We gutted our interior DL
 

I too think cutting Hankins was a mistake.
Ballsrd has done some good things, a couple great things, some bad things and a couple really bad things.

I like going back to a 4-3. Good thing.
But Hankins and Anderson could have done fine, not fitting the system is an arse excuse. Hankins proved his value and he gets into the backfield well for being a run stuffer. As for Anderson, he is a great value player, even if he is injury prone. The only reason I see why Ballard cut him is bc he is a Grigson pick, when Anderson was actually one of Grigson's decent hits, unfortunately like Geathers and Mewhort however he is injury prone.

Letting Hankins go was a huge mistake and a major disapoinment for those of us Colts fans that put up with sub-par interior D-linemen for over 2 decades. He was well worth 8.5 million and he hasn't even hit his prime yet.

It looks like we may be aiming for another tanker of a season. That is why we can overreach for a couple guards and that is why they came out and told us we are in year 1 of rebuild mode.

Will we sit Luck out for another season while letting teams bully their way up our interior defense. Which DT or LB on our roster is going to stop Fournette now? That name would have been Hankins, but Ballard rewarded great play by cutting the player he signed 1 yr into his contract.

Hankins wasn't just a huge mistake bc we lost his talents, but bc what top tier free agent wants to sign with Ballard when he can do to you what he did Hankins? Maybe that played a part in us being so quiet in free agency and why we didn't get some of these guys we tried going after.

I think this draft could have gone a bit better.
Why did we pass on Harold Landry when he can play Edge or OLB? I think we must be aiming to us Braden Smith as our RT and Mewhort as RG. If Mewhort gets hurt we then bump Smith inside and use Good at RT. There were too many game changing playmakers for us to go guard again. Way too many.

Should have gambled on Hurst if they were going to get rid of every DT we had previously.

It will be interesting to see if there is a philosophical difference between Reich and Eberflus / Ballard. Maybe a consequence of the way this coaching staff came together. I have confidence that offensively they’ll be flexible and put the players they have in positions to succeed. However, defensively I have no confidence that will be the case. It’s obviously too early to tell, but so far it has a very “do what we do” feel.

How do we know this though? Anderson has been a 3-4 end for the last 7 years going back to college. If you don't trust your coaches to make player evaluations, why even hire them then. I like Anderson, but he has been hurt for two years and it's not like either of them were pro-bowl players. They want lighter quick step one gap penetrating players. That is who they want to give snaps, and if they have guys they want to develop they will want to give them the snaps.

I think we are in year two of the rebuild.

I wish they could have fixed everything, but there just wasn't enough draft picks. It will take another draft.

The biggest thing I wish they had done was take a chance on Hurst. That heartbeat problem must be pretty bad.

Ok but neither Hankins nor Anderson are Dwight Freeney level impact players. Solid but hardly irreplaceable.

The addition of Tyquan Lewis, really made Anderson expendable. Lewis has much more scheme versatility and athleticism.

Going into camp I see the depth chart looking something like this.

RDE- Simon, Basham, Johnson
NT- Woods, Stewart
UT-Ridgeway, ???
LDE-Sheard, Autry, Lewis

Anyone of Sheard, Autry Lewis could kick inside to UT an passing downs

I'm really not sure how Margus Hunt fits into this scheme at all though.

Didn’t you used to have Henry Anderson as your avatar?

If we don’t replace them, what is the point?

I thought I read somewhere that Hankins took so long so sign last yr because he only wanted to play ina 3-4 and turned down teams that wanted him as a 4-3 DT. And of course he had an amount of money he wanted also.

Is it possible in their deal he said if you change to a 4-3 you need to grant my release as part of the deal?


Either way.... there will be more releases and cuts and Ballard has a ton of cash yet to spend. Never know might be a lot more new faces coming in.

Yes, he did say that before signing. Played some 4-3 in NY and wasn't his fit. I imagine that could have been a clause in contract ? :cool: