Colts sign Ebron
 

So that is a thing.

Whoop.

Terms?

Looks like a 2 year deal worth up to a maximum of $15m

Can he play guard or tackle?

No but maybe we will have a shorter passing game which would help the line out tremendously

Superbowl! /s

He's a capable blocking tight end as well as a decent receiver.

I don't watch the lions much, but the consensus I have seen is he is a pretty mediocre blocker and has a case of the dropsies. I have no real opinion and assume the contract is likely really a one year deal with an option and it is a position of need, I know Swoope, but that guy can't stay healthy when he barely plays so whatever.

I'm really intrigued by this. He has tons of athleticism but the scheme never really maximized him in DET. I love that he's coming here without being THE guy, either as a weapon or at TE. Reminds me of Eagles w/ Trey Burton -- he wasn't the guy at TE, but he was a mismatch weapon they could put in there depending on the situation.

He's going into his age 25 season and has a ton of talent. Worst case scenario is he's a waste of about $8 million of cap space in what looks to be a season that the franchise isn't going to be very focused on the W-L record. Best case is you get a quality starting TE.

Hope it works out.

From his NFL.com draft profile:
First set = Eric Ebron. Second set = Jack Doyle's last 4 years.

2014 / 49 targets / 25 receptions / 51.0% catch rate / 022 targets / 18 receptions / 81.8% catch rate
2015 / 69 targets / 47 receptions / 68.1% catch rate / 014 targets / 12 receptions / 85.7% catch rate
2016 / 86 targets / 61 receptions / 70.9% catch rate / 075 targets / 59 receptions / 78.6% catch rate
2017 / 86 targets / 53 receptions / 61.7% catch rate / 107 targets / 80 receptions / 74.7% catch rate

Ebron has talent coming out of his ears. If he can allow himself to be led by Jack Doyle's example and improve his blocking and catch rate, he should excel in the type of offenses that PHI and SD uses (which is what I am assuming will be installed here).

Jack Doyle had the 6th best run blocking grade of all TEs in 2017 according to PFF. Ebron was the 36th ranked run blocker. If he can be led....

Honestly, I think this was a good signing. He has talent and now that we might have coaches.... It was a position of need for another quality body and we have a guy who has produced and started a lot of games in the NFL. He has averaged 45 catches, 500 yards and 3 TDs a season in 4 years.

I also agree that it will be interesting to see him where he is not "the guy" and just "a guy." The kind of pressure that can come with being drafted #10 overall, only TE drafted in 1st round and 3rd offensive speciality player picked (after Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans) could be pretty overwhelming.

Price is higher than I would have expected but then so are almost all the contracts that lower tier guys are getting. Moncrief at up to $11.5m for 1 year? Really?

Good signing.

Walk Worthy,

Bad hands...
That's what we need!

All that talent, speed, route running... bad hands

He dropped 4 passes in one game and 5 for the rest of the season. Seems like a good buy low candidate based on people thinking he has drop problems. I'll take a 25 year old with his talent and perceived issues that are probably worse in perception than in reality, because that's how you find gems in free agency.

Yep, take a risk on a known drop problem, let proven talent like Melvin go..

Got it
Rated number 11 of the worst fifty "droppers" in the NFL in 2017

https://files.graphiq.com/stories/t4...7703_29956.jpg
7 drops in 85 targets
8.24% drop rate
71.76% catch rate

Proven talent? Melvin was the definition of journeyman before last season. He took a one year prove it deal because no team believed his 2017 wasn't a fluke. I'd rather take a chance on a player who clearly has talent and one perceived flaw.

Meh, probably not a horrible signing. Nothing to get excited about certainly. It’s the lack of other moves that makes you roll your eyes at this. It’s the idea that after finishing 4-12 and entering free agency with over $70m to spend they somehow are even more talent deficient than they were 3 weeks ago. They’ve lost the best two performers off one of the worst defenses in the league and still failed to address the horrendous OL that has been getting their franchise QB killed for years.

I completely understand that the bulk of your talent needs to come from the draft, but Jesus fucking Christ when you are this talent deficient in so many key areas and have so much cap space you have to add a piece or two - even if you have to over pay a little. Every team has overplayed players and the cap has been steadily rising. And you sure as hell can’t afford to cut 26 yr old players that are performing above average for you. Is someone really going to tell me Ebron is going to help the Colts more the Hankins would have? If so I’m not buying it. And I don’t buy that he didn’t fit the scheme. But if he didn’t then change the damn scheme. Good coaches make the best use of their talent. the Colts are in no position to throw away talent for nothing.

