Colts cuts to 53

[njcoltfan]

Originally Posted by JesusChrist

It doesn't matter whose call it was. Ballard set the tone on how this team would be ran and judged when he was hired in that press conference, and he said no favorites would be played, that the players knew if someone didn't earn it and he didn't want that culture. He said players would earn those spots. So no matter who made these calls, it's clearly not what Ballard preached, because lesser players are being kept and players producing are getting cut.

Tell me that Basham earned a spot on this roster.

I can tell you that, but I’d be lying 🤥

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by JesusChrist

It doesn't matter whose call it was. Ballard set the tone on how this team would be ran and judged when he was hired in that press conference, and he said no favorites would be played, that the players knew if someone didn't earn it and he didn't want that culture. He said players would earn those spots. So no matter who made these calls, it's clearly not what Ballard preached, because lesser players are being kept and players producing are getting cut.

Tell me that Basham earned a spot on this roster.

But Ballard said, basically, in the piece above that although Simon is better right now, they think Basham(lol) and Turay will be better down the line.

That’s the opposite of “earning” your spot.

That reeks of hubris to me. “The guys I drafted are better than some guy i signed off the street”.

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by JesusChrist

It doesn't matter whose call it was. Ballard set the tone on how this team would be ran and judged when he was hired in that press conference, and he said no favorites would be played, that the players knew if someone didn't earn it and he didn't want that culture. He said players would earn those spots. So no matter who made these calls, it's clearly not what Ballard preached, because lesser players are being kept and players producing are getting cut.

Tell me that Basham earned a spot on this roster.

Simon is not an all pro. He has 15 sacks in his entire career. IF you keep Simon, the young guys will get less playing time. Less practice time. Simon is a known quantity and these young guys much have more ability, but less experience. It's not baseball, where guys have the minor leagues to learn. Its a much shorter clock for a career. You can't teach athletic ability and youth. They kept the talent.

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

That reeks of hubris to me. “The guys I drafted are better than some guy i signed off the street”.

Ballard has cut people from last years squad that he drafted. He took the blame for trying to convert Green from safety to CB. He has shown he can make the tough decision. And he will be wrong on some of this.

Hubris is when someone on the internet claims to know more about a team than the guy running it.

[Indiana V2]

Originally Posted by JAFF

Simon is not an all pro. He has 15 sacks in his entire career. IF you keep Simon, the young guys will get less playing time. Less practice time. Simon is a known quantity and these young guys much have more ability, but less experience. It's not baseball, where guys have the minor leagues to learn. Its a much shorter clock for a career. You can't teach athletic ability and youth. They kept the talent.

Did they keep the talent? I haven't been impressed with many of these guys they kept, I was more impressed with several that they cut

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Indiana V2

Did they keep the talent? I haven't been impressed with many of these guys they kept, I was more impressed with several that they cut

What we see in games is a small sample of what goes on with a team. It's more than just running and hitting people.

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by JAFF

Ballard has cut people from last years squad that he drafted. He took the blame for trying to convert Green from safety to CB. He has shown he can make the tough decision. And he will be wrong on some of this.

Hubris is when someone on the internet claims to know more about a team than the guy running it.

Nah, hubris is convincing yourself that Basham will help the team more, at ANY point, than John Simon would have.

[Oldcolt]

I absolutely love you guys. After 4 preseason games with a brand new staff and a huge turnover it is clear that Ballard is a failure. The evidence is clear. He disagrees with who should be the 51,52 and 53 guy on the team with some of you. It is so obvious that he can't evaluate players worth a shit, just look at all the other gm's in the league who hit on what, 80-90 percent of their draft picks? Ballard is such an idiot he is keeping players he thinks may develop into something big with some coaching. We know that won't happen. He needed to keep older players who are better now but have hit there peak. Don't give the playing time to younger guys even though we won't reach the heights we all want to get to with the old dudes. Look, I don't want to come off as loving Ballard. I like how he appears to be about as honest as a gm can be. I have very little idea of how good he is at most of this stuff because he doesn't have a track record as a gm. This was his first draft with his own scouting department He did great getting extra picks etc. The problem is that none of us have any idea of how good those picks will be. Some have not even played due to injury. I'll say that the first two picks look like they may be special. Ballard may suck, he may be average or really good. It's to early to tell. Lets see where this team is after they play 16 games. Gonna be fun to watch.

[Maniac]

Originally Posted by JAFF

You can't teach athletic ability and youth. They kept the talent.

I think we heard that before, oh yeah, TJ Green.

It's not about Simon, btw. It's about Ballard and his staff not following through on how he preached this team would be ran.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by JAFF

Simon is not an all pro. He has 15 sacks in his entire career. IF you keep Simon, the young guys will get less playing time. Less practice time. Simon is a known quantity and these young guys much have more ability, but less experience. It's not baseball, where guys have the minor leagues to learn. Its a much shorter clock for a career. You can't teach athletic ability and youth. They kept the talent.

