Ballard throws fuel on the Lamar Jackson-to-Colts fire

[Chromeburn]

I’m sure they are exploring the option, but I just don’t see it happening. Plus we would need to clear a lot more cap space.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by JAFF

I cant give you the legal text, but I think thats not going to work. I believe the bonus money promised is fully funded. Like a trust fund.

The Haslams are idiots. They have made a terrible deal with Watson. They have made a sex predator their biggest liability. And that big ass contract will prevent them from trading him. Now they have set the bar for every other owner, this is what all other Qbs are going to demand.

The crazy part of this is that Running Qbs have a very short careers. In the last 30 years the best Qbs, with long playing careers have been the ones stay in the pocket and distribute the ball. Manning, Brees, and that cheater from NE.

QB injuries overwhelmingly occur in the pocket. Guys actually take punishment better on the run, they usually evade or brace for contact. It’s the contact they don’t see coming while throwing that is the killer. Running QBs are nothing new, but guys have to learn to become pocket passers because the legs wear down over time. Not all can.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

I don't see how you make them work in the NFL. More than any other league, the salary cap governs the competitive parity. It's not so much a principled position about a guy being worth X-amount of dollars. It just fucks with one of the main elements that keeps the NFL as competitive as it is.

These kinds of contracts make comparable sense to giving a rookie Sam Bradford or Matthew Stafford $70m+ contracts with a ~$120m cap before they ever played a down.

They ended that shit, hopefully they end this before it starts.

In a free market they will happen, beginning with the QBs. Maybe not with Jackson, but are you saying you'd say no to Mahomes for 5 years, $250M fully guaranteed?

To me, it's really about contract length and engineering more than anything. Now we have contracts that are announced as five year deals, but are really two or three year fully guaranteed contracts with option years attached. Those extra years are added to manipulate the salary cap, and money is moved around freely to squeeze a team under the cap in a given year. A fully guaranteed contract would take away some of the flexibility out of the GM's hands. In the end, though, its still about managing the cap. Teams will still have the same amount of money to spend in the end, unlike other sports.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by Chaka

In a free market they will happen, beginning with the QBs. Maybe not with Jackson, but are you saying you'd say no to Mahomes for 5 years, $250M fully guaranteed?

To me, it's really about contract length and engineering more than anything. Now we have contracts that are announced as five year deals, but are really two or three year fully guaranteed contracts with option years attached. Those extra years are added to manipulate the salary cap, and money is moved around freely to squeeze a team under the cap in a given year. A fully guaranteed contract would take away some of the flexibility out of the GM's hands. In the end, though, its still about managing the cap. Teams will still have the same amount of money to spend in the end, unlike other sports.

This would limit money for other players.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Chaka

In a free market they will happen, beginning with the QBs. Maybe not with Jackson, but are you saying you'd say no to Mahomes for 5 years, $250M fully guaranteed?

To me, it's really about contract length and engineering more than anything. Now we have contracts that are announced as five year deals, but are really two or three year fully guaranteed contracts with option years attached. Those extra years are added to manipulate the salary cap, and money is moved around freely to squeeze a team under the cap in a given year. A fully guaranteed contract would take away some of the flexibility out of the GM's hands. In the end, though, its still about managing the cap. Teams will still have the same amount of money to spend in the end, unlike other sports.

I suppose I mean "make it work" in a different sense. Obviously you can make this work on paper... the Browns are doing it after all. But I don't think it's a smart way to go about it and it even limits the flexibility you can have on those other "manipulated" contracts. On top of the crazy contract, CLE is kind of doing what you're talking about by restructuring. Instead of a $55m or whatever cap hit over 4 years, it's $19m this year and now a $64m cap hit for the next three years.

I don't like what they're doing and I would hate the Colts to do it (there's no shot Irsay would).

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

QB injuries overwhelmingly occur in the pocket. Guys actually take punishment better on the run, they usually evade or brace for contact. It’s the contact they don’t see coming while throwing that is the killer. Running QBs are nothing new, but guys have to learn to become pocket passers because the legs wear down over time. Not all can.

https://www.pro-football-reference.c...J/JackLa00.htm

Go look at his QBR and turnovers. He had one really good year. The last two years are not inspiring.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

You have to laugh. Not at this guy in particular but in general, what's the point? A thousand-word article about an interview that basically tells us the Colts didn't trade up to #1 (an established fact). And what will they do now?... Literally any of the available options.

It's like trying to listen to that Steichen interview...

Q: "Are you trading up?"
A: "I'm not telling you."

Q: "Do you need to move up to get a QB?"
A: "I'm not telling you."

Q: "Which QB do you want?"
A: "I'm not telling you."

Q: "Are you drafting a QB at #4?"
A: "I'm not telling you."

Q: "Are you trading for Jackson?"
A: "I'm not telling you."


These corporate, canned interviews are worthless.

It's the demand for content. There isn't enough stuff to report on every day, but gotta do something for clicks so advertisers get their crap in front of you. Or the social media "experts" put out a tweet that basically says nothing but gets views and starts a conversation that leads nowhere bc no one knows what they are going to do. The podcasters have to put out stuff every day but there isn't enough to talk about. Then before you know it some guy checks 6 times a day, a week passes and nothing happens and he starts to freak out "Ballard do something! OMG we are the worst team in the history of ever!"

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by JAFF

https://www.pro-football-reference.c...J/JackLa00.htm

Go look at his QBR and turnovers. He had one really good year. The last two years are not inspiring.

I'm talking in general. One of the Colts writers put out an article about it. Its basically a misconception that running QBs get hurt running when most injuries happen inside the pocket.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Chaka

Per Keefer:

"Anytime a special player is available – which he is — you gotta do the work. I'm not gonna get into deep discussions on where it's at, what we're doing or what we might do, but he's a really special player. You never know how any of this will work out."

— Chris Ballard on Lamar

Source:
https://twitter.com/zkeefer/status/1640446081438990337

All he is saying is they are doing their due diligence. Which is what they should do. They gameplan, or wargame, whatever you want to call it, getting that person.

[Oldcolt]

The issue to me is that a running QB gets injured and he may no longer be a running QB. His value may tumble. A pocket QB gets injured and unless it is his arm or a major injury, he is still good to go usually without a significant drop off