Not signing any decent OL and cutting Hankins leaves this team screwed for next year. Now, as everyone seems to be hoping for, the Colts must spend significant draft capital on the OL or go in to next year with Luck being beat up again. So what gets neglected? The damn defense with its holes everywhere. And Luck will still be operating behind rookies and journeymen.

It appears Ballard has decided this is a 3-4 yr rebuild and we’ll just waste some prime Luck years. Is it really impossible to find a middle ground between signing washed up vets to win now and hanging your entire future on “stacking 2, 3, 4 drafts” in a row? God help us if Ballard has a bad draft - you have to stack them to win anything. Certainly can’t use free agency to bring in any pieces worth keeping.

Sorry, I obviously find Ballard’s approach completely stupid. It feels as if he is more concerned with getting a bargain than building a team. Hopefully after another 4th place AFC south finish he’ll understand that ultimately no one gives a damn if a few players are overpaid, it takes talent to win. A roster of “good” contracts doesn’t mean shit. But I guess I should be happy they signed someone. A pass catching TE with bad hands. But at least we are putting the money we saved from Hankins to good use.

A lot of butthurt in this thread...smh.

pretty big flaw though...

Seems that people are quick to judge a work in progress. There is no, and never has been, a single offseason that can turn around a franchise that needs this much work. I get the ticking clock on Luck. I don't expect every move to be headline worthy. What I expect is a foundation of a winning culture. Who can possibly judge that in year 2 for a GM and really this is year 1 with the new staff.

Seriously guys. Relax. Have a homebrew. You are worse than a bunch of pissy old ladies who sit in the back row and scoff at everything new!

Or, maybe, he recognizes this is year 1 of a process he feels will take at least 2 years and would like to save cap space for when he better knows what the holes that need to be filled are?

And if they can fix it, they can have an elite player.

Nah, a lot of frustration in this thread. And rightly so IMO. The Colts have in place the most reliable route to being competitive - a franchise QB. With Luck coming back, $70m in cap space, and the #3 pick the Colts could have easily been in playoff contention next year - without hurting their future in any significant way. Instead they’ve lost their 2 best defenders from last year, have done nothing to keep their QB safe, and added a rotational DL and a pass catching TE w/ bad hands. It’s not that the two signings are bad it’s the complete willingness to mail in another year. With only scraps remaining in FA the Colts are less talented than they were 3 weeks ago. And they are sitting on significant cap space waiting for a few bargains to fall in their laps.

Ballard had two avenues to really improve this team and he has decided to nearly completely neglect one of them. Something he readily admits. So he better nail this draft. I’m really worried about that losing culture setting in. Everyone knows that shit breeds. Not to mention they lost their two best defensive players for the NFL equivalent of pennies while sitting on boatloads of cap space. Not a great way to motivate people or make anyone believe this is a place they want to play. Losing and penny pinching? Can’t see that combo being great for recruitment. Ballard likes to say it isn’t all about Luck and it looks like he’s taking that to heart. The most important person in the franchise seems to be an after thought to Ballard’s planning. Neglecting protection and willing to waste a few more years. At least their cap situation is the envy of the league.

Which is more likely? Fixing Ebron’s hands after several years in the league? Or Haskins contributing to one of the worst Ds in the league? I know which I believe

I am not sure who Haskins is, but I do not recall anyone here thrilled about Hankins being released. Regardless one has nothing to do with the other you just seem to want to have a whiny rant.

Never said I thought getting rid of Hankins was a good idea. Also, his drop "issue" appears to be mostly a single game, so I think there's a good chance of fixing that.

So last year was already chalked up as a COMPLETELY wasted year? Why would that be? Can’t be because we kept Pagano - you think he’s a good coach. Yes Luck was hurt but that didn’t have any effect on Ballard’s ability to add talent thru the draft or free agency last year. So at best this is year 2 of a 3 year rebuild, not year 1 of a 2 year rebuild. Which means Ballard came into this with the idea of wasting 2-3 years of Lucks career in his prime, right?

Ultimately I agree - Ballard thinks it’s a long rebuild and is willing to sacrifice a few of Luck’s years in the process. I simply disagree. With a franchise QB in place their is no reason this team couldn’t be in playoff contention next year. That doesn’t require sacrificing your future. It requires overpaying a few pieces in free agency (that’s the nature of it) and building your scheme around the strengths of your players. Not cutting your best or second best defensive player because you don’t know how to use him. So yes this is more than likely a 3-4 year rebuild. But not because it was the only way. Or even the smart way. It’s a 3-4 year rebuild because Ballard decided it would be. And he’s making it be so.

