Hopefully the drafting of Nelson and Smith means I will never see VJ in a Colts uniform again.

Poor people think like this. I don't like the mentality that says if you have twn million dollars, you have to spend it. Well, unless you like being broke all the time.

You are confusing us with Dam. We admit it when we are proven wrong.

People keep calling for nasty big uglies, but when we draft one, they whine.

No one is complaining about drafting a Big Ugly, it is where he was drafted. You are better than this kind of bullshit.

If you think it’s anything like that then you don’t get the argument at all. Or you are purposely being an ass. Cap space has a value. Draft picks have a value. Considering the current abundance of cap space and the scarcity of top 10 picks I simply place a higher value on draft picks. If you don’t then fine. But don’t act stupid about it.

Value is in the eye of the team bulider. In the case...Ballard was embarrassed by how we got beat up front, and aimed to fix it.

What a completely irrelevant and non-football-related analogy you’ve come up with here. Really, really stupid. You’re being a real dipshit Race.

Understood. Ballard appears to agree with Race that it was better to overpay in draft capital than in salary. I just disagree. I’d rather have Norwell or Pugh and Roquan Smith than Nelson and cap space.

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Ian Rapoport
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Apr 28

The 2018 Draft is over & here is my favorite tidbit: In several facilities, Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson was nicknamed “Earl Grey” or some variation because all he did on film was teabag dudes after he drove their faces in the turf. Future bodyguard for #Colts QB Andrew Luck.

I have to wonder what the Colts offered Norwell. He reportedly signed a five-year, $66.5 million contract. 30 million guaranteed. Even if the Colts offered more, it's possible that Norwell wanted to play for a contender. That and the fact that no state tax in Florida is a major plus. Really wanted that guy on the Colts though.

From what I heard on NFL radio. the Colts were a contender in the discussion, along with a couple other teams, then the jags came in and blew the offers out of the water by a lot. I don't think Ballard wanted to pay that much. But the analysts on the radio think it was too high as well. That he wasn't worth that much and that he wasn't quite as good as the numbers he was getting. That his performance this last year was a little inflated and he was not as good as people thought. Anyway that was their opinion.

Ballard has said repeatedly he doesn't want to go into FA why building the team culture with draft picks. That he will later on buy not as foundation pieces. He wants an established culture before he starts bringing in veterans from other teams. I think that is bc I think the culture of this team has gotten soft. I heard several interviews with Allen and Dorsett allude to it several times. That guys got away with things, that effort was lacking. Anyway, that what Ballard said, so far he has done everything he has said he was going to do.

Look, we have drafted them later in the draft before and have gotten a bunch of JAGs. I would have preferred to go with defense, but if we get one on the OLine, I am not going to complain.

I get the argument. Completely, I just disagree with how far some take it.

All I am saying is that if you have money, you don't spend it on the first cool toy you see. Especially at an auction where emotions run high. Especially when said to also has a say in the matter.

Left OT = Anthony Castonzo, Joe Haeg
Left OG = Quinton Nelson, Matt Slauson
OC = Ryan Kelly, DeShawn Bond
Right OG = Braden Smith, Jack Mewhort
Right OT = Denzelle Good, Le'Raven Clark

Weakest link is right OT.

However, at times, all three of Good, Haeg and Clark have played well there so I am pretty hopeful that one of the three will rise to the top and seize the position.

Then there is the possibility of seeing if either Mewhort or Smith can slide out and nail down right OT if that would make the strongest line combination.

Starting an "all backup" O-Line of Haeg / Slauson / Bond / Mewhort / Clark would be a bit ugly but would not, by far, be the worst backup O-Line in the league.

All have starting experience and all have shown, at times, that they deserve to be in the league. For Bond and Clark, it was only for 4 games each as starters but all the rest have done farily well in the league.

Hopefully, a new, more intelligent, offense system will help not only our specality players but also our O-Line to be more effective.

"Earl Gray." Fricking love that!

Walk Worthy,

I know it is not an analogy that fits well, given that money comes in much better for teams and that they have a cap and a floor. Maybe I should explain it this way: Say you want a new iPhone, but a new one is coming out in a few months that will have a longer battery and longer life expectancy. Do you buy what you can now or wait for a better one next year?

Can always slide protection or chip on the right side to help out that tackle. This is probably the most confident that I’ve been in a Colts line since 2006. They’ll do some damage.

And after seeing the drafts by the Jags and Titans, it’s probably for the best that the Colts got two early guards.

These two guards are reportedly very athletic, so that is a huge plus. Maybe we bring back the stretch play.

