Quote:
Originally Posted by Racehorse
I never said it was, but he is starting with the trenches to protect Luck, which is what everyone was clamoring for. I have a suspicion that he will go heavy on defense next year and we will have a young core to make for a successful team for quite a while. I think he may have brought in a FA and decided that the guy was not the right fit, so the only option was Nelson and Smith.
For the record, I was against Polian's draft only method. I do not think Ballard is going all in on the draft, but feel he is trying to establish a culture first and then will bring in FA players who can assimilate.
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I don’t buy the build the culture reason / excuse. Ballard has brought in some free agents, just relatively low cost ones. I believe he envisions a longer term rebuild of the roster than what he will readily admit. I’m talking 3 more years. If that is accurate then it makes perfect sense on why you wouldn’t sign any mid to upper tier free agents - they likely won’t be as effective when the team is peaking and, most importantly, they will lower the quality of the draft picks you get to rebuild with by making you more competitive more quickly.
But Ballard can’t come out and say that or the fan base will see they are wasting prime Luck years. So you get the GM speak and one year contracts. You push the learning and growing aspect. You claim you have to instill a winning culture first. But you don’t instill a winning culture by losing. And you don’t install one by handing out jobs to people. A winning culture is one of true competition, accountability, and earning your spot. Quality free agents wouldn’t keep you from building that. They would help by adding experience and upping the competition level. But you’d also win to quickly to build the dynasty Ballard envisions. That’s my belief of what’s going on. Time will tell I suppose.