Quote:
Originally Posted by GoBigBlue88
It's lack of talent and the thing I'm most critical of Ballard for. He seems to be either/or in free agency vs draft so far. I think most of us would agree: both can complement each other, and signing a free agent doesn't mean throwing away a youth-based build.
I look at it this way: your WR2 opposite Hilton wasn't, at any point in this roster's evolution, a long-term investment solution. Ryan Grant is a young player you want to mold into a future WR2. Neither is Chester Rogers at this point etc. MAYBE you could argue Deon Cain, but I would argue back: he was a 6th round pick and the Colts were HOPING he could flash as he did in camp, but that was always going to be a crapshoot.
So if you weren't impeding anyone else developing at that spot anyway (and even Cain, again, would have probably been a 2019 or beyond development target): why not sign Allen Robinson or someone similar to front-loaded deal instead of sitting on all this cap space?
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Allen Robinson was coming off an ACL tear, he's not having a particularly great season thus far, and I don't trust that this team would've even kept him on the field.
That said, I'm hoping the reason Ballard squirreled away that cap space is that he's planning to spend it on some of the defenders that could hit free agency this year. You have almost all of last year's tag guys, Suh, Clowney, and a couple more who could all make very interesting free agent targets. Getting Lawrence and Clowney would be ideal, and is possible with nearly $90 million of cap space. That would also allow the Colts to consolidate their top 3 picks if necessary to get their preference of Ed Oliver or Nick Bosa.