But you’re taking it too far. Ballard would have been happy to sign Norwell at his preferred price. These things are malleable to some extent while still being strategically consistent.

Come on man, give up on the BS analogies. Still does not have anything to do with my issue. I value top 10 draft picks more than cap space and you disagree. As far as where this line of conversation came from, that’s the whole argument. Let’s leave it at that.

I buy the culture idea. It's hard to establish exactly the culture you want, and it's impossible to change a culture unless you remove its pillars. That's true on a team, in a business, a hobby club, anywhere where there are people.

The problem, though, is that Ballard chased Norwell and several other OL. He apparently had no problem potentially making them foundational pieces of the new culture if he got the price he wanted. He just didn't get the price he wanted. He took a hard line on that, which isn't unexpected. He said many times he wouldn't overpay in FA.

And so, the consequence of this is that he had to use top draft picks to get the pieces he clearly wanted for the team. He wasn't able to accomplish those goals via FA, despite having the money. And so the team misses on other top players, like a high-end LB or pass rusher, because he drafted 2 guards.

It might work out. You can agree with his approach or not (I don't), but that is how it's gone. We'll see.

Yeah, I was irritated by the guard pick at 6, I wanted a real difference maker on D there.

However, they did need to address the O-line and it looks like we are set on all 3 interior spots for a good while, so if AC can hold up at LT things are trending up in terms of OL play which should help a lot (especially with an improved scheme).

I'm optimistic too, that Haeg and Clark are entering their 3rd seasons, and their time in the league will begin to pay off. Haeg was a highly recognized OT coming out of college.

Well I guess the other question is. Would they have still drafted Nelson if they had signed Norwell? Or would they have not signed Slausen or Mewhort. Maybe they would not have drafted Smith. Ballard seemed pretty locked in on Nelson, makes me wonder if he still would have drafted him.

I wanted a defensive playmaker too. But if at the end of the day Luck gets hit a lot less and stays healthy I think everyone will be happy. And we should win a lot more games.

Ballard wouldn't be e traded down if he had gotten Norwell. Then he would have taken Chubb.

As much as I've seen Colts staff and NFL draft experts talk up Nelson I sure hope he works out, hopefully he's not another Tony Manderich.

I can't fault Ballard for trading down there. He couldn't have predicted that two QB needy teams would not take QBs and one of those teams would take Chubb. That said, even I can't argue that having Chubb would've been better than having Nelson, Smith, Turay, Wilkins, and a 2nd round pick in 2019 which will likely be Top 50. An elite pass rusher is still likely a need, but the Colts will have 3 picks in the Top 64, and likely at least 2 in the Top 50 to get that player in 2019. To me, it's a fact that the Colts will be a better team moving forward as a result of that trade. I'd listen to a counterargument, but I don't think a cogent one can be made.

I agree that you can’t fault Ballard for trading down but I disagree that he couldn’t predict Chubb would be gone. Several of us said he would be gone and predicted that it was unlikely 4 QBs would be taken. Ballard had to know trading back would likely cost him Chubb. He just valued the picks he got more. That’s hard to argue with.

Manderich was a lab experiment like Ivan Drago. No comparison.

I don't know man, that was a pretty good deal. Jets got a rookie QB, if they play him they could have a bad year and that could be a high pick. And if we don't trade down, then the browns might take Barkley and then the Giants take Chubb bc the Giants were not interested in Mayfield and the Browns would know they could get him at 4.

As soon as Elway signed Keenum, it became a real possibility he would NOT take a qb.

Manderich actually was pretty decent here, not saying he wasn't a bust being drafted number two over all.

Interesting comment from Ballard here:

Depends on how you look at it. I would agree that Nelson's ceiling is HOF, while Chubb's is more likely to be multi-year all-pro.

In terms of total impact on winning/losing? I'd go with Chubb.

Most multiyear All-Pros end up in the HOF.

It doesn't matter. We picked Nelson so of course the story is going to be that they still would've taken the guy that ended up taking.

A lot of what I heard about Chubb made him sound like an excellent player, but not the dynamic pass rusher you would hope for. More hard working and good across the board than dynamic. Seeing the high risk, high reward picks Ballard favored it makes sense to me that he may also see it that way. With that said, I agree - Chubb should have the greater impact due to position.

We don'twin without Luck and Nelson is responsible for keeping Luck on the field, while Chubb is not. Therefor I disagree.

Case Keenum is not a viable long term solution at QB. If Elway's plan is to bounce from patch to patch at the QB position, he likely won't have a job for very long. He and Gettleman both made potentially career killing decisions.

Source? Forgive me if I don't just take your word for it.