Colts Practice Squad Signings

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

For 2018 we could have brought in someone better than Ryan Grant via FA to be WR2 is what I was mostly getting at, but we had enough draft capital that year we probably could have moved up and taken Kirk instead of Turray.

Where Ballard really fucked up w/ WR was in 2019 where he passed on all 3 of Deebo Samuel, AJ Brown, and DK Metcalf in the 2nd round for Rock, Banogu (gah), and Campbell.

https://walterfootball.com/freeagents2018all.php

Not a ton of choices there. We tried to get Allen Robinson who fit Reich’s mold. But he signed with the Bears.

You can play the “should have drafted” game with every GM. None of them are going to win that.

[IndyNorm]

We've had a top ten oline for most of the time he has been here. We'll see at the end of the year, but the line was already trending up with Raimann improving and Pryor out of the lineup.

As stated in the other post I'm sure they'll be better. Until the injuries hit and then they'll probably be really bad again. Also, hate to brake the news to you guys but this improvement by the OL in the 2nd half of the season really wasn't all that great. At least from a pass blocking standpoint. Our OL gave up 25 sacks in the final 8 games after Pryor was benched, which prorates to 53 for a 17 game season. That would have ranked them as the 4th worst in the league instead of 2nd.

Eric Ebron was our second leading receiver who was a FA signing receiving TE. Best year of his career. Then Hines who was a draft pick. He also signed Jack Doyle who was always a reliable third-down receiver. That team had a ton of issues, and WR was not at the front of the list. Everyone was screaming about oline and defense.

Ebron was a good pickup, and Hines and Doyle were good that year too. I recall that the offense struggled until Inman came in and gave Luck at least a dependable WR2. Either way, the fact that Ballard ignored WR early on and royally fucked up by passing on all 3 of Samuel, AJ Brown, and Metcalf in the 2nd round in 2019 are 2 big contributors as to why we have such an underwhelming and thin WR group.

Finding franchise LT's is not a gimmie. You just don't stash one on your squad till the opportunity to play them comes around. I would say 90% of the time you have to draft one. The fact that he might have found one in the 3rd is pretty impressive. Yeah, Pryor is on him and Reich for starting him. It was an analytics move that backfired pretty impressively. Guy isn't perfect, no GM is

.

I agree, which is why IMO we should have drafted Darrisaw in '21, or at least kept Fisher on until Raimann was ready.

No one is expecting Ballard to be perfect, but we should expect him to learn from his mistakes. And while he may have admitted he fucked up on the OL last offseason his complete lack of investment in the OL this offseason shows he hasn't learned from those mistakes.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

As stated in the other post I'm sure they'll be better. Until the injuries hit and then they'll probably be really bad again. Also, hate to brake the news to you guys but this improvement by the OL in the 2nd half of the season really wasn't all that great. At least from a pass blocking standpoint. Our OL gave up 25 sacks in the final 8 games after Pryor was benched, which prorates to 53 for a 17 game season. That would have ranked them as the 4th worst in the league instead of 2nd.



Ebron was a good pickup, and Hines and Doyle were good that year too. I recall that the offense struggled until Inman came in and gave Luck at least a dependable WR2. Either way, the fact that Ballard ignored WR early on and royally fucked up by passing on all 3 of Samuel, AJ Brown, and Metcalf in the 2nd round in 2019 are 2 big contributors as to why we have such an underwhelming and thin WR group.

.

I agree, which is why IMO we should have drafted Darrisaw in '21, or at least kept Fisher on until Raimann was ready.

No one is expecting Ballard to be perfect, but we should expect him to learn from his mistakes. And while he may have admitted he fucked up on the OL last offseason his complete lack of investment in the OL this offseason shows he hasn't learned from those mistakes.

Had he drafted a WR that year, everyone would have jumped on the "he did nothing about xxxxx that year. It is easy to look back and say what could have been done. It is another to live with your decisions and move forward.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

As stated in the other post I'm sure they'll be better. Until the injuries hit and then they'll probably be really bad again. Also, hate to brake the news to you guys but this improvement by the OL in the 2nd half of the season really wasn't all that great. At least from a pass blocking standpoint. Our OL gave up 25 sacks in the final 8 games after Pryor was benched, which prorates to 53 for a 17 game season. That would have ranked them as the 4th worst in the league instead of 2nd.

Because we were starting a rookie on the left side and Q was injured. Kelly didn't help things with whatever was up with him. The rookie was going to make rookie mistakes. However, Smith returned to form as a top ten RT. And by the end of the year, Raimannn was in the top three of rookie LT's.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

Ebron was a good pickup, and Hines and Doyle were good that year too. I recall that the offense struggled until Inman came in and gave Luck at least a dependable WR2. Either way, the fact that Ballard ignored WR early on and royally fucked up by passing on all 3 of Samuel, AJ Brown, and Metcalf in the 2nd round in 2019 are 2 big contributors as to why we have such an underwhelming and thin WR group.

I'm sure 29 other GM's have regrets about players they should have taken. Draft is a numbers game. You are not going to hit on every player. But Ballard has already proven to be one of the best drafters in the league.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

I agree, which is why IMO we should have drafted Darrisaw in '21, or at least kept Fisher on until Raimann was ready.

No one is expecting Ballard to be perfect, but we should expect him to learn from his mistakes. And while he may have admitted he fucked up on the OL last offseason his complete lack of investment in the OL this offseason shows he hasn't learned from those mistakes.