Its not wasting luck, he needs time to build a good team. It is what it is.

Grigson tried to go for it quick when we had early success and that ultimately failed. Sure that was in large part due to inept coaching, but its still not a good strategy.

QBs are playing much longer into their careers. If ballard can build a sustained winner for a decade, then I will give him this upfront time to build that.

Sorry, autocorrect catches the names often. Ebron has repeatedly been Enron to if I don’t catch it.

So expressing an opinion is being whiny? Understood. I guess this whole fucking forum was whiny about Grigson. And Pagano. I’m expressing an opinion. I assume you don’t like it. But I’m going to state it again - Ebron as a signing is fine, but overall Ballard’s approach to free agency is guaranteeing a long rebuild and a couple wasted years of Lucks career. If you are cool with that, then great. I’m not. I think it’s stupid and unnecessarily inflexible. The same way I think cutting Hankins was stupid and unnecessarily inflexible. And it looks bad when projecting forward for both Ballard and this mashed together inexperienced coaching staff. I’m sorry I don’t see everything through blue tinted glasses. But I loved the trade with the Jets and I didn’t even need them.

"one perceived flaw"

They aren't "perceived" and there are at least two, one on the end of each of his arms.

Then there is the blocking thing... that makes three.

They let all this "talent" go after trying to fix these "perceived" problems. A 25 year old first round with lots of talent

There is plenty of space between Grigsons approach and Ballard’s. I’m not advocating a spending spree for stop gap veterans meant to put the team over a hump. I’m saying there was enough talent in free agency and enough cap space to fill a few holes with above replacement level players. Would you have had to overpay? Absolutely. That’s the nature of free agency. You can’t build a team through it, but you sure as hell can add important pieces to it. Especially when you have the most important piece in place - a franchise QB. This was not the Cleveland Browns. Not when you have Luck in place. I sure as hell hope Luck is as patient with his career and health as you are. He’s going to be throwing 40+ times again next year behind what is at best an inexperienced line (assuming they use their picks there) and at worst another shitty one.

My complaint isn't not signing and over paying other people's free agents. It's letting players go that were likely better than they're bringing in creating new holes in this swiss cheese franchise

I don't think it's at all ridiculous to question Ballard this offseason. He's made some good decisions, I haven't completely written him off. But he's also

- cut Vontae Davis for some reason
- cut John Hankins for some reason
- ignored or whiffed on the top OL options in FA two years in a row
- tried to hire a dickhead that we all now universally revile in McDaniels, supposedly after a full year of relationship building

To me those are not winning moves. I'm happy with the extra draft picks, but I'm not thrilled that the FA strategy is going to force the team to target certain positions in the draft based on roster need. It wasn't necessary.

And it's clear Ballard knows the OL isn't good enough. He wouldn't have tried to get Norwell, Jensen, or Pugh if he thought otherwise. But he couldn't close any of those despite the most cap space we've ever had as a team.

Yeah it's too early to say Ballard is a clown, that he sucks, that he should be fired. But there's plenty of reason to question his decision-making. I've said from the beginning I'd trust him until he gave me a reason not to, and he's now given Colts fans multiple reasons to at least wonder about his judgement.

I have much less issue with not resigning Melvin than you seem to, but I was absolutely livid at the Haskins release. Melvin wanted a big payday after one big year and that’s risky. I get it. But we’ve also done jack shit to try to fill that or any other hole through free agency. And then went and created another hole on the DL because the coaching staff can’t figure out how to use one of the few above average players the D actually has. All to save some money that they have absolutely no intention of spending. And there is no one left to spend it on even if they wanted to.

I sure hope Hooker and Wilson match up to the teams ideal visions for their positions. Hate to seem them cut for not matching up. Sound ridiculous? Absolutely, but is the Haskins release really significantly different? I don’t think so.

sounds whiny

I dont completely disagree. All I really wanted two OL signed in FA and hoping norwell was one. A decent LB would have been nice.

I prefer bitchy to whiny. Would more cursing help?

Signing some OL help would have been ideal. I hate the idea of putting more rookies in front of Luck and hoping they get it and jell. But after two free agent periods of Ballard running things that seems to be the only option left for fixing the line this year.

I’ve been against using a high draft pick on a guard, but at this point they might as well - they’ll have a high pick again next year. Maybe then they can address more impact positions like pass rusher. I’ll admit before hand that I’m going to lose my shit if they end up with Barkley. I’d have lost all faith in Ballard at that point.

I am more ok with a guard at 6 than I was at 3, I will not flip out about Barkley at 6, but I really feel like a team is as well off with RB by committee and using high 1st rounders on many other positions.