kravitz on leaving camp

[Oldcolt]

Ballard wants to build thru the draft. In order to do that you need to let the players you draft play. He appears set on doing just that.

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

Ballard wants to build thru the draft. In order to do that you need to let the players you draft play. He appears set on doing just that.

I agree. I've got high hopes for Braden Smith, Darius Leonard and Skai Moore. Nelson should be a perennial All Pro and Deon Caine may have been on his way to becoming at WR3. Wilkins has been promsing and Hines needs to show more.

If all of those guys hit, Ballard is genius.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

I agree. I've got high hopes for Braden Smith, Darius Leonard and Skai Moore. Nelson should be a perennial All Pro and Deon Caine may have been on his way to becoming at WR3. Wilkins has been promsing and Hines needs to show more.

If all of those guys hit, Ballard is genius.

"If" is one of the smallest, yet most powerful words in our language.

[VeveJones007]

2017 draft isn't looking too great at this moment. Of course, that could change. That being said, the 2018 draft will be a much better way of assessing Ballard. You can't fully judge a GM until he has his scouts in place.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

Ballard wants to build thru the draft. In order to do that you need to let the players you draft play. He appears set on doing just that.

There are way to many holes on the roster to be solved strictly through the draft. They are paper thin and / or lacking talent at LB, WR, and CB even if 3/4 of his draft picks pan out. And they are lacking play makers at plenty of other positions. QB, TE, and the two kickers are the only positions that I’m comfortable with the overall talent level. OL is definitely better but RT at least is still a concern. And they are screwed if Castonzo misses significant time at any point. Leaving major holes in the roster while hoarding cap space so that you can see if your 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th round draft picks pan out is fuckng asinine. I understand building a culture, I just disagree that you can only do that strictly through the draft. It certainly means you do your homework and you don’t bring in the Dez Bryants. But Ballard’s approach is costing years from our franchise QB. To me it screams arrogance and I simply don’t agree with the approach with Luck in place.

And before someone uses Grigson as an example of why Ballard is right to build this way let me say that just because it’s the opposite of Grigsons approach doesn’t make it right. As tempting as that is to believe. Grigson was an ass and a horrible GM, but the general idea of using free agency as a stop gap to increase the talent level until young guys took over wasn’t in itself the problem IMO. Grigsons problem was that he sucked at talent evaluation, wasn’t on the same page as his coach, and the coaching staff generally sucked. The one thing Grigson did right was bring up the talent level through free agency while not hurting their cap situation long term. The problem was the young guys were never developed. Free agency wasn’t the problem, shitty drafting and poor coaching was. Even with those two major downfalls the team got to an AFC title game. Werethey legit contenders? Of course not. They did it on the back of Luck and a shitty division. A franchise QB gives you a chance. Which is exactly why it sucks to look at the major holes on the roster and know how much cap space was available.

[Brylok]

7-9? They haven't even played 2 pre-season games yet...

[Oldcolt]

Originally Posted by rm1369

There are way to many holes on the roster to be solved strictly through the draft. They are paper thin and / or lacking talent at LB, WR, and CB even if 3/4 of his draft picks pan out. And they are lacking play makers at plenty of other positions. QB, TE, and the two kickers are the only positions that I’m comfortable with the overall talent level. OL is definitely better but RT at least is still a concern. And they are screwed if Castonzo misses significant time at any point. Leaving major holes in the roster while hoarding cap space so that you can see if your 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th round draft picks pan out is fuckng asinine. I understand building a culture, I just disagree that you can only do that strictly through the draft. It certainly means you do your homework and you don’t bring in the Dez Bryants. But Ballard’s approach is costing years from our franchise QB. To me it screams arrogance and I simply don’t agree with the approach with Luck in place.

And before someone uses Grigson as an example of why Ballard is right to build this way let me say that just because it’s the opposite of Grigsons approach doesn’t make it right. As tempting as that is to believe. Grigson was an ass and a horrible GM, but the general idea of using free agency as a stop gap to increase the talent level until young guys took over wasn’t in itself the problem IMO. Grigsons problem was that he sucked at talent evaluation, wasn’t on the same page as his coach, and the coaching staff generally sucked. The one thing Grigson did right was bring up the talent level through free agency while not hurting their cap situation long term. The problem was the young guys were never developed. Free agency wasn’t the problem, shitty drafting and poor coaching was. Even with those two major downfalls the team got to an AFC title game. Werethey legit contenders? Of course not. They did it on the back of Luck and a shitty division. A franchise QB gives you a chance. Which is exactly why it sucks to look at the major holes on the roster and know how much cap space was available.

I guess I look at it from the perspective that there are way to many holes on this team to fill them, and be successful, with free agents-essentially other teams cast offs. Ballard is trying to lay a foundation for this team. I cannot name a winning team whose foundation is built upon free agents. There is no choice but to build thru the draft. If you have faith that you are bringing in good players the cap space will be utilized keeping them and hopefully helping to round out the roster later. We are probably (cause you never know) not going to be a super bowl contender for several years. I'm going to enjoy watching us grow into one.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

I guess I look at it from the perspective that there are way to many holes on this team to fill them, and be successful, with free agents-essentially other teams cast offs. Ballard is trying to lay a foundation for this team. I cannot name a winning team whose foundation is built upon free agents. There is no choice but to build thru the draft. If you have faith that you are bringing in good players the cap space will be utilized keeping them and hopefully helping to round out the roster later. We are probably (cause you never know) not going to be a super bowl contender for several years. I'm going to enjoy watching us grow into one.

Ballard would be a major failure if it took several years to build a contender.

You build your foundation on good players. Free agents can very well form that foundation. It is nonsense to think you can only use one resource to build a winning team.

[Maniac]

Originally Posted by omahacolt

It is nonsense to think you can only use one resource to build a winning team.

Ballard hasn't used only one resource. He used the draft and he brought in free agents. That's clearly not one resource.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by JesusChrist

Ballard hasn't used only one resource. He used the draft and he brought in free agents. That's clearly not one resource.

He clearly spent a buck fifty on free agents.