He was a model player at MSU after the high school incident. I don't think that will play as big of a factor as some think it will, because all of his coaches seem to give glowing reviews from a character perspective.

Kiling me smalls

Its 8:55 pm

Exactly. Its all monopoly money.

Shut up

Love this move

Are you guys husband and wife?

Err pass rusher at the end of his career. Houston might have more in the tank. It is not like 33 is the cut off point for pass rushers. Age catches up to guys at different points.

I think it’s pretty low risk, he will get spot duty and should be effective. Might even show the young guys a few moves.

And maybe Mathis can show him a few moves.

He just turned 30 too. Not like he is turning 31 to start the season. I'm betting dude has plenty!

It was before he even left for college. I’m ok with it. All the reports from college were glowing and he was a model player. At a certain point you have to forgive a kid for a mistake.

I was hoping for more free agent signings, but this one really helps.

Huge area of need.

Add in that this is supposed to be a huge draft class for pass rushers and the Colts can really upgrade that area of the team this offseason between this signing and the draft and not spend huge money for the future doing it.

My respect for Ballard continues to climb. Even more excited about the draft now.

What is your point? Ballard wasn't gm in KC.

He still could have had input on drafting Ford though, the GM doesn't do everything by themselves.

So the defensive linemen that we now have are:
Houston, Sheard, Autry and Hunt, that's probably our starting 4 right now. Then we have Turay, Muhammad, Lewis and Ward as the likely next guys up at each position, with Stewart and Ridgeway as our 9th and 10th guys.

We are talking about bringing in yet more additions via the draft at the edge and interior spots, we are going to be cutting some guys who have had some serious playing time in the league. My guess is that both Stewart and Ridgeway are looking doubtful to make the final roster with Muhammad and Ward also possibly struggling to make it. A good position to be in, but could we possibly be in a position where we are looking to trade some of the depth guys and seek some value in return? It is highly unlikely that we keep more than 8 guys, let alone 11 or 12.

Probably the problem with Grigson. He thought he could do it all himself and didn't care about anyones.input.

And? How does that really affect contract/trade negotiations for this offseason? Ballard has repeatedly said he has a price/value for everyone and wont exceed that.

I've stayed aloof about him and Ford. Both are obviously talented, and Houston is more proven, but I didn't know how well they'd make the transition to 4-3 DE. But few are in a better position to know what Houston can do than Ballard.

We have a shit ton of cap space so money doesn't matter here. Houston appears to still have gas in the tank.

I hope, in addition to being productive himself, that he does for Turay and Lewis what Mitchell did for Wilson last year.

Since you asked so nicely, I’ll tell you. The terms of the contract matter because we have a salary cap, and a good general manager needs to consider cap implications no matter how much cap space is presently available. I suspect you’ll say that we have so much cap space that we shouldn’t worry about it. It’s the same logic that drives lottery winners bankrupt a few years after winning. You ALWAYS have to consider the cap when evaluating a contract. While it is nice to have lots of cap space, a few bad deals and you’re back struggling against the cap like everyone else. I’ve explained this in detail in other threads, and won’t repeat it here, but essentially, the playing field is level as everyone has the same salary cap. It’s how you spend your allotted money that makes all the difference (and please don’t tell me that it’s all about drafting well or having a good QB – those are simply the other side of the same coin).

It seems to me that Houston is a risky signing. The degree of risk is in large part a function of the contract price. The guy is past his prime, he’s been plagued by injuries over the last few years, and he’s now changing teams and being asked to change his position. Not saying that it’s not a risk worth taking, given his history, but the risk is much greater if, for instance, his contract is fully guaranteed Kirk Cousins-style contract. If the Colts have the option of exiting after the first year (like with Hankins) then the risk is reduced.

This is not the type of signing that Ballard has made in the past. While he has brought in some veterans, they’ve mostly been low cost, serviceable role players. Ballard has emphasized youth and development. So it also concerns me that this is a departure from what I thought was his gameplan. Now, I realize he has a history with Houston, and that 30 is not over-the-hill for a pass rusher, so I remain hopeful. It also might be that Ballard is not satisfied with Turay’s development progress, and doesn’t foresee getting anyone in the draft who can immediately help. I don’t know. It’s just a striking departure from Ballard’s past strategy, so I expressed some concern.

4-3 de or 3-4 olber doesn’t really matter at this point does it with Houston? I don’t think he will be an early down player much. If he is primarily rushing the passer then he can do that from any stance he wants. He can fucking somersault to the qb for all I care if he gets home

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what Houston's cap hit is? On a 2 year contract it doesn't feel like it'd be terrible, but I don't know this part of the NFL very well.

Outside of cap talk: I like this move. He's still got gas in the tank, and he'll be asked to stick with his core competency: Pass rushing. This just feels good all around.

he worked in the front office at KC aroung 2012-2016 i think

Chaka I appreciate your concern but do not share it. Yes Houston has some red flags. I'm assuming everyone in free agency does. His are not that large and even though he is changing position he has played quite a bit with his hand in the dirt. He should be a big help on pass rush. As far as Ballard changing his approach with this I'm not so sure. Everything I've read about Houston says he is great in the locker room. It is a two year deal that does nothing to hinder the build for this team. He helps out in one of our greatest needs. He does't fix it but he helps. It seems like a good signing.

He was supposedly effective as a run defender though as recently as last year. I don't know what Ballard and Reich's plans are for him, maybe he will not start. But if he's the best overall DE on the team, and he might be, then I'd expect him to play more than just obvious passing downs. It's not like Sheard/Turay/Lewis/whoever is so great that they're guaranteed a starting spot.

I don't think we've gotten any more detail than 2/$24MM. However, pretty much any 2 year NFL deal is structured with little to nothing guaranteed after year 1.

I think signing Houston makes sense:

1 it addresses a need and there are few unknowns
2 maybe ballard is concerned about what DE will fall to them in the draft.
3 they take a De in the first round. Depth with ability cant hurt
4 hand up or doesnt matter, he knows how to play. Even freeney didnt start a game immedately.
5 it puts pressure on the young guys to step it up or get less playing time

Are you an accountant/money manager?

The biggest concern I would have in that type of switch is the ability to defend the run. But from what I know Houston is very good against the run. He can’t be any more of a liability than Turay.

But most of the time we are in sub packages. He will pretty much just have to rush the passer.

I think it’s entirely possible that Ballard simply saw a guy on the market that fit an immediate short term need that he knew wouldn’t upset the locker room culture he wants. Pass rushers typically take time to develop so Houston adds some current ability with little risk. In this case, it’s not really a departure from his previous method. More like a rare exception.

What I hope is that Ballard is actually tweaking his methods to match the current team situation and make up. He made comments late last season that the team developed a lot quicker than he expected. And in a recent radio interview he mentioned the team needing to learn to win and alluded to some of the early season losses as not about talent. The optimistic side of me wants to combine those two things with the Houston signing and say Ballard realizes the team can win now and that you shouldn’t waste that always playing for tomorrow. That a more even balance between now and the long term is needed.

The reality is that it’s probably just the first one - a rare exception and not a shift in philosophy.

No problem Oldcolt. I really don’t mean to rain on everyone’s parade, but I’ve seen a lot of backslapping but very little commentary on the issues I’ve mentioned. I understand what you’re saying and I agree to a certain extent. I am excited to see what a great pass rusher can do in our defense. I’m just concerned about seeing us make this type of move – signing high-priced veterans who are on the downside of their careers is generally a bad practice and usually the type of thing I expect from Washington or the Raiders (sorry to keep using them as an example, but they are such easy targets).

I’ve tried to be clear that this may be an understandable exception given Ballard’s presumed “inside” knowledge of Houston and our obvious need at the position, but I certainly don’t want to see the Colts make a habit of this type of signing because I think such an approach will ultimately blow up in their face. Nobody here has been a bigger supporter of Ballard’s approach than me, but I don’t blindly follow him. What I’ve liked (and continue to like) is his very businesslike practical approach to running the Colts, and I think we can reach the goal he has set (long term dominance) if he stays the course. This move is a little different than what I was expecting, that’s all.

No I am not.

That's pretty much what I think (and hope) as well. Though I disagree that there's any substantial evidence to this point that Ballard needs to tweak his methods, as I think last year was about as good a year as any Colts fan could have reasonably expected. So, until the evidence suggests otherwise, I'd advocate that we stay the course that Ballard originally set.

I envision him starting at RE next year. No reason not to at 6'3" 260, and as you mentioned good run defense in addition to pass rush ability.

It's a 2 year deal. This has no long term cap implications and is basically a 1 year deal with an option. In the short term, it helps the Colts meet the 89% four year rolling average threshold, and gives the team an opportunity to see if they can bring him back to his peak form, which would at least temporarily solve the team's need for an elite pass rusher. There's no downside here.

I didn't know they released the terms of his contract. Still waiting to hear about Geathers'.

I agree. I just have a feeling they will have Lewis starting at re and sheard at le. I could be wrong

Do you know this, or is it just an assumption?

I think this it what it will end up being. They'll stack the line against the run on 1st and 10 and then mix and match from there.

They'll monitor Houston's snaps to try and keep him healthy and fresh for pass rush downs.

We'll call it an educated guess based on Ballard's history. It's probably first year fully guaranteed with a second year roster bonus that can be avoided by cutting him. That's Ballard's track record, so there's no reason to believe otherwise unless something different is reported. Either way, hyperventilating over cap space when the Colts are projected to have something like $120 million next year (even with Houston) is silly.

Nobody is "hyperventilating" over cap space. What's silly is to adopt a free-wheeling spending attitude just because we have lots of cap space. That's a mistake, and to adopt a "I don't care whether this was money well spent because we have plenty of cap space" attitude is a short-term, poor strategy. The Colts just need to make smart moves, regardless of cap space.

I'm not even saying that this was necessarily a bad move in an of itself, merely that I was surprised by it and that I hope that it doesn't signal a change in the approach that has been working so well. However, comments like yours are troubling and all too common unfortunately.