Gerald McCoy

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Generally I think Ballard is doing a great job. But if I had a criticism of him, it’s that he is reactive not preemptive when it comes to roster deficiencies. Year one, doesn’t do enough to fix the oline even though everyone knew it was a problem. Year two, doesn’t do enough for the pass rush even though everyone knew it was an issue. Is year three the interior dline?

True it does roll over. But are they just going to roll it over every year? Will they constantly be 40 50 60 million under the cap? I like signing our own guys but, does that mean we have to have 50 million in unused cap every year? Leonard’s class is still three years away. Teams that have talent rookie QBs try to max their window till that big contract comes. We have two all-pro rookies, a McCoy signing is not going to break the bank.

I don’t think that’s fair at all. When Ballard took over we were deficient in many areas – so to now single out the OL in year one to argue he didn’t do enough is silly. And to say that he didn’t address the pass rush in year two is also unfair – he drafted Turay and Lewis as part of his overall plan to build a long term sustainable team. To complain that he didn’t bring in a bunch of one year rentals or high priced free agents ignores the overall plan he has laid out repeatedly. And the plan is working by the way – we are far ahead of where almost everyone thought we’d be at this time.

As far as cap management, of course we won’t be $40M-$60M under the cap every year – that’s not the plan at all. It’s a temporary condition that will disappear in a couple of years when the Colts have to start issuing second contracts. Then you’ll be plenty thankful for the extra cap space Ballard has conserved.

The goal is to maximize team performance over the long term. Those of you who simply say we should blow out our cap space every year in pursuit of a championship THAT YEAR aren’t listening to what Ballard has been saying. That’s one approach, sure, but it’s a short term one that runs counter to the long term plans the guy has been outlining since he got to Indy. You can’t have it both ways.