[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

I understand the frustration, but there are a lot of factors that we don't and won't ever know. Yes, the Titans got him for a 3 next year, but the Chiefs may be thinking that it's very likely that the Titans will have a high pick next year. They may have wanted a 2025 2 from the Colts, since it's much more likely that the Colts will have a much lower pick than the Titans in 2025. Then there's the issues with Sneed. First, we have no idea what the medicals on his knee are, but apparently they were concerning for several NFL teams. Many of the same people who are complaining that Ballard didn't pull the trigger on this now are the same people who would say "Ballard got fleeced by the Chiefs" if he gave up next year's 2 and Sneed suffered a season ending knee injury in camp or at the beginning of the season. Finally, the Colts have a very unique disadvantage in the NFL, as they are the only team in a division where all of their division rivals don't have a state income tax, but they do. Which leads me to the other Sneed issue, contract compensation. We'll never know if the Colts were actually in on Sneed or not, but there were rumors at one point that he wanted 22m AAV, and he ended up signing for 19m AAV. Yes, those rumors could be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sneed would want more from the Colts than he would from the Titans to compensate for the tax difference.

If there were medical concerns then fair enough. The other possible excuses I'm not buying. We could have outbid Teen w/ a 3rd rounder this year or included a day 3 pick instead of a swap as the kicker, etc. Also, the IN income tax rate per the IN.gov website is 3.05%, which for $19M is $665K. Obviously to us that's a shit ton of money, but in terms of NFL salary cap it's a drop in the bucket.