Puck you cannot believe it is wrong to judge and argue over GMs in the NFL. It is what every fan base does and is an integral part of being a fan. It is a good argument for why you are correct, as you may be. However saying Ballard knows more than me is not only obvious and true, it is irrelevant since I am not arguing with him but with other ill informed (I assume) fans. Been judging GMs and players since I was 11 years old. They don't seem to give a shit.

Ballard fucking sucks.

IYAM, his mental failings are about maturity. That can be fixed.

Maybe, but at the end of the day, you are either a football player, or you're not.

rue. I was jest remembering him saying that the NFL was easy when he first started with us. Then we have an apparent lack of work ethic. And then there is the tapping out. I think it is a little overblown, but he has to understand how his words and actions affect his leadership on the team. Maybe with a fresh start, he could fix those things I mentioned.

AR has big issues but what I’m talking about is being second or third string here. Any QB we have at that spot would have huge issues. Sounds like it’s a moot point anyway.

We resigned Mo. I like him in a blocking backup role.

AR may always be worthless, but I still can't wrap my brain around a trade at this time. Getting a draft pick that is almost a certainty to end up getting cut? Doesn't the cap hit remain the same whether he's on the team or not? Wouldn't we get a conditional pick next year if he's a free agent loss?

I don't see his being on the team a problem for DJ or Leonard. If anything, I would think Leonard would work harder if he felt he had competition for #2 from AR.

Bottom line, AR may never be a solid pro, but since there's nothing to gain by dumping him and the slightest of chances he may yet be productive, I say wait til next year to decide.

========================

OOPS, I JUST LOOKED IT UP, AND IF AR IS TRADED THE COLTS SAVE 5 MILLION, SO I WAS WRONG. I STILL DON'T THINK THEY SHOULD TRADE HIM.

This is kind of what I’ve decided. If you’re only getting a 6th or 7th round pick, just keep his ass. But I don’t think you get comp picks for back ups. I think the player has to be a starter or play a lot.

The Colts aren’t going to pick up his 5th year option either. I don’t know if that figures in or not.

The devil that you know vs the devil you don't?

This is true. But, we still need a backup NT for Grove, or Wooden will still have to play some NT.

It is early but I cannot see how we have improved at all. We are now weaker at linebacker (hard to believe), wide receiver, have no swing tackle and still don't have a pass rusher. That a lot of stuff to address. Been here before many times with this particular group that runs us now, thought they had a plan and turned out there was none. I hope there is one now but I believe that there probably isn't (not trying to be negative but I have believed so many times before and was always disappointed).

The linebacker group- oh my God that is poverty shit.

Ballard eats balls!

Hard to disagree with this. The only place we are objectively better is defensive tackle. Everything else is the same or worse.

How you frame it in your mind matters. A lot of people will say, as they have in years past, that Ballard sat on his hands and didn't get any difference makers. Because for some reason, Free Agents don't count if they were on your team last year.

The more accurate framing is that you likely got the #1 QB and the #1 WR available in the '26 FA class. Just pretend one came from Cincinnati and one came from Tampa Bay if it helps. And to do stuff like that, you don't get to keep your other $20m+ WR.

---

Anyway, to the substance of the point... I fucking hate losing Cross. As excited as I was for Wohler, that one will probably sting. Hopefully he's the rare type to be reliable right away.

LB is funny... Because it's simultaneously the biggest unknown and also one of the least worrisome positions to me personally. I guess it's the combination of ease of transition from college to pro, Lou's emphasis on DBs, and Ballard's track record at LB.

I think DL will be hammered in the draft. May luck into Grover's replacement, otherwise depth behind him and Buckner.

I see the same

I guess it makes the draft interesting. I don't know how they fill the holes either.

Or, you could frame it as we resigned two of the guys who helped lead us to an 8-9 record and no playoffs while letting their supporting cast get significantly worse.

That’s a more accurate representation.

I thought the idea of free agency was to improve your team. I am not sure how assuring you bring back the exact same players improve your team. I am glad (sort of , not thrilled about Jones but it is the best we can do) we signed who we wanted to but doing that isn't improving your team, it is making sure it doest get worse.

