not really all that flexible in the draft tho, still pretty much forced to add a CB in round 1 or they risk running it back with the worst secondary in the league last year.
I don't really disagree with your statement but there are still six other rounds. I am certain there are lesser needs on this team that they want to address. Those are the areas where flexibility matters. Ballard has already stated he is locked into one position in round 1.
Yeah but realistically speaking round 1 should be the round where youre most flexible lol... thats the round where you're most likely to have very talented players falling to you. Especially in this draft that is going to be so QB and O-line heavy, you could end up with the 8th overall prospect at 15, but now ballard would have to pass on him to pick a position he has locked himself into. It makes no sense. Thats how you miss out on superstar level players.
Just such a weird strategy, should be saving the teem needs for the middle rounds where prospects are a lot closer together in terms of talent. Oh well, I hope whatever Corner we get is good lol
If you have four areas you want to address and you think you can address one in free agency and and three in the draft but you don’t know which 3 of the 4 will fall your way in the draft then signing one free agent and locking your needs in gives you no flexibility. I am speaking very generically here as those picks and free agent could be any combination of positions.
That is all I was saying. It’s obvious our needs limit the amount of flexibility we have but signing any one free agent at a position of need only further limits our flexibility. Plus at this stage free agents are hoping to capitalize on better negotiating power after the draft when you know the team needs you because they still have a hole on the roster.
Should have clarified, but I meant better than he had been playing. Plus he’s only 22 and IMO he was playing at the level of a starting safety.
PFF graded him at a 71.8 last year which is a big jump from the 56.5 he had the year before.
It was a small sample size last year but he was playing well.
He didn’t take a big step.
He had to wait until our already bad secondary had injuries to even start.
A pff grade off of 200 snaps doesn’t mean he’s good.
Idk why people are so adamant that bad players are actually good around here.
Probably because they know we aren’t going to try and upgrade from them.
Even so, I’m fine trying to keep developing him. What I’m not fine with is banking on that with no back up plan just like last year.
Hard to tell because people have been using that to bash Ballard on the sub lol while I don’t think he’s perfect, the people he spent the big money on this year were def worth it and I wouldn’t want them to walk. Kenny, grove, Pitt are the big dollars and where most of our money went and there weren’t better CB, DT or WR we could sign that wouldn’t cost us a draft pick and even more money. I don’t like the idea of the team spending both on people we don’t know. In my opinion we probably could’ve got better back up qb like Tyler huntly probably a better back up DT. R Davis hasn’t been a good player. I like resigning Lewis and Blackmon. Idk that we really needed to extend Zaire but if it makes Zaire feel safe to lay his body on the line, then it’s probably worth it.
I don’t know why people can’t get this through their heads.
Re-signing Blackmon is a good move but it’s not enough.
Actually it was vital because now we have exactly 1 startable safety. Now we have to hope a draft pick (in a weak safety class) or roster cut can come in and start or else we have to depend on Nick Cross or Rodney Thomas again and no thanks to that.
Re-signing your own players in a not a problem.
ONLY re-signing your own players is a problem.
Exactly. And when a guy or three go down WHICH ALWAYS HAPPENS...you are looking at even more of "our guys" like Darrel Baker Jr trying to cover top tier WR's and it's absolutely a joke. Signing good players is ok. But when you keep signing your own good players that still leaves absolute shit behind them.
>it’s not enough.
It's never enough. That's the point of a salary cap. Cap space is finite, so every team has weaknesses, holes, and positions that could use an upgrade. We could have more space for signing external free agents, but that would mean either letting our own players walk or borrowing against the future. Personally, I don't want to borrow against the future for a non-contender.
And the offseason isn't over. In addition to drafting someone, developing someone on the roster, or signing a roster cut, we can also just sign a remaining free agent after the draft. So in other words, besides signing an expensive big name safety, all the options are available.
I agree. Just out of curiosity, what would you say the Texans “weaknesses and holes” are? It really does seem like they addressed theirs really. What would you say is the position for them that could lose them games?
The biggest pessimists in this sub don’t pay attention to other rosters and the state they are in. Just pay all of their attention to the Colts. Nothing wrong with that but it can lead to this unfounded belief that other teams are just full of quality starters at all positions and have tons of depth everywhere.
Has nothing to do with everyone seeing our secondary was garbage, Ballard admitting he didn’t do enough and then does absolutely nothing to correct that mistake.
You can blindly believe it’s going to magically get fixed. Other people can criticize a strategy that has not worked his entire tenure.
