I honestly wasn’t questioning you there. Merely pointing out that Ballard takes responsibility for his actions. And, you’re right. He’s the GM of the team. The buck stops at his desk.

People (in the Nashville sports radio market) who are paid to know more than I do say that the owner is usually where the buck stops when it comes to the QB position. They say the owner is always involved because it is the one position that will come with a huge paycheck if they get the right guy, and the owner wants to make sure the guy is right for his team. This is not to say a GM holds no accountability, but the owner is also heavily involved for this spot. They have also said the same thing when it comes to major trades, like high profile starters or high draft picks. This was a heavy topic in Nashville when Levis was drafted, and then when Cam Ward (not Charvarius) was drafted there.

I don't believe anything media wise I see out of the Colts. That is a infomercial channel, which is fair because they are selling a product. Ballard is going to look excited because he has to sell. Anything said out of Colt's media cannot be taken to be objective fact, period.

I do think Ballard was pressured into that and I don't think it was Irsay alone. The fanbase felt that way too. The organization had just got through the Matt Ryan debacle (much to my chagrin) and we'd been on the senior citizen quarterback merry-go-round for years at that point. The cycle had to be broken. I don't blame Ballard for missing on that the same way I don't blame Irsay going after Luck. If you don't shoot, you can't score. Hindsight is 20/20.

What I don't like about the AR situation remains. The guy has a skillset that is useful and can help us, even if it's gimmicky in nature. Taysom Hill was a gimmick but he was fun for the Saints fans and there's no reason we can't use up Richardson's body to play that role for us too.

maybe he does enough that someone gives him a contract and we get a decent comp pick out of him

I too was a pusher of the pick, I loved the upside potential. There is little doubt now however that this organization wasn't well set up to do everything possible to convert that potential to production. Not even saying I think another org can or will, probably not at this point, but still we seemingly should have done more to increase the odds of it working.

Your second point is interesting. Steichen is supposed to be this innovator, the get creatitve and do different things guy. AR would seem to be in that mold, tons of gadget shit you could do with him. So, to not even try, to me just reinforces my perspective that Steichen just doesn't want to even fuck with him.

If you can be pressured into taking someone at 4 you don’t like because your fan base and owner love the guy you aren’t much of a leader. Nobody can make you do what you don’t want to do If you got fired because of that and AR turned out to be what he has turned out to be people would see you as standing up for what you believed. You’d have another GM job in no time because you’d be principled. Why would I want a toady yes man running my team? I don’t believe Ballard was pressured into anything he didn’t want to do.

o


If there was pressure that Ballard allowed to affect him in choosing Richardson, I believe that it was solely from Irsay ...... I don't think that any GM, even the worst ones, allows fan-pressure to affect their draft-pick choice ...... I believe that the feelings of the fan-base certainly enters the minds of GM's at times when teams are playing very badly and/or are in the midst of a playoff drought of more than 3 or 4 years, but ultimately I don't believe that they let that specific bias to enter into the equation when they actually make the pick.

o

If you were on the fence or close then I can see letting the feelings of the owner enter but would hope that if you feel 'pressured' you would look very carefully at your decision. You'll stay or leave (at least on most teams) by what you put on the field. Win and all is forgiven. Lose and goodbye. This is fun but pure conjecture not based on anything but what I think.

This debate about Jim’s input reminds me of the opening scene in Draft Day. I can just imagine Jim and Chris wandering through a deserted amusement park and Jimmy telling him that Quarterbacks sell tickets.