Spotrac
@spotrac
·
1h
6 Indianapolis #Colts players had contract triggers vest this weekend:

CB Charvarius Ward’s $12.9M 2026 salary now guaranteed

DL DeForest Buckner earned a $10M roster bonus

S Cam Bynum’s $10M 2026 salary now guaranteed

$8.3M of OL Bernhard Raimann’s 2027 salary now guaranteed

OL Quenton Nelson earned a $2M roster bonus

WR/KR Ashton Dulin earned a $340,000 roster bonus

The entire Colts universe just shit their pants for a month at the thought of Alec Pierce being lost to free agency. Are we going to act like he's a mediocre cog now?

And Daniel Jones did not lead us to 8-9. We were 8-2 before the leg break and just about every advanced metric had him at least top-5, if not leading.

---

As far as the supporting cast - I agree, we lost some guys that I hated to see go. Particularly Pittman, Cross, Smith, and even Paye (run D will be missed).

But saying "let" implies something that isn't there. Keep in mind, this is the GM and FO that constantly gets mocked for the "we like our guys" mantra. Not like don't try to keep them. It's a zero-sum game and QB/WR are two of the big-3 paid positions.

Not directed at you, but I do find it amusing to read a lot of guys who like to mock the "we like our guys", but are now complaining when we have to let our guys go.


I think the natural thinking makes it feel counterintuitive to consider them "additions"... but neither Jones nor Pierce were on the team after the season ended. That's your starting point.

Without that starting point, all of the subtractions and comparatively smaller signings are out of context. Then it looks like you just let a bunch of starters walk out the door for no reason other than to sign a bunch of smaller contract guys. That's not the case.

Chaos, I was comparing the team we put on the field last year with the team we will put on the field next year, not a hypothetical team that has 'lost' every free agent. Keeping the best players on your team is now what we cheer for? For me the question is, and it is the ONLY one that counts in my opinion, is have you actually improved the team you put on the field last year? These moves (Pierce, DJ) didn't move the needle an inch, they just kept it from nosediving. I am glad we got it done, it would have been a disaster otherwise. I am rooting for you to be correct. There is still time and I am just venting on how I think it is going so far, which is not so great.

I wish I had your optimism. Jones was playing well last year, that’s true, but he was playing better than he ever had before. And it was 7 years of mediocre play. Odds are he wasn’t going to continue to play that well.

Then he got hurt. Well, guess what, that’s what he does. He’s only ever finished one complete season healthy. That’s just who he is.

I just feel like we’re headed for another mediocre season.

Olubi signed with the Raiders.

o


Jones played 6 years for the Giants, not 7.

He had 5 mediocre seasons, and 1 season in which he got comeback player of the year in 2022.

The Giants were bad for 2 seasons before Jones got there when Eli Manning was their quarterback (2018 and 2019), and they were bad after he left when rookie Jaxson Dart was their quarterback (2025.) Their combined record in the 3 seasons combined before and after Daniel Jones was 12-37.


Jones had 1 good season and 5 mediocre seasons playing for bad Giants teams ...... he's not an elite quarterback, but he very well may be a Jim Plunkett-type of player who needs a good team around him in order to rise above the level mediocrity, as Plunkett did when he wound up with the Raiders after lingering for 7 seasons with bad Patriots and 49ers teams.

o

FWIW.

Adam Ferrell
@AdamFerrellNFL
·
1h
Report: After trading Justin Fields away the #Jets are now looking to acquire Anthony Richardson, per
@RichJohnsonNFL

I would say so, yeah. That's kind of my main point - people act like we're just entitled to keep our same roster from one year to the next. We're not. And signing those free agents is ultimately no less an achievement than signing guys from other teams.


I don't know that I'm overly optimistic. I'm just not the morbid kid from Kingergarten Cop who tells Arnold that his headache is probably a tumor. That kid exists in abundance online.

And I fully realize the players we've lost and the challenge of replenishing and upgraded. I just see the rationale behind the moves. Doesn't mean it's a slam dunk - it's obviously still a risk, but that goes without saying.