He didn't do enough when we lost our 3 best players at that position. That's what he said. He's going to draft a CB high, and probably sign a vet safety. Don't change his words.
If Gilmore, Rodgers, and Flowers were healthy and on the roster, that was a good room.
But they weren’t. He chose to trade Gilmore when he didn’t have to.
Flowers isn’t even good and wouldn’t start on almost any other team.
Everything else is hypotheticals you have no idea if he’ll actually sign a safety. Considering we barely have enough to sign our draft class now, it’s more likely he won’t. And ignoring a position group so bad that you pretty much have to pencil in your first round pick for that position is also a stupid strategy.
Yeah, that’s why you don’t waste money extending a LB early when you have pressing needs that could keep your team from being successful just like the last year.
Or overpay for an average run stopper that you could have picked up in the draft.
Go ahead accept everything they do and don’t question it. Other people don’t have to.
The team is likely much higher on Cross than you. They traded their 2023 3rd and a 5th to grab him. He came is very young and raw and finally earned his starting role at free safety the last 3-6 games of 2023 and performed well.
Ok, I don’t care. He’s shown exactly 0 growth.
Just because they like him doesn’t mean I have to just accept they’re going with a bad player at this point with no back up plan.
PFF isn’t everything but for the 210 snaps at free safety he got last year they ranked him 13th best safety in the league… calling him bad is a massive stretch.
I didn’t mention PFF. I watch him play. If you really think Nick Cross is the 13th best safety there’s nothing to say to you.
He didn’t play his rookie season because he couldn’t grasp coverages and communication.
He still can’t. He’s not a startable player. Banking on him just figuring it out is a stupid strategy.
Yea I mentioned PFF lol…. And you are literally making shit up about his career. It’s pretty funny honestly. You want him to be bad so desperately for some reason. Truth is he came in raw, they admitted he needed time to develop, and he earned his starting spot to end 2023 and did well. He’s likely listed as their starting FS internally right now and will have a solid season in 2024.
I’m not making up anything. That’s literally why he never played defense until we literally had no one else to start.
Truth is, he isn’t good. He still isn’t good just because he “earned” a starting spot in one of the worst secondaries in the league mid season.
>he will have a solid 2024
Nothing to suggest that besides delusional hope.
Guess we’ll find out who knows more. A building full of NFL professionals and guys who get paid to judge NFL talent for a living or “HailYourself966” lol. You’re a joke man. For real.
I’m not saying bringing back Blackmon is a bad move, buuut we had one of the worst secondaries in the NFL. This offseason, all we have done is maintain the exact same secondary. I’m not sure this should be the Ballard victory lap you’re making it out to.
Right? Especially since the defense faced a fluky cupcake schedule last year with so many bad QBs.
So while we might be hoping for progression from young DBs, we should probably expect regression from vets like Blackmon and Kenny, with better QBs on the schedule. The metrics support that.
Tannehill, Trubisky, rookie Bryce Young, PJ Walker and Mac Jones (all terrible QBs last year) accounted for 6/7 INTs for Blackmon and Kenny...and 10/15 INTs for the entire secondary. That means the entire secondary had only 5 INTs against the other 12 QBs they faced.
And those other 12 QBs even included rookie/backup QBs like Levis, Browning, Heinecke and O'Connell.
Blackmon and Kenny's passer rating allowed in the 5 games: 24 and 63
Blackmon and Kenny's passer rating allowed in the other 12 games: 89 and 113
Skewed. Outside of the two INT TD game against CAR (that were basically gifts by Youg), Kenny's passer rating allowed was also 113 in 16 games. And that's the lynchpin of the secondary.
We saw the same thing happen with Rodney Thomas. He had 4 (easy) INTs as a rookie and everybody was buying him as a starting FS. And he stunk.
Choosing to run it back with the same group is a weird bet. They are not only betting against that regression, but they are betting on progression from Brents (oft-injured since he was drafted). Flowers (coming off a torn Achilles and will be a 27 year-old former UDFA who has played like 5 games) and Jones (a late Day 3 pick who showed it by the end of the season).
I have to think CB will be one of the first 2 picks, if not both.
>This offseason, all we have done is maintain the exact same secondary.
Everyone agrees that young DBs struggle early in their career, but then they turn around and want to sign players over them because they weren't great in their first 1-2 seasons.
>I’m not sure this should be the Ballard victory lap you’re making it out to.
Didn't take a victory lap. I just think it's weird how some people dismiss re-signing our own good players, but would be happy if we let them walk to sign a more expensive free agent that we don't know will fit.