Maybe, of course everyone would be complaining about DE then. Paye had six sacks last year and looked like he was going to take a step till injury. I hope he turns the corner this year, he is already a great run defender. What I do like is they had Darisaw and Paye even with each other on their board, just DE won out with positional value. But they seem to be targeting the right players. So if Raimann turns out as he is trending, they found a LT and a DE with both picks.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Because we were starting a rookie on the left side and Q was injured. Kelly didn't help things with whatever was up with him. The rookie was going to make rookie mistakes. However, Smith returned to form as a top ten RT. And by the end of the year, Raimannn was in the top three of rookie LT's.

They were starting a rookie LT because of Ballard’s previous “kick the can down the road” mentality.

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Maybe, of course everyone would be complaining about DE then. Paye had six sacks last year and looked like he was going to take a step till injury. I hope he turns the corner this year, he is already a great run defender. What I do like is they had Darisaw and Paye even with each other on their board, just DE won out with positional value. But they seem to be targeting the right players. So if Raimann turns out as he is trending, they found a LT and a DE with both picks.

Considering his previous inability to address DE and his handling of Denico Autry you are likely right. He put the team in a position where they had nothing at DE going into that draft. It’s a consequence of Ballard’s methods.

Ballard has drafted individual players fairly well, what he hasn’t done is assemble good teams. His major hits are almost all at positions that are devalued in the current NFL. And he leaves gaping holes to be addressed later. He also gifts positions to his players and is also nearly allergic to mid level vets. We’ll see how Paye and Raimann turn out and that may change the dynamic some. No matter how you slice it though Ballard has been in charge of the Colts for 6 years the team currently has no proven top end players at the most important positions in football - QB, LT, DE, WR, CB. Some decent players. Some players with potential. No one you can bank on. It’s hard for me to agree that’s the product of a good GM.

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by rm1369

They were starting a rookie LT because of Ballard’s previous “kick the can down the road” mentality.




Considering his previous inability to address DE and his handling of Denico Autry you are likely right. He put the team in a position where they had nothing at DE going into that draft. It’s a consequence of Ballard’s methods.

Ballard has drafted individual players fairly well, what he hasn’t done is assemble good teams. His major hits are almost all at positions that are devalued in the current NFL. And he leaves gaping holes to be addressed later. He also gifts positions to his players and is also nearly allergic to mid level vets. We’ll see how Paye and Raimann turn out and that may change the dynamic some. No matter how you slice it though Ballard has been in charge of the Colts for 6 years the team currently has no proven top end players at the most important positions in football - QB, LT, DE, WR, CB. Some decent players. Some players with potential. No one you can bank on. It’s hard for me to agree that’s the product of a good GM.

Good shit

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by ChoppedWood

Good shit

Well, you got it right that it was shit.

[ChoppedWood]

Originally Posted by Racehorse

Well, you got it right that it was shit.

No, it's true. He has hit on some individual players but in total his model to build a team, has not produced results that translate to team success.

This isn't just some 1070 The Fan thing. I was just driving and one of the national shows was on (think it was the Spain and Fitz show), doing their run down of team predictions. They predicted us with 3 wins saying the roster is filled with holes and we may challenge AZ for the worst record this year. The summary statement- how can a GM be allowed to blame the retirement of a QB for the rest of the team being bad 5 years later and that's just acceptable as an excuse, and they laughed as they moved on. It's true. This team is not bad because Andrew Luck retired, this team is bad because the GM has not built a roster to compete in the modern day NFL.

AR and Steichen likely represent a transition into modern day football, which is great, but going into this season, this roster is not good and Ballard, via draft and FA, is the one that is responsible for that.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by rm1369

They were starting a rookie LT because of Ballard’s previous “kick the can down the road” mentality.




Considering his previous inability to address DE and his handling of Denico Autry you are likely right. He put the team in a position where they had nothing at DE going into that draft. It’s a consequence of Ballard’s methods.

Ballard has drafted individual players fairly well, what he hasn’t done is assemble good teams. His major hits are almost all at positions that are devalued in the current NFL. And he leaves gaping holes to be addressed later. He also gifts positions to his players and is also nearly allergic to mid level vets. We’ll see how Paye and Raimann turn out and that may change the dynamic some. No matter how you slice it though Ballard has been in charge of the Colts for 6 years the team currently has no proven top end players at the most important positions in football - QB, LT, DE, WR, CB. Some decent players. Some players with potential. No one you can bank on. It’s hard for me to agree that’s the product of a good GM.

Well said. What is just as concerning as Ballard's lackluster roster building skills is that he hasn't shown that he has learned from his mistakes. Something his homers on the board here not surprisingly fail to reply to when I bring it up.

[Oldcolt]

I agree with the sentiment that Ballard has done a lousy job of building a team, so far. I add so far because there are a ton of high upside guys that are starting their 2-4th year. If he hits on Dayo and Paye (a distinct possibility still-Dayo is 3 years from Achilles and should have his explosion back and Paye started to come on last year before his injury), hits on Raiman and AR then my ragging on Ballard would be bullshit (and I hope I get to eat that crow). As we sit here at this moment those players just have potential. I think this is a huge year for Ballard, some of these guys need to live up to their potential or Irsay will have some tough decisions to make.