[Pez]

Originally Posted by FatDT

It’s absolutely a relevant response to those that pretend it was the team’s plan all along, in order to get the young players experience and establish a culture.

Ballard said this in March:

Financial discipline in this league you don’t see it in this league like you used to. I think it’s a good thing to have. Because what happens is these guys are re-tooling the roster every two years. You are signing all these free agents and then two years from now, you are seeing them all get cut and then they are back on the street again. We have to get some roster continuity with 10-to-12 players that are going to be Colts for a long time. Then you feel better about dipping into free agency and getting a guy. Not just good players, they need to be able to influence the locker room with their character. A culture needs to be built. A coach can do so much, but the players in that locker room build the culture that you want, with their work ethic, with the standards that they set. We have to get more players like that in our locker room.

I'm not sure anyone is pretending that this was his plan all along.