2022 NFL Free Agency

[Puck]

Originally Posted by apballin

What the fuck is wrong with Mayfield?

He could very easily be the answer we’ve been searching for at qb for the next 5 years easily

This revolving door QB has got to stop

He is not a very good QB. He is on a loaded Cleveland team and has had 1 winning season.

He is always at odds with someone.

He is going to cost us draft picks and then have to re negotiate his contract next yr. He will either want paid big or will sign with someone else.

He is not worth anything more than a 3rd rd pick IMO and we will still need to draft a QB either this yr or next. He has a big arm, but is always hurt

Does't seem like it's a race between teams to trade for him. Otherwise he would already be gone. Cleveland has already traded for Brissett to be the backup.

If you want the revolving door at QB to stop then you should not want Baker

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by Puck

He is not a very good QB. He is on a loaded Cleveland team and has had 1 winning season.

He is always at odds with someone.

He is going to cost us draft picks and then have to re negotiate his contract next yr. He will either want paid big or will sign with someone else.

He is not worth anything more than a 3rd rd pick IMO and we will still need to draft a QB either this yr or next. He has a big arm, but is always hurt

Does't seem like it's a race between teams to trade for him. Otherwise he would already be gone. Cleveland has already traded for Brissett to be the backup.

If you want the revolving door at QB to stop then you should not want Baker

I’d rather have Baker than Matt Ryan. Ryan will be 37 years old in May. He’s Philip Rivers 2.0.

At least with Mayfield you’re getting a guy who could get better.

[Puck]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

I’d rather have Baker than Matt Ryan. Ryan will be 37 years old in May. He’s Philip Rivers 2.0.

At least with Mayfield you’re getting a guy who could get better.

Then just draft a QB.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Puck

Then just draft a QB.

I’m not opposed to it, but it’s what they should have done 2 years ago. Do you see someone realistic in this draft or are you wanting to tank this season and draft a rookie next year?

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

Damn, dude. Why strawman? I thought for a minute we were having an honest discussion and disagreeing. Knock yourself out if you want to go this route.

Sorry. I was trying to point out how ridiculous it is to include players who might need to be re-signed in 3 and 4 years as a factor in why we can't spend current cap dollars, and my smartassness kicked in a bit much.

All joking aside here are my responses to your post:

A.) Ballard never goes out and gets players

Relatively speaking he doesn't. Here is the list of FAs of note that Ballard has brought in since 2018 (excluding the bargain basement depth signings that is standard for every team and minimal cap impact):

Denico Autry (2018) - 3 yrs/$18M
Eric Ebron (2018) - 2 yrs/$13M
Ryan Grant (2018) - 1 yr/$5M
Devin Funchess (2019) - 1 yr/$10M
Justin Houston (2019) - 2 yrs/$23M
Philip Rivers (2020) - 1 yr/$25M
Xavier Rhodes (2020) - 1 yr/$3M
Trey Burton (2020) - 1 yr/$.9M
Eric Fisher (2020) - 1 yr/$8.4M
Brandon Facyson - 1 yr/$3.8M

So basically in 5 years running now Ballard has brought in 2 FAs that weren't lower cost value signings or 1 year band aids (and technically Rivers was a 1 year band aid)

B.) All of the holes on this team need to be filled by free agents right now

While this is true, Ballard has shown a distinct trend to either ignore the teams needs or rely on the upcoming draft and/or band aid signings to fill those needs.

Take for instance pass rush. It was clear that we needed an upgrade at pass rush coming out of '20 even before the guys who were 2nd and 3rd on the team in sacks were allowed to walk (Houston and Autry). Now letting them walk in and of itself wasn't horrible (although turns out letting Autry go was a mistake), but the need to add pass rush became even more of a priority after that. So what does Ballard do to address it? He adds a bargain basement depth guy (Rochell) and drafts 2 projects. Turns out, at least in the short term, that didn't work out at all as our pass rush was pretty much non-existent throughout '21.

C.) Some of these guys who signed with other teams would've been signed by the Colts if you were GM

This is a good point. I get that in our current situation we would have to way overspend to bring in a guy like Robinson over the LAR. But that always hasn't been the case, and Ballard could still bring in guys to fill team needs.

Here's a great example of someone Ballard should have brought in last year: Trey Hendrickson. We were in dire need of pass rush, had cap space going into FA, and Hendrickson was coming off a year where he had 13.5 sacks, 12 TFL, and 25 QB hits. The Bungles signed him for 4 yrs/$60M with $16M guaranteed. At the time the Colts were a more attractive landing spot since we had come off an 11 win season and it looked like we had adequately backfilled Rivers at QB. The Bungles on the other hand were coming off back to back terrible seasons (2 and 4 wins) and while they had Joe Burrow at QB he was a big question mark at least for '21 as his knee had been pretty much blown up in Nov. '20. One would think if we had offered a similar deal Hendrickson would have signed here.

Hendrickson rewarded the Bungles with 14 sacks/12 TFL/27 QB hits in the regular season and had 3.5 sacks in the playoffs. If we had added that type of production to our shit show pass rush then we're certainly in the playoffs and quite possibly win the division.

That's the type of signing Ballard needs to be making.

One other thing I'd like to add. Our complete lack of activity in FA is pointing to that the FO has decided that '22 could very well be a throw away year. It doesn't necessarily mean that yet, but as each day ticks by it's looking more and more likely. This is one reason why some of us are so pissed and shouldn't be happening in a GM's 6th year.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

I’d rather have Baker than Matt Ryan. Ryan will be 37 years old in May. He’s Philip Rivers 2.0.

At least with Mayfield you’re getting a guy who could get better.

It's a shitty situation with no great choice.

I hear the Ryan skepticism. Like I said, I've never been a big Ryan fan. And the age is a concern. But there's something about these high draft pick guys getting bailed on that I just don't like. Winston, Mariota, Goff, Mayfield, Wentz... we saw first-hand what a reclamation project feels like. Especially if there's a mental/attitude/maturity issue which is what I keep reading.

Glass half-full on Ryan is... He'll be 37. That's two years older than Stafford was last year. But it's two years younger than Rivers when he was here. Rivers' noodle arm got us to 11-5 (I don't know if Ryan's arm is shot, somebody here said it was). If he's not broken and wants to play two or three more years, next year's draft is supposed to be pretty deep at QB.

But you could make a case going the other way, too.

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by Puck

Then just draft a QB.

The odds of drafting one who is even as good as Mayfield are astronomically low, especially in this draft when they don’t have a first rounder.

That’s not improving the position, that’s throwing a dart at the board from 100 feet away.

[apballin]

Everyone calm the fuck down, there’s still plenty of good free agents available this season is not a total loss and no fuckin way they’re considering that

I still believe we’ll get a couple more impact guys and this team will be in the playoffs again

We’re fine we got rid of Wentz and picked up Ngakwe, address LT which I believe they will and QB ofcourse

Ballard will get this shit right I still believe in him

[Brylok]

They're just sitting there doing nothing. Why should any of us care anymore?

[Puck]

Originally Posted by rm1369

I’m not opposed to it, but it’s what they should have done 2 years ago. Do you see someone realistic in this draft or are you wanting to tank this season and draft a rookie next year?

I think that either Pickett or Ridder would be worth a pick. Roll with them this r and if it doesn't work out draft another in 23 when we have a 1st round pick to be able to move up.

Then let one of those two replace Sam as backup if they are better

I'd take Mariota or Winston over Baker for many many reasons but mostly because we don't have to trade any picks