Denver caught their rainbow

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

Good argument. Polian had a killer run of 1st-rounders and built up three franchises, and won EoY awards twice with the Bills, twice with the Panthers, and twice with the Colts. Plus he did it across eras (there were 12 rounds in the draft and no free agency when he was with the Bills, so it was two different monsters).

So that's where I was coming from. But wording probably too strong on my part. I am very happy to have Ballard.

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Also just an aside, I thought '99 might make Polian's list with James, Mike Peterson, Brad Scioli, and Hunter Smith (I know he's just a punter), but I looked it up...

Mike Peterson never made a Pro Bowl his entire career? Even the year he was 2nd-Team All-Pro, no Pro Bowl. Even Hunter Smith never made a Pro Bowl which surprised me.

I considered 1999, 2002, 2004, and 2005 (which just illustrates how good Polian was consistently in the draft), but ultimately 2001 made the cut over those years because it had an All-Pro and likely Hall of Famer in Reggie Wayne, two long term quality OL starters in Ryan Diem and Rick DeMulling, another decent starter in Idrees Bashir, and a quality backup in Jason Doering. 4 starters beats 3, especially when one of those "starters" is a punter.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

Ballard drafts well and certainly finds value a specific positions. Few, if any of us, have said otherwise. The problem is his roster construction. He has overvalued and spent too much draft capital and cap dollars at positions that aren't that critical for success, like OG and off ball LBs. And other than DE, which he's been horrible at drafting BTW, he has undervalued the CTQ positions by spending minimal draft capital and salary cap dollars at those positions. This is how things like having a LG making elite LT money is starting next to a complete turd at LT, or having a 1 man show at WR. How has that worked out the past 2 seasons?

Also, you do realize when Ballard hasn't had a full array of draft picks it's b/c he's traded them away right?

I would say Ballard's worst flaw is his evaluation of DE/ED talent, which is why I believe it is so important to retain Yannick Ngakoue. Given his weakness there, he should probably focus on filling that position through free agency or trade. I also agree with the overinvestment in non-premium positions, it's what prompted my idea of trading 4, Taylor, and Leonard for 1. That said, I don't think he has been unwilling to invest in the premium positions, he just hasn't really found them until recently. He did give Braden Smith one of the largest RT contracts in the league. He's probably going to extend MPJ. I imagine if they continue down good development paths the next few seasons, he'll extend Raimann and Pierce. As for QB, he hasn't had one to extend yet, not since Luck retired. That's why getting the choice guy this year (which IMO will be Stroud) is so important. If Ballard can't do that, it doesn't matter how good he is at everything else, unfortunately, because winning football in the modern NFL requires a franchise QB.

As for Ballard trading away picks, the only truly bad trade he's made involving picks is the Wentz trade, and that's primarily because the Colts didn't make the decision to mitigate their losses and only give up a 2 once they figured out Wentz wasn't the guy. The other time Ballard traded his 1, for DeForest Buckner, I'd argue Buckner is better than anyone the Colts could've gotten at 13.