I come to praise Chris Ballard, not to bury him.

[sherck]

I think Chris Ballard is a GREAT evaluator and drafter of talent.....for every position besides QB and DE.

Sadly, those two positions are the most important on an NFL team and greatly dictate the success or failure of the team.

[apballin]

Originally Posted by sherck

I think Chris Ballard is a GREAT evaluator and drafter of talent.....for every position besides QB and DE.

Sadly, those two positions are the most important on an NFL team and greatly dictate the success or failure of the team.

15 QBs brought in by Ballard...

19 DEs brought in by Ballard...

Sure, some of those were low round picks or street free agents but still, those numbers...

He has tried; I give him all the credit in the world. He has tried....and failed.

And I still don’t believe he’s ever forced his hand and gotten the QB he solely wanted. He leaves a lot of creative control of QB choice up to the coach because they want this harmonious work place unlike they had with Grigson

[sherck]

Originally Posted by apballin

And I still don’t believe he’s ever forced his hand and gotten the QB he solely wanted. He leaves a lot of creative control of QB choice up to the coach because they want this harmonious work place unlike they had with Grigson

Alas, that does not matter.

In the end, he is the one who green lit whatever acquisition the Colts did...the buck stops here as they say.

I am on the fence about keeping him or firing him. He does SO many things well...except find QBs and DEs.

[Oldcolt]

Originally Posted by apballin

And I still don’t believe he’s ever forced his hand and gotten the QB he solely wanted. He leaves a lot of creative control of QB choice up to the coach because they want this harmonious work place unlike they had with Grigson

If this is true than we are in more trouble than I ever thought. Of course he takes what the coach wants into consideration, I am sure he also runs it by the owner, but if he doesn't make the final decision who does? He kept Banogu on the team for years and the coaches kept making him a healthy scratch. That doesn't scream to me letting the coach make decisions on players. In the scenario you postulate, where decisions are made by multiple people, nobody is in charge and we are essentially rudderless. I am not saying you are wrong but if you are correct, jeez.

[apballin]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

If this is true than we are in more trouble than I ever thought. Of course he takes what the coach wants into consideration, I am sure he also runs it by the owner, but if he doesn't make the final decision who does? He kept Banogu on the team for years and the coaches kept making him a healthy scratch. That doesn't scream to me letting the coach make decisions on players. In the scenario you postulate, where decisions are made by multiple people, nobody is in charge and we are essentially rudderless. I am not saying you are wrong but if you are correct, jeez.

So you’re telling me he wanted to sign,

Xavien Howard

Mike Hilton

Germaine Pratt

I’m guessing Anarumo went to him and said this is what I need if you want my system to work because none of these are moves that would match Ballards tendencies

[Oldcolt]

I am not saying that GMs don't let coaches sway them on certain players. I am saying when it is the most important position on the team, a position that affects the entire organization and how it is perceived the buck does not stop with the coach that 'loves' some QB for whatever reason. The GM makes that call, most likely in close consultation with the owner. Unless he is overuled by the owner he owns it in my view. Quarterbacks are different than other positions.

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by sherck

I think Chris Ballard is a GREAT evaluator and drafter of talent.....for every position besides QB and DE.

Sadly, those two positions are the most important on an NFL team and greatly dictate the success or failure of the team.

After years of trying and striking out, Ballard found a Quarterback in Daniel Jones. He might not be the next Patrick Mahomes or Josh Taylor, but if that’s your metric for judging talent, most NFL GM’s come up short.

At DE, Latu seems to be developing into a solid pass rusher, a 10-12 sack a season guy. We could use another presence on the other side, someone who offers more sudden impact. Those guys are hard to find; I suspect that the answer is going to be Trey Hendrickson.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Kray007

After years of trying and striking out, Ballard found a Quarterback in Daniel Jones. He might not be the next Patrick Mahomes or Josh Taylor, but if that’s your metric for judging talent, most NFL GM’s come up short.

At DE, Latu seems to be developing into a solid pass rusher, a 10-12 sack a season guy. We could use another presence on the other side, someone who offers more sudden impact. Those guys are hard to find; I suspect that the answer is going to be Trey Hendrickson.

I would prefer it to be Jaelan Phillips as he is a longer term solution to the problem and he is almost certain to hit free agency.

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

I would prefer it to be Jaelan Phillips as he is a longer term solution to the problem and he is almost certain to hit free agency.

No...No...No! Maxx Crosby should be the target. I would be willing to trade 2 2nd rd. picks, Pittman and Richardson for him.

[IndyNorm]

Of the 7/9 times we've not made the playoffs under Ballard I think you can legitimately excuse 3 of those seasons: 2017 b/c of rebuilding and Luck not being available, 2019 b/c of Luck bailing right before the season started, and 2025 b/c of the ridiculous amount of injuries that have happened to key players.

Just for fun here are some tongue is cheek excuses from all of the other years:

2021 - It wasn't Ballard's fault that the QB he traded for couldn't do a 180 deg. turnaround to his career. It also wasn't Ballard's fault that a rookie w/ 11.5 sacks in his entire college career and another rookie coming off an a torn achilles couldn't adequately take over for the loss of pass rushing vets Justin Houston and Denico Autry. And finally, it definitely wasn't Ballard's fault that the Jagoffs actually decided to play to win the final week of the year and not roll over and play dead like they had for pretty much the 2nd half of the season. That was just not fair!!

2022 - It wasn't Ballard's fault that Matt Pryor didn't work out at LT. He had the one game where he started at LT in '21 and played ok, so this was a total shocker. It also wasn't Ballard's fault that Pinter sucked at ROG. He and his staff only had 2 years to evaluate Pinter, which just isn't enough time. It also wasn't Ballard's fault that Matt Ryan's arm was shot. It's not like there was any film showing this in Ryan's last season or 2 in ATL.

2023 - To be fair the Colts exceeded any realistic expectations this year. Although it can probably be said that it wasn't Ballard's fault that starting one of the rawest QB prospects in history who had no idea how to protect himself from hits in the NFL got hurt.

2024 - It wasn't Ballard's fault that a QB who had a completion percentage in college of 55% couldn't improve on this in the NFL. It also wasn't Ballard's fault that he couldn't figure out that said QB wasn't willing to put in the time to be a good NFL QB during the predraft interviewing process. And it definitely wasn't Ballard's fault that the defense he put together didn't show up against the 2 worst offenses in the league that year (@ Jagoffs and @ NYG).