Chaos. Has there been a great player since Reggie White who has escaped their team in their prime? With the tools that modern GMs have at their disposal that is a rarity now. I really cannot give any serious props for that. We have been a middling team for 9 years. I fail to see how just keeping the same team intact gets us anywhere but middling. I actually think if we were having this conversation in person we would find a lot of common ground

We face no challenges that are unique. The measure of the front office is have they improved the roster by a measurable amount from the year before. I recognize this is quite a difficult task when you have a talented bunch that perform well and payoff in wins. Your players become more coveted and therefore more expensive. However, that can’t be said for a middle of the pack team that lacks talent. Every year a full quarter of the league will play in the divisional round. I’m not including the wild card round because some may argue that one and done does not qualify as success. How long has it been since we’ve played and won a divisional round game? I don’t care to even look because this team has been mired in mediocrity for so long that a wild card appearance would probably garner a ticker tape parade. The fact is teams build good rosters that are sustainable for reasonable lengths of time. We make bullshit excuses for this team and I have no idea why. Maybe since the Irsays don’t promote accountability we feel it’s illogical for anyone to. I don’t have much that would qualify me to do their job. But sometimes it’s what you don’t have that qualifies you. Those running the show on W 56th st. have a condition known as willful blindness. They seeming refuse to watch and learn what does and doesn’t work. The body of evidence speaks for itself. We’ve found success before and can do it again but it will require sound judgement and a willingness to adjust. My hope right now is that we somehow catch lightning in a bottle and we catch all the breaks for a year. I’d be happy to cheer for the blind squirrel at this point but I also hope that I never become satisfied with an inferior product.

To say that those who don't have torches and pitchforks out are happy with the records of the past few years. We are not. However, we do not see it as much of a doom and gloom situation like some do on here and other fan sites.

This makes sense to me as one of those doom and gloom people. I’m sick of being on this carousel as I’m sure everyone is

Honest question - you don’t see it as doom and gloom because you believe in what they have done and are doing? Or because you just always have a “this is our year” mentality and rarely criticize the team? I’m not saying that as a knock to that style of fandom. I’m just honestly trying to understand the continued Ballard support by some.

Fair enough. I didn’t mean to imply that they are happy. I was referring to those who every year refuse to acknowledge that things are going wrong. I don’t think you can paint the fans here with a wide brush. I was referring to a segment of our participants. Should’ve made that clear. In some years past I’d go whistling past the graveyard. I’m sure that’s true of many now. Im just past that. Others genuinely see the glass more full. We all have our own perspectives. I can respect that. I’ll be cheering for them.

This is a great question and I will answer after Race. Since you directed it to him

I am a generally positive person. I think the best of most people and situations. However, I knew that Polian turning the reigns over to his son was a bad idea. I figured out Grigson was not a good GM. I knew when it was time for Pagano and Reich to go. I think Caldwell got a raw deal. I had high hopes for Wentz, until he started playing like Will Levis. I had high hopes for Matt Ryan. I was rooting for Jeff Saturday, but it became very obvious that he was brought in to tank the season.

As for Ballard, I like a lot of his draft picks. I even think the AR pick was a good idea, but the execution of his development was where they went wrong. The guy needed reps, but he also needed to learn how to be a pro QB by sitting behind a guy like Rivers, Manning, Luck, Brady.

I know this was not directed at me but I am also a generally positive and upbeat fan of the Colts for now 42 years since they moved to Indy.

This off-season has not been a surprise to me at all. As I said in another thread, after living for decades with superior QB play and have now been searching for it again for 7 year since Luck retired, once they found someone whom they BELIEVE can deliver it again, they pushed all their chips in on him.

As much as I believe he is going to break our hearts, the Colts betting on Daniel Jones was a 100% guarantee once he showed he could execute the offense at a high level. There was zero chance that the Colts were not going to re-sign him after last season.

Along with that, there was zero chance that the Colts were not going to give it their best shot to re-sign Pierce as the new #1 WR because of the friendship and bond DJ and AP share.

