If I’m Chris Ballard, I’ve got to decide if this year’s squad…

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by Racehorse

I think you are taking my statement much further than I meant. What I am saying is that we made moves for last season. If they see Buckner not returning to form, Ward retiring due to another concussion, and DJ not recovering to play as last year, it might be time to start a new window of opportunity with guys who can replace those three. If thy think they are on the roster now, no need to gut the team. If they do not see it happening soon, it would be time for a rebuild. Maybe Carlie sees Ballard and Shane as the guys to maneuver through it, but a lot of fans will bail on the team.

I guess my question is where do you stop? If you’re moving on from Jones, Ward, and Buckner, why hold onto Q, Jonathan Taylor, and Grover Stewart?

And, who makes the decision to initiate a rebuild? For any coach or GM, making even the more limited moves you suggest would amount to professional seppuku. Heads would roll after what amounts to a race to the bottom.

In practice, teams make the kind of assessments you suggest at the end of the season. Ownership decides if they want to make changes at Coach and GM. End of season meetings occur. The roster is put under a microscope, rosters are tweaked, decisions are made about which players to retain in free agency, veterans are eased out the door.

In the last few weeks, the Colts cut ties with Braden Smith, Zaire Franklin, MPJ, Kwity Paye, Nick Cross, and more.

Next year, they face decisions about Deforest Buckner and Q.

Suggestions like this give me a sense of deja vu. At the end of a 10-4 1971 season, 2 years after winning the Super Bowl, Bob Irsay fired Don Klosterman as GM and brought in Joe Thomas. After a slow start, Thomas fired his head coach and ordered the successor to bench his older players. After a 5-9 run, he fired the coach and shipped out stars like John Unitas, Earl Morrall, Tom Matte (RB), Bill Curry (C), Billy Newsome (DT), Norm Bulaich (RB), Jerry Logan (S), and others.

Joe Thomas was brilliant and was lucky that the trade of Newsome snagged the Saints 1st round pick which he used on Bert Jones. But, something was lost which was never recovered…organizational stability and the trust of the fans.

A couple of years later, Thomas was gone, after losing a power struggle with Ted Marchibroda. A few years after that, they folded their tent in Baltimore and decamped to Indianapolis.