Drafting by volume

 I never had much luck with baseball cards.

Just about every one I got when I was a kid was an immediate candidate for my bicycle spokes. No Koufaxes, Kalines or Clementes for me. No, sir. But I cornered the market on Gary Bells, Chico Salmons and Orlando Penas, so I had that going for me.

I'm guessing Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard would have thought that was fabulous.

This upon learning the Colts have collected a lot of potential Bells, Salmons and Penas in this man's NFL Draft, which makes today a busy day for them. They'll will have two fourth-round picks, FOUR fifth-round picks and two picks in the seventh and final round.

Call it drafting by volume, and it's sort of Ballard's deal. Sometimes it even works.

Most times, though ...

Well. I may be a tad skeptical, but I don't see how "Let's bring in a bunch of lower-round guys and see if any of 'em can play" is a blueprint for future Super Bowls. I look at the six fifth- and seventh-round picks in particular, and all I see are six guys who are going to be going home sometime during training camp.

Yeah, maybe the Horsies will get lucky with one or two. Teams do. But what's the point of accumulating picks you know aren't going to pan out for the most part? Why not, I don't know, accumulate second- and third-round picks instead?

Hey, look, kids, here's an offensive tackle from Tech State! And a safety from Western Hog Waller U.! And this GEM of a linebacker who somehow fell all the way to the seventh round! Collect 'em all!

And the Colts will, apparently.

And Ballard will look like a genius if two or three of 'em turn out to be value picks and not just candidates for the bicycle spokes.

They might not deserve that fate. But, hell, neither did Chico Salmon.