L'Jarius Sneed

[Brylok]

Sneed was never coming to us and I don't mind it, especially at that price and age. The Colts have become the Pacers to me. It's great to have professional sports teams representing where you come from. They aren't going to win much of anythig though. I hope AR will be a superstar...but I have my doubts. Ballard is, to me now, a question of what worse can we get. We haven't won the division since 2014, and we have well short of Luck. Lord help our Colts and they are very boring. In Steichen I trust... everything I guess.

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

By that standard, you'd have to say Grigson is a better GM than Ballard, which anyone with half a brain can see is wrong.



The problem with Grigson was that he couldn't draft at all, and he didn't do well in free agency, and that was a big part of what sunk his teams. Ballard can draft, better than most GMs in NFL history. As for last year, Ballard thought that last year would be a development year, so he drafted a secondary to develop. Some improvement in the secondary will come from second year breakouts, plus the Colts kept Kenny Moore. Will that solve everything in the secondary? No, but I'll feel a lot better about the secondary concerns if Blackmon is resigned, or maybe a Justin Simmons signing. That said, successful organizations become that way by drafting and developing players. It won't matter who they sign if they can't draft and develop the replacements.

Ummm I hate Grigson, total douchebag, at the same time one cannot ever claim he didn't lay it all out there going for it.

Ballard never does. Sits on cash that isn't his and thumbs his nose at positions which are critical to winning in the NFL today. He sucks.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

Holy fuck no....he's not a better drafter than Polian. This is not even a di csussion.

I wouldn't go as far as to say he's better, but I think there's definitely a discussion. It's hard to compare a finished HOF career with a relatively young, active one.

Ballard's '18 stands out and he lands guys all over the mid- and late-rounds. We'll see how it looks.

What puts Polian over the top is his ridiculous run of #1 picks in his first 9 seasons with the Colts (Manning, James, Morris, Wayne, Freeney, Clark, Sanders, Jackson, Addai).

4 HOF'ers, 2 All-Pros (Sanders would've been HOF), and a Pro Bowl RB that averaged 140yds in two Super Bowls (could've been XLI MVP). The two unimpressive picks were still at least a SB starter and SB contributor.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by rm1369

I mostly agree with the second statement. However you are saying he can draft replacements and I largely agree. So why isn’t that the team’s philosophy? Why over his 8 years has he almost exclusively relied upon his drafting ability? He should be bringing in vets for the rookies to learn from, compete with, and to bring an acceptable level of play until the young guys develop. That is not the philosophy or strategy - unless he gets a huge bargain, then maybe. They used to claim it was because of the “culture” they wanted to develop and that has shown to be a failure The team has not developed some great winning culture. It’s been much closer to dysfunctional than good.



Sure I could buy that for last year. Makes sense. Now explain lack of WR to me with Rivers. Explain the OL choices with Ryan. Explain having no DE on the roster with double digit sacks for their entire career with Wentz. Last year was not some situationally specific decision by Ballard, it was a continuation of the philosophy we’ve seen pretty much every year. That’s a big part of my issue with him. I’d love to see some larger, year specific decisions that make sense. We don’t see them. For lack of a better saying he “does what he does”. Every year. Whether the QB is Luck, Rivers, Wentz, or Ryan his words and actions have been the same. So far, no difference with AR. Pretty much every year. You can look at them in isolation and try to explain them away but the trend is obvious. And largely matches his words and stated philosophy.

Ballard manages a team in a very similar way to Polian. A lot of people didn't like Polian's style, but it proved successful. Further, it's not only been proven successful with the Colts, it's been proven successful across the league. The Chiefs will be going for a third consecutive Super Bowl in the 2024 season, and the biggest reason for that in my opinion was trading away Tyreek Hill. That trade allowed them to draft Trent McDuffie and gave them the cap space to retain Chris Jones. That was a tough trade to make, but the Chiefs have definitely reaped the rewards of making a difficult decision. A decision that if Ballard made, I'm certain most people here, certainly the ones upset with Ballard now, would be calling for his head over. Can I explain every bad decision Ballard has made? Not at all, the Matt Pryor decision was the most baffling decision I've seen a GM not named Ryan Grigson make. That said, Ballard gets more right than he gets wrong, and his draft record is incredible. Replacing him risks getting another Grigson. I'd be very hesitant to replace someone with Ballard's track record knowing that possibility exists.

Originally Posted by ChoppedWood

Ummm I hate Grigson, total douchebag, at the same time one cannot ever claim he didn't lay it all out there going for it.

Ballard never does. Sits on cash that isn't his and thumbs his nose at positions which are critical to winning in the NFL today. He sucks.

Cry more about Ballard not blowing tons of cash in free agency. I hope you do for the next decade.

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

I wouldn't go as far as to say he's better, but I think there's definitely a discussion. It's hard to compare a finished HOF career with a relatively young, active one.

Ballard's '18 stands out and he lands guys all over the mid- and late-rounds. We'll see how it looks.