I’ll apologize at the beginning of this. This will be way to long and I know many will skip it because of it. But I just can’t express my thoughts on this effectively in a short sound bite so I’m going to rant a little.

Look, I get that Simon isn’t an all pro and he’s not some impact player that individually will swing the teams win / loss record in any meaningful way. But it isn’t just about Simon. Its about the overall direction that Ballard is taking. Simon is just another symptom of that. It’s that the team is, IMO, worse at this moment than it should be - even while accounting for rebuilding. And I believe it’s significantly worse than it could be if Ballard wasn’t hell bent on his 4 yr rebuild. If it wasn’t for Luck I could possibly get behind Ballard’s vision. I just can’t with Luck in place. Luck gives this team a chance to win every time he steps on the field and I think it is crazy to disregard the advantage he gives the team and the gift Ballard has been given as a GM to inherit him. And I think Ballard is almost criminally negligent in ignoring the fragility of that gift and for putting it at risk by trotting out a shit roster around him and willingly wasting years.

We are just months removed from there being serious questions about whether or not Lucks career would be in jeopardy. And there is still at least a slight question in everyone’s mind that he may not be the same player he was before the injury. So it just blows my mind that Ballard can cut better performing players, ignore free agency, and play a long game knowing that it’s at least 3 years of what should be the prime of Luck’s career. I’m one that has called Ballard arrogant. I will acknowledge that in his job you need someone with a vision. You need someone that makes tough decisions, can ignore all the noise, and say it’s my job and my decision. That’s not why I believe Ballard is arrogant. I believe Ballard is arrogant because his approach says that he and is vision are more important than Andrew Luck to the Indianapolis Colts. And he and it are not, plain and simple.

This is all now just compounded by Ballard talking the talk but not walking the walk. You can preach to me all you want about how these younger guys will be better long term for the team and Ballard believes this and that’s why he’s made the moves he has. But I will tell you that every single GM that has ever cut a performing veteran to keep one of their draft picks who hasn’t shown anything has also rationalized why they did it and it is never different than what Ballard has said - that he felt it was best for the team in the long run. But go back to Ballard’s own words. He specifically said that you can’t talk it and not live it because the guys in the locker room know who earned their spots and who didn’t. And I believe he is absolutely right. I gaurentee you that Luck, Hilton, Castanvo, and Adam V know that Simon earned his spot. I gairentee you that they would rather get on the field with Simon and several others that have been let go than those Ballard has kept. And the younger guys know it to.

Ballard constantly talks about building the right culture and uses it as an excuse for not pursuing free agents now. It’s now to the point that I have to question the culture he’s building. From what I’ve seen it’s not a winning one. On winning teams performance is what counts. You earn your spot. Veterans aren’t moved out in mass to make it easy for young guys to shine. But that is exactly the culture that is being built. It’s not one of performance it’s one of potential. Up to this point I haven’t said that Ballard’s approach won’t eventually work, just that I didn’t think it was right with having a franchise QB in place. But I’m now starting to question if it will ever work, because I’ve seen teams to try this approach and I can’t remember it ever working. Experience and competition count and Ballard talks about it but he isn’t providing it. I mean Jesus, the entire LBing corps have like 6 career starts between them. And other than Leonard they have no pedigree either. They are not top draft picks you expect to contribute right away. They are cast aways and undrafted free agents. I’m sorry, but that is not meaningful fucking competition. Same at WR except Ty. Ballard talks a great game but he sure as hell isnt living it.

But he’s smart in one respect. I guess cunning may be a better word. Where he seems, IMO, to believe he is more important than Luck and is willing to throw meaningful years away, he at least seems to recognize that Luck will mask the shit show he’s putting out there for a large portion of the fan base. Luck will give the team the illusion of progress to most of the fan base and buy Ballard some time. He doesn’t come out and say it’s a 4 year rebuild he has the GM speak down pat. We are growing, improving. No short cuts. Can’t just be about Luck, have to give him help. After the Grigson fiasco fans are eager to eat it up. Tell them it will be 4 years and Luck will just have to suck it up and most would recognize the waste and revolt. But talk the talk well enough, let Luck do what he does - mask the obvious deficiencies - and you don’t have to walk the walk. You can cut better players, ignore free agency, and put out a worse roster and still be given the time to build what is truly important to the Indianapolis Colts - you and your vision for the future.

That’s my current feelings on Ballard. We are now stuck with him and his long term vision. I can only hope like hell that I’m wrong and people are calling me an idiot and throwing posts like this in my face in a year or two or three. But with each of these BS decisions he makes I see not just a direction I don’t agree with, but also a culture that I don’t agree with either. And I become more and more skeptical that I will ever have to eat crow on this. I’ll cheer like hell for all these young guys and pray I’m wrong. But I can’t put on blue hued glasses and ignore what I see.

Again sorry so long to anyone that actually read that, but I get frustrated seeing the sound bite arguments and not feeling like I’ve been able to actually get my point across to anyone.