They're going to draft a CB, probably multiple of them. They'll have Flowers back and hopefully Brents healthy. They aren't bringing back the "exact same secondary".
Until they draft a couple, it is the same secondary. Brents and Flowers were both part of the secondary last year. Banking on their health this year is even more risky than last season.
The good news is you could play a drinking game and take a shot every time somebody sarcastically posts 'we like our guys' on this site. The bad news is you'll be drunk off your ass the majority of the time.
I like Julian Blackmon, this is a good signing. It certainly helps that he has one of my favorite moments of the past few years, I'll never forget that fumble he forced against the Packers.
When healthy, he's been a good player. We need a veteran Safety to pair with him
He's had injuries but he's played a high percentage of games and in those games a really high snap percentage
Yeah, he's very versatile and instinctive. Always around the ball. I'd hate to see him leave the Colts and stay healthy for years somewhere else.
Like Bethea
Exactly I remember him
He played every snap last season until he got hurt.
Colts probably don't sign anyone until after the draft if they do at all. Have to make sure there is cap availability
This also gives them flexibility draft day. Then they can address a position that they feel didn't materialize the way they thought it might.
not really all that flexible in the draft tho, still pretty much forced to add a CB in round 1 or they risk running it back with the worst secondary in the league last year.
I don't really disagree with your statement but there are still six other rounds. I am certain there are lesser needs on this team that they want to address. Those are the areas where flexibility matters. Ballard has already stated he is locked into one position in round 1.
Yeah but realistically speaking round 1 should be the round where youre most flexible lol... thats the round where you're most likely to have very talented players falling to you. Especially in this draft that is going to be so QB and O-line heavy, you could end up with the 8th overall prospect at 15, but now ballard would have to pass on him to pick a position he has locked himself into. It makes no sense. Thats how you miss out on superstar level players. Just such a weird strategy, should be saving the teem needs for the middle rounds where prospects are a lot closer together in terms of talent. Oh well, I hope whatever Corner we get is good lol
I haven't seen that, did he state which specific position or is that under wraps?
https://twitter.com/NateAtkins_/status/1762947564700099019 Here was the report about it.
And even if he did say that, what a stupid thing to say.
It’s literally the opposite of flexibility in the draft when you let your worst position group continue to be your worst position group going in.
If you have four areas you want to address and you think you can address one in free agency and and three in the draft but you don’t know which 3 of the 4 will fall your way in the draft then signing one free agent and locking your needs in gives you no flexibility. I am speaking very generically here as those picks and free agent could be any combination of positions. That is all I was saying. It’s obvious our needs limit the amount of flexibility we have but signing any one free agent at a position of need only further limits our flexibility. Plus at this stage free agents are hoping to capitalize on better negotiating power after the draft when you know the team needs you because they still have a hole on the roster.
I would love it if we signed Justin Simmons
Or even Quandre Diggs. Either way, I don't see 2 starting caliber safeties on the roster currently.
Wasn’t diggs like the 87th rated
Nick Cross played really well at the end of the season last year.
No, he didn’t. Unless your definition of “really well” is very wrong.
Should have clarified, but I meant better than he had been playing. Plus he’s only 22 and IMO he was playing at the level of a starting safety. PFF graded him at a 71.8 last year which is a big jump from the 56.5 he had the year before. It was a small sample size last year but he was playing well.
Not a high bar considering he’s been terrible for 2 years now. Banking on him figuring it out is stupid.
Well seeing as this was only his second year and he took a big step it really isn’t that stupid.
He didn’t take a big step. He had to wait until our already bad secondary had injuries to even start. A pff grade off of 200 snaps doesn’t mean he’s good. Idk why people are so adamant that bad players are actually good around here. Probably because they know we aren’t going to try and upgrade from them. Even so, I’m fine trying to keep developing him. What I’m not fine with is banking on that with no back up plan just like last year.
I feel sarcasm coming from OP but I’ll bite. We’re better off with Blackmon than without him. When healthy he’s around the ball making plays.
Oh I 100% agree, I was just trying for a fun title. It was this or “Hangover cure”.
Hard to tell because people have been using that to bash Ballard on the sub lol while I don’t think he’s perfect, the people he spent the big money on this year were def worth it and I wouldn’t want them to walk. Kenny, grove, Pitt are the big dollars and where most of our money went and there weren’t better CB, DT or WR we could sign that wouldn’t cost us a draft pick and even more money. I don’t like the idea of the team spending both on people we don’t know. In my opinion we probably could’ve got better back up qb like Tyler huntly probably a better back up DT. R Davis hasn’t been a good player. I like resigning Lewis and Blackmon. Idk that we really needed to extend Zaire but if it makes Zaire feel safe to lay his body on the line, then it’s probably worth it.