What puts Polian over the top is his ridiculous run of #1 picks in his first 9 seasons with the Colts (Manning, James, Morris, Wayne, Freeney, Clark, Sanders, Jackson, Addai).

4 HOF'ers, 2 All-Pros (Sanders would've been HOF), and a Pro Bowl RB that averaged 140yds in two Super Bowls (could've been XLI MVP). The two unimpressive picks were still at least a SB starter and SB contributor.

It took me 7 drafts to make the claim out loud, I wanted to see enough production to justify it. But the results are there. You just said Polian had 2 All-Pros in his whole drafting career here, Ballard did that in 1 draft, and they both made All-Pro as rookies. I don't think Ballard has had a single class that has produced less than 2 quality starters, and several classes have produced 4 starters and that doesn't even count contributing role players, such as rotational DLs and 2nd and 3rd TEs, and I'm not counting DeForest Buckner in his draft history despite the fact that the Colts traded their 2020 1st round pick for him. Polian was better at UDFA than Ballard, but you don't have to be good at UDFA if you pull 4 starters per class from your draft picks. That's an incredible, historically unprecedented hit rate.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by ChoppedWood

Ummm I hate Grigson, total douchebag, at the same time one cannot ever claim he didn't lay it all out there going for it.

Ballard never does. Sits on cash that isn't his and thumbs his nose at positions which are critical to winning in the NFL today. He sucks.

Sitting on money? It was pointed out in another thread that they just signed like $200m+ worth of contracts.

Grigson laying it all out there is the prime example why that's a shit method, especially if you're incompetent. His best FA moves were the ones that are most similar to Ballard's (which get bitched about), like Jerrell Freeman, Cory Redding, Darius Butler, Matt Hasselbeck, and Mike Adams.

His big splash was Vontae Davis. Great trade, similar to Ballard's trade for Buckner.

What else? Erik Walden? Laron Landry? Multi-year deals for old ass D'Qwell Jackson, Frank Gore, Andre Johnson, Trent Cole? Trading a 1st-Rounder for Trent Richardson. Some of these moves had the writers and fans lined up to blow him for winning the off-season, sure...

What else? Paying dudes like backup Donald Thomas because you already brought in Samson Satele and Mike McGlynn who are getting Andrew Luck mauled on a weekly basis? Donnie Avery, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Hakeem Nicks?

Andrew Luck dragged that team to a fool's gold AFC Championship (we got smoked every time we played a good team, thanks Peyton's torn quad). He dragged that team until he physically couldn't anymore and all that was left to look at was Grigson's smoldering pile of rubble.

Grigson's roster wouldn't have the team on the brink of a division championship with the backup playing all year.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

It took me 7 drafts to make the claim out loud, I wanted to see enough production to justify it. But the results are there. You just said Polian had 2 All-Pros in his whole drafting career here, Ballard did that in 1 draft, and they both made All-Pro as rookies. I don't think Ballard has had a single class that has produced less than 2 quality starters, and several classes have produced 4 starters and that doesn't even count contributing role players, such as rotational DLs and 2nd and 3rd TEs, and I'm not counting DeForest Buckner in his draft history despite the fact that the Colts traded their 2020 1st round pick for him. Polian was better at UDFA than Ballard, but you don't have to be good at UDFA if you pull 4 starters per class from your draft picks. That's an incredible, historically unprecedented hit rate.

Well, actually he drafted 6 All-Pros in 7 years: Manning, James, Wayne, and Freeney (HOF guys) + Bob Sanders and Dallas Clark. Not to mention his BUF days.

But point taken. Like I said, I definitely think there's a discussion even with that.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by rm1369

Searched after Pagano and picked McDaniels. Got stood up (thankfully) and then opened it back up and met with new candidates and landed on Reich. Then the search for Steichen. His first search was such a disaster he got an immediate redo. And it wasn’t just that McDaniels backed out, his performance since proved Ballard’s choice was shitty from the get go. I count 3.

I am pretty sure Frank was part of the same search that McDaniels was in, but you do you.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Racehorse

I am pretty sure Frank was part of the same search that McDaniels was in, but you do you.

Frank was never interviewed until after McDaniels backed out. Per IndyStar:

“When Josh McDaniels stiffed the Colts and reneged on an oral agreement last week to become the team’s next head coach, General Manager Chris Ballard said he would simply revert to his original list and begin meeting with candidates he had not interviewed in the first round. But even a cursory look at the candidates the Colts have considered in recent days shows the Colts did not simply pick up where they left off.

And it is this change of course that brought the Colts to Reich………………………

Ballard didn’t characterize the kind of candidate he would target when he held his post-McDaniels disaster news conference on Wednesday but, rest assured, this shift is not simply coincidental.

There was a clear contrast between the second round of candidates and those targeted immediately after former coach Chuck Pagano was fired six weeks ago. Gone were the shiny objects like McDaniels, the talented but flawed Patriots offensive coordinator, and Matt Nagy, the young, up-and-coming but unproven former Kansas City offensive coordinator.

