Defensive End or Corner?

[Kray007]

We’ve reached week 8, and we probably have a pretty decent sense of the Colt’s needs. Normally, you wouldn’t expect Ballard, or most NFL GM’s, to be busy at this time of the year, looking to swing a trade that alters their team’s trajectory.

If you’re not a serious contender, there doesn’t seem much point in adding a piece that might take you from 6-11 to 8-9. On the other hand, unless you’re sitting at 2-5, you hesitate to take an axe to your roster and begin a rebuild in October.

The Colts, unique in the Ballard era, have a legit opportunity to enter the bye with a record of 9-1 and a two game lead in the race to secure top seed in the AFC.

They, have, however, a daunting 7 game closing stretch that would task even the most elite of teams. The Offense is fine, perhaps great. The Defense, however, has cracks that need to be addressed. At this moment, we have needs at all three levels

Defensive End, Linebacker, and on the Corner.

For purposes of discussion, I exclude Linebacker as a potential target. No serious thought is being given to the potential for a trade to fortify the position. Besides, the acquisition of Pratt and the eventual return of Jaylon Carlies would seem to allay concerns about the position.

So, that leaves Defensive End and Cornerback as primary needs, and I assume, for a variety of reasons, that it’s a binary choice…one or the other. In an ideal world, you’re fielding a defense that covers receivers like a glove and hounds the Quarterback into submission. We saw a little of that from Seattle, who made the Texans look inept.

Who knows; maybe, given time, Chris Ballard will craft one of those in Indy. But, for now, we face a choice. We can help the Corners by adding a pass rusher who harries the Quarterback into quicker throws or we can boost the pass rush by adding a Corner who forces the Quarterback to hold onto the ball because he can’t find anyone open.

Personally, I’ve always figured it was easier to find talent at Corner than it is to get a good pass rusher, and I’m a believer in Bill Polian’s philosophy that the two most important things are protecting your guy and getting to the other guy.

Besides, I find watching Trey Hendrickson level CJ Stroud a heck of a lot more satisfying than seeing Kenny Moore knock the ball down.

Also, it seems to me that the return of Cameron Ward and Jaylon Jones offers some confidence that the situation in the back end will take a turn for the better. At Defensive End, however, I see no internal reinforcements poised to appear over yonder hill.

So chalk me up in the add a DE camp. Who that is, I don’t know. But, I do know Ballard needs to do something. If plan A isn’t available, if a team like Cincinnati isn’t going to part ways with a Trey Hendrickson, move on to plan B. Whatever you do, though, don’t squander capital on another guy who looks good on paper but doesn’t produce. The last thing we need is Dayo Odeyingbo v2.0.