevent us from ever "going for it" ala LAC this year.

[Discflinger]

We are getting baker

And I tried putting this in caps

[rm1369]

Chopped, I’m not quite as anti-Ballard as you are. I actually like a lot about him and haven’t gotten to the point I want him fired - yet. But my patience is wearing out.

I honestly don’t blame him for the QB situation, it’s the philosophy that I have issues with. If you believe you have to have a superstar QB to compete then do what is necessary to draft one - including trading some of the top level guys if necessary. Or, if you believe you can compete without a superstar then get your average QB and then sell out to support them. He’s done neither. He muddles along “building through the draft” waiting for cheap, low risk solutions to magically fall in his lap.

And guys on here take every decision in isolation and defend them. They can’t solve WR because they don’t know who is at QB. Ok, what about when you had Rivers or Wentz? They were comfortable not signing any DEs because they were counting on Turray. Ok, so if they thought they they had someone ready to break out at DE why did they spend their 1st and 2nd round picks on a position that they thought was solved? Especially with such a need at LT. A need that everyone knew was coming….. and is still a major issue. The constant twisting to defend shit is ridiculous.

Ballard is a really good talent evaluator, but he’s shitty at assembling teams.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

First off, who's to say he didn't try to get some of those guys? Hopefully he didn't even consider Trubisky and Howard is whatever to me. Robinson was offered more money than that to play for the Super Bowl champs and move to Los Angeles as opposed to Indianapolis. Haason Reddick signed for exactly that much to go play in Philadelphia where he played at Temple. So are we knocking Ballard because he didn't offer them $48m? $50m?

Without Ngakoue, we were at something like $50m. Those four would cost something like $40m of that. Not saying he'll go after him or win the bid, but a Terron Armstead doesn't fit into that equation. Of course, the Colts simply might not grade those players as high as others.

And I know it's the naughty word for fans... but he has to consider the future. I want him to re-sign Quenton Nelson and Jonathan Taylor. If guys like Julian Blackmon and Khari Willis earn paydays, that's something to consider. Even moreso if guys like Kwity, Dayo, or Pittman become studs at those positions.

I posted rounded contract numbers for the players I listed who have signed. You asked for deals that other teams have made that I would have liked to have seen Ballard made, and so I listed a few.

I'm not saying we should be pissed at Ballard for not specifically bringing in those guys (although if Trubisky works out in Pittsburgh we should definitely be pissed about that). What we should be pissed off at Ballard for is that it's his job to improve the team and recently he's failed at that. We were worse in '21 than in '20, and while there's still plenty of time this offseason to turn things around Ballard is off to a disaster of a start.

Also, saying we need to hold back all kinds of cap space to potentially re-sign draft picks 3 and 4 years from now in case they work out is ridiculous. For starters, unless something crazy like COVID happens, the cap increases every year. Also, there are plenty of ways to manage the cap long term to be able to re-sign your own other than hoarding cap space like Ballard does. Most every other (at least successful) franchise is able to bring in some top tier FAs to fill needs while re-signing their own. So why the hell can't we?

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by rm1369

Can you do last year next? Then the year before that? The year before that? It’s the same every off season - Colts are among the leaders in cap space yet are in such a unique situation that they can’t actually use it like other teams do. Or maybe they just have a risk adverse GM who only wants to bargain shop. Without a doubt Ballard is looking at extensions for Nelson and Taylor and saying the team has to maintain cap flexibility. Hell, he’s already thinking the same for Paye and Dayo. They likely won’t ever have salary cap problems. They will also never peak and win a SB. The Colts are operating in a way that puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Maybe after 3-4 more years of the same some of you will start to see. Hopefully they at least win a playoff game in that time. We can be certain they’ll maintain a salary cap situation that would make any accountant proud though.

Well said! Couldn't agree more!!

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

I posted rounded contract numbers for the players I listed who have signed. You asked for deals that other teams have made that I would have liked to have seen Ballard made, and so I listed a few.

Unfortunately it’s the way the game is played. It’s why I no longer respond to them. They want specific players so they can justify each decision in isolation and not have to account for the overall pattern.