They were replaced in this round by the likes of Buffalo’s Leslie Frazier, a veteran and steady hand in the Tony Dungy mold, who once led the Minnesota Vikings. Also interviewed was the Saints’ Dan Campbell, perhaps not an X’s and O’s wizard like McDaniels, but a coach who would instill toughness and leadership for a franchise that needs to get back on track.

……….

It was, as a key source explained, absolutely intentional.

Ballard surely had a long list of possibilities before he originally began his search but, interestingly, he pinpointed a certain sort of candidate the first time around.

This time, Ballard went for proven leadership.“

So he wasn’t initially interviewed, Ballard changed what he was looking for, conducted new interviews, and there were several other candidates meeting the new criteria. Sounds like a different search to me. And if I was on here criticizing Ballard for not reevaluating and starting over after McDaniels you would already know this and be defending him. But hey, you do you.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

Ballard manages a team in a very similar way to Polian. A lot of people didn't like Polian's style, but it proved successful. Further, it's not only been proven successful with the Colts, it's been proven successful across the league. The Chiefs will be going for a third consecutive Super Bowl in the 2024 season, and the biggest reason for that in my opinion was trading away Tyreek Hill. That trade allowed them to draft Trent McDuffie and gave them the cap space to retain Chris Jones. That was a tough trade to make, but the Chiefs have definitely reaped the rewards of making a difficult decision. A decision that if Ballard made, I'm certain most people here, certainly the ones upset with Ballard now, would be calling for his head over. Can I explain every bad decision Ballard has made? Not at all, the Matt Pryor decision was the most baffling decision I've seen a GM not named Ryan Grigson make. That said, Ballard gets more right than he gets wrong, and his draft record is incredible. Replacing him risks getting another Grigson. I'd be very hesitant to replace someone with Ballard's track record knowing that possibility exists.

I don’t at all see the connection you are trying to draw between Polian / Ballard and the Chiefs. Especially the trading of Tyreke Hill. That is a move I see neither Polian or Ballard making. Both of them would have paid and kept Hill. For one it was home grown talent and that alone is reason they wouldn’t have traded him. And secondly it was a huge risk for a well established team. Neither one of them are known for their risk taking. The Chiefs roster has changed significantly more than the Colts rosters with Manning did. They have been more aggressive and more adaptive. Which is exactly my complaint with Ballard’s style and the same complaint I had about Polian. I believe a more aggressive roster approach with Manning would have likely ended with less regular season success but more post season success. I’m sure you vehemently disagree.Regardless, I don’t see substantial success using their ultra conservative approach across the league. I see teams that are more adaptive and who take some calculated risks (like the Chiefs) coming out on top.

So let’s be clear, I’m not talking free agent frenzy. I’m saying identifying the major obvious weakness and taking real steps to address at least one of them - beyond planning to fix it in the draft over the next couple seasons. Stretching to get one key piece in Hunter or Sneed is not a frenzy. Another approach is bringing in multiple mid level (not bargain basement) free agents to get at least mid level play while the young guys develop in spots. Neither of those methods are abandoning the principles of building through the draft. And it doesn’t necessarily lead to cap hell.

The value of drafting talent and the need for it to be the primary source of talent is undisputed. And overall I agree Ballard is an above average drafter. The Colts could certainly do worse at that. However I also believe they can do better overall with someone who has a different, less rigid philosophy. My preference is for Ballard to learn and change. So far there is no evidence of that though. I advocate for a controlled aggressive approach from the GM so it makes sense I’d want the same for the owner. Ballard should be running out of rope soon if he’s not capable of adapting.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

Sitting on money ??? It was pointed out in another thread that they just signed like $200m+ worth of contracts.

Grigson laying it all out there is the prime example why that's a shit method, especially if you're incompetent. His best FA moves were the ones that are most similar to Ballard's (which get bitched about), like Jerrell Freeman, Cory Redding, Darius Butler, Matt Hasselbeck, and Mike Adams.

His big splash was Vontae Davis. Great trade, similar to Ballard's trade for Buckner.

What else? Erik Walden? Laron Landry? Multi-year deals for old ass D'Qwell Jackson, Frank Gore, Andre Johnson, Trent Cole? Trading a 1st-Rounder for Trent Richardson. Some of these moves had the writers and fans lined up to blow him for winning the off-season, sure...

What else? Paying dudes like backup Donald Thomas because you already brought in Samson Satele and Mike McGlynn who are getting Andrew Luck mauled on a weekly basis? Donnie Avery, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Hakeem Nicks?

Andrew Luck dragged that team to a fool's gold AFC Championship (we got smoked every time we played a good team, thanks Peyton's torn quad). He dragged that team until he physically couldn't anymore and all that was left to look at was Grigson's smoldering pile of rubble.

Grigson's roster wouldn't have the team on the brink of a division championship with the backup playing all year.

o


Earlier in the thread, I supposed how the 2023 Colts would have fared with a healthy Anthony Richardson at quarterback ...... your post just gave me the thought of how those 2023 Colts would have fared with a healthy Andrew Luck taking the snaps behind the center.

o