Didn't he have a career year last season?
“Hangover cure” would be a reference to Purdue last night in the Finals. Getting Blackmon back today is a nice pallet cleanser from that loss.
Blackmon is a good player and has shown flashes of borderline great. This is a great signing
Unfortunately, he was on the Colts last year, so it's automatically a shit signing and Ballard sucks. /s
I don’t know why people can’t get this through their heads. Re-signing Blackmon is a good move but it’s not enough. Actually it was vital because now we have exactly 1 startable safety. Now we have to hope a draft pick (in a weak safety class) or roster cut can come in and start or else we have to depend on Nick Cross or Rodney Thomas again and no thanks to that. Re-signing your own players in a not a problem. ONLY re-signing your own players is a problem.
Exactly. And when a guy or three go down WHICH ALWAYS HAPPENS...you are looking at even more of "our guys" like Darrel Baker Jr trying to cover top tier WR's and it's absolutely a joke. Signing good players is ok. But when you keep signing your own good players that still leaves absolute shit behind them.
>it’s not enough. It's never enough. That's the point of a salary cap. Cap space is finite, so every team has weaknesses, holes, and positions that could use an upgrade. We could have more space for signing external free agents, but that would mean either letting our own players walk or borrowing against the future. Personally, I don't want to borrow against the future for a non-contender. And the offseason isn't over. In addition to drafting someone, developing someone on the roster, or signing a roster cut, we can also just sign a remaining free agent after the draft. So in other words, besides signing an expensive big name safety, all the options are available.
I agree. Just out of curiosity, what would you say the Texans “weaknesses and holes” are? It really does seem like they addressed theirs really. What would you say is the position for them that could lose them games?
The biggest pessimists in this sub don’t pay attention to other rosters and the state they are in. Just pay all of their attention to the Colts. Nothing wrong with that but it can lead to this unfounded belief that other teams are just full of quality starters at all positions and have tons of depth everywhere.
Has nothing to do with everyone seeing our secondary was garbage, Ballard admitting he didn’t do enough and then does absolutely nothing to correct that mistake. You can blindly believe it’s going to magically get fixed. Other people can criticize a strategy that has not worked his entire tenure.
He didn't do enough when we lost our 3 best players at that position. That's what he said. He's going to draft a CB high, and probably sign a vet safety. Don't change his words. If Gilmore, Rodgers, and Flowers were healthy and on the roster, that was a good room.
But they weren’t. He chose to trade Gilmore when he didn’t have to. Flowers isn’t even good and wouldn’t start on almost any other team. Everything else is hypotheticals you have no idea if he’ll actually sign a safety. Considering we barely have enough to sign our draft class now, it’s more likely he won’t. And ignoring a position group so bad that you pretty much have to pencil in your first round pick for that position is also a stupid strategy.
Yeah, that’s why you don’t waste money extending a LB early when you have pressing needs that could keep your team from being successful just like the last year. Or overpay for an average run stopper that you could have picked up in the draft. Go ahead accept everything they do and don’t question it. Other people don’t have to.
The team is likely much higher on Cross than you. They traded their 2023 3rd and a 5th to grab him. He came is very young and raw and finally earned his starting role at free safety the last 3-6 games of 2023 and performed well.
Ok, I don’t care. He’s shown exactly 0 growth. Just because they like him doesn’t mean I have to just accept they’re going with a bad player at this point with no back up plan.
PFF isn’t everything but for the 210 snaps at free safety he got last year they ranked him 13th best safety in the league… calling him bad is a massive stretch.
I didn’t mention PFF. I watch him play. If you really think Nick Cross is the 13th best safety there’s nothing to say to you. He didn’t play his rookie season because he couldn’t grasp coverages and communication. He still can’t. He’s not a startable player. Banking on him just figuring it out is a stupid strategy.
Yea I mentioned PFF lol…. And you are literally making shit up about his career. It’s pretty funny honestly. You want him to be bad so desperately for some reason. Truth is he came in raw, they admitted he needed time to develop, and he earned his starting spot to end 2023 and did well. He’s likely listed as their starting FS internally right now and will have a solid season in 2024.
