Based on my informal polling of Indianapolis Colts’ fans, there was a fifty-fifty split on retaining head coach Shane Steichen this offseason. Some thought he had finally hit his stride and had it not been for unfortunate injuries in the second half of the season, he would have taken the Colts to the playoffs for the first time in his career. Others simply wanted him gone.
The feelings were a bit more consistent regarding GM Chris Ballard. Almost everyone I have spoken to wants him out of town.
I am not going to write a passionate defense of the Colts GM, who has been in his post since 2017 with a lone playoff win (seven years ago now) to his credit. However, since he does not appear to be leaving anytime soon, let me offer at least one ray of hope.
Chris Ballard’s later-round successes offer a glimmer of hope to Indianapolis Colts’ fans
The Colts do not have a first-round pick in the next two drafts, having traded them for Sauce Gardner. Fortunately, Ballard has done very well selecting players on days two and three.
Over the last decade, the Eagles’ Howie Roseman has dominated the second round of the NFL draft. Dallas Goedert, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Cooper DeJean… It’s not the only reason they have been one of the best over that time span, but it is a vital one.
But look at the talent Chris Ballard has acquired in the second round. Shaq Leonard, Braden Smith, Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman, Jr, Alec Pierce. That matches up pretty well with Roseman and the Eagles.
(There are a couple of problems with this comparison, which I promise I’ll get to soon. So all you Chris Ballard haters just wait a few more moments.)
Ballard has had success in the later rounds as well. In the last four years, he has found Bernhard Raimann, Nick Cross, Josh Downs, and Matt Goncalves in round three. Tanor Bortolini came in round four, as did Grover Stewart in Ballard’s first year as GM. The Colts could use some help at linebacker, and Ballard drafted both E.J. Speed and Zaire Franklin on day three.
So if job one for a general manager is finding talent, Ballard can offer a pretty good resume.
OK – now the problems.
He has hit big on a lot of players, but has missed big on even more. That impressive cohort of second-round talent is somewhat offset by AD Mitchell, JuJu Brents, Ben Banogu, and Kemoko Turay. Hopefully, JT Tuimoloau will take after the Shaq Leonard side of the tree, but that remains very iffy at this point.
Still, missing on non-first round picks is not a dealbreaker for a GM, provided he scores big hits on a bunch of others. Ballard has done that.
The bigger problem concerns one of the Howie Roseman second-round picks I did not mention. Roseman drafted Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft.
Hurts is much-maligned these days, but I’m guessing there are about 25 teams that would gladly take a quarterback who has led his team to the postseason every year he has started, who has won almost 70% of those starts, and who has been to a couple of Super Bowls and was MVP in the game his team won.
Chris Ballard has bungled the Colts’ QB situation ever since Andrew Luck retired. We can all understand what kind of aftershocks Luck’s decision created, but it’s 2026 now, and Ballard is still fumbling. Phillip Rivers was a great storyline. The fact that the Colts needed Rivers was a clear sign of managerial failure.
So, I promised you hope and then talked about bungling and failure. Sorry about that. Let me just get back to the main point. This isn’t meant to be one of those Julius Caesar-style “I’ve come to praise Chris Ballard” devices. (That’s for all you English lit majors who may be reading.)
Chris Ballard has found some very good players in the later rounds of the NFL draft. So he doesn’t have a first-rounder this year. Or next year. So what. He has shown he can still build a roster. If he finds a few more gems this year, and if injured players like Sauce Gardner, Justin Walley, and especially Daniel Jones can come back, 2026 could still be a fine year for the Colts.
If that does not happen, there will be time to send him packing soon enough.