Ballard’s draft record

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

How the fuck am I dying on Lynch's hill? It was a one off on Purdy and now I'm in love with the guy? Never heard of really before all of this crap discussion about Ballard I've gotten myself into. I'm not a Ballard hater. I am a Colt fan who is sick of this mediocrity and have come to the conclusion that the longer Ballard stays the longer we will be mediocre. it isn't an unreasonable view.

Sorry, but when you go from dissing Ballard’s drafting skills…which I disagree with by the way…to lauding Lynch, I make assumptions.

Glad I was wrong.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

My belief, is that AR was forced on Steichen by Jim Irsay and consequently convinced that he could fix AR. Being a 1st year coach, he had to tow the company line. I've noticed more pushback and assertiveness from Steichen as time has gone on.

I could see that. or AR just really was doing jack shit to prepare like a starter and Steichen quickly soured on him.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by Kray007

John lynch is, frankly, an odd hill on which to take a stand on draft acumen. Since 2020, he’s only drafted 2 pro bowlers, none in the 1st round, or the 2nd or 3rd, either.

This year, they sent 4 guys to the pro bowl.

They drafted Kittle back in 2017
Signed Juszczyk as a free agent.
Traded for McCaffrey and Trent Williams.

the pro bowl is fucking meaningless and has been for years.

[omahacolt]

I get why people would want to keep Ballard. he is likable and does a decent job of finding guys in the draft that are good.


he doesnt find guys that are great. he has mishandled the QB spot at almost every turn. he is reluctant to fill holes through free agency. he dumped a ton of resources into the dline and the dline fucking sucks.


the bad outweighs the good imo and the results tell me I am right. if you can't get QB, oline and pass rush squared away, you shouldn't be running a team. period

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

My belief, is that AR was forced on Steichen by Jim Irsay and consequently convinced that he could fix AR. Being a 1st year coach, he had to tow the company line. I've noticed more pushback and assertiveness from Steichen as time has gone on.

Is there any actual evidence that suggests this is the case? If anything the anything the comments by Jim at the time suggest the he preferred Levis. I mean he tweated about drafting him the 2nd even though we had already drafted AR in the 1st.

And there's no doubt in my mind Ballard was all in on AR (with some very strong pushing from Morocco Brown). You don't go from looking like someone pissed in your cereal to pure adulation b/c you just found out you get to draft the player your boss is forcing on you. Also, prior to '24 Ballard drafted pretty much on traits, traits, and more traits, so pretty easy to see why he would be all in on AR.

Also, while the picture isn't as clear on Steichen, his and Ballard's comments after the draft sure make it seem like he was all in on AR as well. And circumstantially he was looking to carry over his offense from Philly with the QB running a lot (and evidenced by our pre AR injury O his rookie year). He saw AR as a bigger, faster, and stronger armed version of Hurts.

[rm1369]

My belief on AR is that Ballard and Steichen wanted him. And Stechein soured on him because of his work habits. So you can certainly say that AR failed. However, they drafted probably the rawest QB ever and did jack shit to support him. He either needed to sit and watch and learn or he needed true veteran mentor. Not someone to compete against, someone who knew his role on the team was not to win games, but to teach AR how to be a professional QB. Those to me are the two valid ways to develop a QB who clearly isn’t ready. In typical Ballard fashion the team had no direction and did neither. He has said he doesn’t believe in veteran leadership he believes his coaches set the culture. That MAY work if you hire a hard nosed chew your ass type coach. Maybe. But it sure as fuck doesn’t work with the Reichs and Stechein analytical, Xs and Os type coaches. AR shares some blame in his failure, but the majority falls on the fucking grown men and supposed leaders that failed to provide him the structure and time he needed to succeed. AR is a symptom of the completely rotten culture Ballard has developed.

[Oldcolt]

To me the evidence that Jim wanted AR is how nuts he was about him talking like AR was going to be an all time great, etc. But this was Jim Irsay talking about a Colt related subject. He was always over the top about the Colts, one reason we loved him. AR fits Ballards mode perfectly with his RAS score off the charts. Why wouldn't he love the pick? That plus he seemed genuinely happy when he learned it was Houston that jumped us to pick Anderson.

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by rm1369

My belief on AR is that Ballard and Steichen wanted him. And Stechein soured on him because of his work habits. So you can certainly say that AR failed. However, they drafted probably the rawest QB ever and did jack shit to support him. He either needed to sit and watch and learn or he needed true veteran mentor. Not someone to compete against, someone who knew his role on the team was not to win games, but to teach AR how to be a professional QB. Those to me are the two valid ways to develop a QB who clearly isn’t ready. In typical Ballard fashion the team had no direction and did neither. He has said he doesn’t believe in veteran leadership he believes his coaches set the culture. That MAY work if you hire a hard nosed chew your ass type coach. Maybe. But it sure as fuck doesn’t work with the Reichs and Stechein analytical, Xs and Os type coaches. AR shares some blame in his failure, but the majority falls on the fucking grown men and supposed leaders that failed to provide him the structure and time he needed to succeed. AR is a symptom of the completely rotten culture Ballard has developed.

It’s hard to peg the reasons why quarterbacks fail. It’s easy to say that it was an organizational failure; that coaching staffs are somehow negligent or inept. In some cases, I’m sure that’s true. In some cases, being drafted by the New York Jets dooms you to some corner of quarterback hell.

I’m not sure, however, but that isn’t too broad a brush. Was a colts organization that turned Andrew Luck into an all pro all that much different than the one that failed Anthony Richardson?

What was it that caused the Pittsburgh Steelers to stumble so badly with Kenny Pickett? How to explain the 49ers and Trey Lance?

How do you explain the ability of organization so inept as the Cincinnati Bengals to develop Joe Burrow? Houston and Jacksonville were both considered shit shows until they lucked into Stroud and Lawrence.

I get the feeling that part of the problem is structural. Over the years, the Players Association has systematically reduced off-season workouts and contact between players and clubs. There just isn’t a lot of opportunity for coaches to shape a raw lump of potential into an elite player. That might not matter much if you’re talking about a Tom Brady or a Daniel Jones, players with an inner fire to excel and an unsurpassed capacity for work.

But, with Anthony Richardson…

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Kray007

What was it that caused the Pittsburgh Steelers to stumble so badly with Kenny Pickett ???

o


When I first started reading your sentence, I thought that you were going to reference the Steelers cutting Johnny Unitas from the team in 1955.









Unitas wound up playing for the Bloomfield Rams that season, for $6 per game.






o