03-14-2019, 08:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VeveJones007
I'll also say this: there is a fundamental difference in how Ballard is constructing this roster compared to Polian. Ballard is emphasizing inside-out, particularly on the line of scrimmage.
For sake of comparison, here's the draft capital (1st & 2nd rounders) Polian/Ballard invested in the lines early in their tenures. Note that this includes Polian's first 7 years compared to Ballard's first 2 years:
OL: 0/2 (Nelson, Smith)
DL: 2 (Freeney/Tripplett)/2 (Lewis/Turay, though I expect this to be 4 in six weeks)
Ballard has also made it an emphasis to add former high draft picks to the DL (Sheard-2nd, Hunt-2nd, Ward-2nd).
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When Polian first got here he went out and got FA's like Bratzke and Cota to shore up the talent differential. He only went solely to the draft after they signed their star players to contracts and did not have as much cap room. That strategy eventually failed because they were not drafting as well. Would Polian have sat on a hundred million in this case especially after getting spanked in the playoffs?
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