And then, based on that, there was a 100% chance that Pittman was going to be traded to clear cap space to allow for those first two moves.

And, then based on having spent the bulk of available free agency money on those two players, I knew that the rest of our signings were going to be veterans whom are more "bit" players and not full time starters. That we were in talks with Hendrickson were gratifying and getting him would have been great but once he signed with BAL, well, then came the tier 2 players.

The only "surprise" of the off-season for me so far is letting Cross walk for $7m a year. They may have someone on the roster whom they think can replace him cheaper but I don't know who that is.

I am hopeful that it will work out for the Colts and while I beieve that it will not and that DJ will disappoint, I knew 100% that this was the path the Colts were going to walk on for the 2026 off-season.

So, why am I optimistic and upbeat on the Colts? Probably because I don't measure my enjoyment of the Colts only on Superbowl wins, playoff appearances or even wins some seasons.

I throughly enjoyed the second half of 2025 almost as much as the first half because we played a couple really close, competitive games as now the underdogs and almost got wins. Seeing young players step up and compete? Not win but compete? Yeah, I love watching that. I was against the Rivers experiment because I wanted to see more of Leonard but I still enjoyed watching Rivers grow as he threw a couple of really nice games while here at 79 years old! :)

Anyway, my gauge of fun while watching the Colts is not just rooted in wins or losses or playoffs or SB appearances. My fun is rooted in the game of football and win or lose, the Colts are my team.

That said, I am pretty much done with Ballard if the DJ experiment fails. NEXT! :)

Colts are signing Notre Dame alum Jerry Tillery for DL depth and a Notre Dame basketball player to try to learn the TE position.

https://x.com/RomeovilleKid/status/2033972990703005704

https://x.com/RomeovilleKid/status/2033978792843055543

https://x.com/RomeovilleKid/status/2033976513276649748

https://x.com/RomeovilleKid/status/2033977291458404665

Pinter is headed to Baltimore:

https://x.com/JFowlerESPN/status/2033966241560306004

https://x.com/jeffzrebiec/status/2033969168903438516

Colts add more to the secondary by signing another former Bengal


https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/2034006109929799981


https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/2034006749288575189

I like Pinter as a backup however if there is one position Ballard can draft and develop it is offensive lineman

I’d say he’s insurance for Ward and Walley but I like it

Racehorse and Shreck, I appreciate the responses and perspectives. And I’d love to hear Puck’s as well.

It doesn’t sound like we are that far off from each other. I thinks when you are as consistently critical as I’ve been, people believe you have unrealistic expectations and just complain about everything. I honestly don’t believe that is accurate for me. I don’t believe they should win the SB every year and I’ve never believed they should sign every big FA - things I’ve been accused of. I can love the down years, not just the winners. Hope is what I love about being a fan, often even more than the reality. I love watching a player and especially the team develop. Those years where you can see the small progress and you start projecting what they could become in the following years. Anticipating getting over that hump. That is where I think I’m the happiest as a fan honestly. The years where you KNOW they could win it all are great, but for me the hope and anticipation of those lesser years define fandom.

And that is largely why I’ve been so critical of Ballard. From his second offseason I’ve had no faith in his stated beliefs and philosophy so it’s been extremely hard for me to ever have hope. If his methods worked I’m more than capable of realizing I’m wrong. The problem is, that while I’ve been wrong on some individual moves, he has not really proven me wrong on his philosophy. The team has been almost exactly where I’ve said it would be when Chaka was on the board telling me I just couldn’t see the dynasty Ballard was building.


As far as this coming season, I’ve agreed it made sense to keep Ballard and Stechein at least one more year. I’m not a big believer in DJ, but you had to run it back with him to see. I think AP is probably overpaid (temporarily) but he was a must resign. And once they committed to AP they had to move on from MP. None of that is a major surprise or a major complaint. It’s just that I see almost nothing that gives me hope. Doing what you had to do is fine in some years, but there should be times you load up and go for it. Isn’t this one of them? It never seems to be with Ballard. It’s part of the philosophical disagreement I’ve always had with him. So again I can’t find much hope for the season. It sucks.