Quite the debate on our favorite topic. While I've walked back my criticism of Ballard this year I still get what rn is saying that a lot of you guys are missing. Yes, Ballard has made a couple of "win now" moves at QB and w/ Defo. But he's sat on cap space and tried to fill gaping holes at other critical positions through the draft rather than FA and by doing so has cost the team wins. Examples are:
2020 - We were woefully lacking in playmakers at the receiver positions. We had an aging Hilton, a rookie MPJ, and a bunch of JAGs.
2021 - As pointed out by rn our DE situation in '21 was a shit show, and we could have been much better off going the FA route than trying to fill via the draft where we ended up w/ a couple of projects (one coming off a serious injury). Also, we were once again woefully lacking in playmakers at receiver having only MPJ, an even older (and injury prone) Hilton, and a bunch of JAGs.
2022 - While it got better towards the end of the season our OL was a shit show for most of the season b/c of how Ballard handled the LT position and somewhat the ROG spot as well (although the coaching staff had their fair share to blame at ROG). Also, again a lack of pass rush at DE and lack of weapons at receiver.
2023 Obviously our CB situation was really bad. We were better at DE and receiver but we still need more there.
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If I am remembering it right, Autry signed with Tennessee for the same money we offered.
And one thing you seem to forget is that every resource tat you use for one player has a domino effect on the resources you have for other players. It is highly likely that the resources needed to go get a stud pass rusher (if there was even one available at the time) may have cost us a different player. So, tell me who was available that off-season that you think Ballard should have gotten. It is easy to sit back and point a finger, but when you (collective you) do it, you never give names or scenarios that would have been possible.
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I alluded to it above, but the biggest name that sticks out to me is Trey Hendrickson, who was right there for the taking as a UFA in '21 and has been nothing but a stud for the Bungles since they signed him. To put it in perspective in the past 3 years Hendrickson has been 25-30% more productive than Paye and Dayo put together.
Another that sticks out is obviously the whole '22 LT shit show that we've beaten to death over past 2 years. The biggest head scratcher there is we probably could have just kept Fisher for what we gave Pryor, and maybe even less
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Anyway, to sum things up while I'm not as critical of Ballard as rn is, I do understand some of the points rn has been making and share in his concern that if/when the time comes and we're 1-2 players away that Ballard won't pull the trigger. Although hearing that we were outbidding the Texans for Hunter gives me hope that he will.