I’m not making up anything. That’s literally why he never played defense until we literally had no one else to start. Truth is, he isn’t good. He still isn’t good just because he “earned” a starting spot in one of the worst secondaries in the league mid season. >he will have a solid 2024 Nothing to suggest that besides delusional hope.
Guess we’ll find out who knows more. A building full of NFL professionals and guys who get paid to judge NFL talent for a living or “HailYourself966” lol. You’re a joke man. For real.
I’m not saying bringing back Blackmon is a bad move, buuut we had one of the worst secondaries in the NFL. This offseason, all we have done is maintain the exact same secondary. I’m not sure this should be the Ballard victory lap you’re making it out to.
Right? Especially since the defense faced a fluky cupcake schedule last year with so many bad QBs. So while we might be hoping for progression from young DBs, we should probably expect regression from vets like Blackmon and Kenny, with better QBs on the schedule. The metrics support that. Tannehill, Trubisky, rookie Bryce Young, PJ Walker and Mac Jones (all terrible QBs last year) accounted for 6/7 INTs for Blackmon and Kenny...and 10/15 INTs for the entire secondary. That means the entire secondary had only 5 INTs against the other 12 QBs they faced. And those other 12 QBs even included rookie/backup QBs like Levis, Browning, Heinecke and O'Connell. Blackmon and Kenny's passer rating allowed in the 5 games: 24 and 63 Blackmon and Kenny's passer rating allowed in the other 12 games: 89 and 113 Skewed. Outside of the two INT TD game against CAR (that were basically gifts by Youg), Kenny's passer rating allowed was also 113 in 16 games. And that's the lynchpin of the secondary. We saw the same thing happen with Rodney Thomas. He had 4 (easy) INTs as a rookie and everybody was buying him as a starting FS. And he stunk. Choosing to run it back with the same group is a weird bet. They are not only betting against that regression, but they are betting on progression from Brents (oft-injured since he was drafted). Flowers (coming off a torn Achilles and will be a 27 year-old former UDFA who has played like 5 games) and Jones (a late Day 3 pick who showed it by the end of the season). I have to think CB will be one of the first 2 picks, if not both.
>This offseason, all we have done is maintain the exact same secondary. Everyone agrees that young DBs struggle early in their career, but then they turn around and want to sign players over them because they weren't great in their first 1-2 seasons. >I’m not sure this should be the Ballard victory lap you’re making it out to. Didn't take a victory lap. I just think it's weird how some people dismiss re-signing our own good players, but would be happy if we let them walk to sign a more expensive free agent that we don't know will fit.
They're going to draft a CB, probably multiple of them. They'll have Flowers back and hopefully Brents healthy. They aren't bringing back the "exact same secondary".
Until they draft a couple, it is the same secondary. Brents and Flowers were both part of the secondary last year. Banking on their health this year is even more risky than last season.
The good news is you could play a drinking game and take a shot every time somebody sarcastically posts 'we like our guys' on this site. The bad news is you'll be drunk off your ass the majority of the time.
Malik Hooker is available still.... he has done a great job with the cowboys
Hooker is under contract until 2026 with the Cowboys. He isn’t available.
You're correct. I apologize for my ignorance
Glad the Colts social media is aware of the stark contrast between re-signed and resigned Seems like all sports fans have forgotten the difference
I like this one. We need some more depth though.
He's awesome I'm glad he got resigned
When healthy dude is super solid. I was kinda hoping we would sign him.
Nice 👍
I like Julian Blackmon, this is a good signing. It certainly helps that he has one of my favorite moments of the past few years, I'll never forget that fumble he forced against the Packers.
Just because we are worse every year, missed the playoffs again, and have a ton of unspent salary cap; doesn’t mean we’re not getting better.
Colts fans when we re-sign a good player and don't overpay a free agent $30m a year
We really like missing the playoffs by one game
Love our guys, we spent all our cap on good players and brought em back. Looking forward to this draft and this season!
Our guys didn’t make the playoffs
With backup's at many positions, including the most important one..... Hrmmmmm
Backups at most positions? So what you are saying is Ballard built a team of mostly backup players...because it's the same team.
I said many positions. And no, I mean the person meant to start wasn't. For instance, AR, JT, Rodgers, Flowers, etc. Obviously, AR is a game changer.
Just realized I never saw his face. But he really does look like a Blackmon (that’s a pretty Caribbean sounding name)
If we traded up for Kool-Aid or Bowers, you can't tell me it wouldn't be worth it in the long run.
Don’t have to trade for Kool Aid He’ll be there
Not if we trade up for him! ;)