At the end of a tumultuous 2024 season, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay decided to keep general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen, a move that sent shockwaves across the NFL community -- and for Colts fans in particular. The move was one that seemingly no one was happy about, especially regarding Ballard getting yet another chance.
Ballard has faced heaps of criticism for the job he's done as GM; the Colts haven't won the AFC South in 10 years, and Ballard has been running the show for the past eight. He's overseen a quarterback carousel that has all but devastated any chance of the Colts being successful, and taken the Colts to one mere playoff victory.
Given all that, fans were anxiously awaiting what Ballard could possibly have to say to redeem himself in his season-ending press conference.
There were many things Ballard had to say, much of them what everyone expected - but one statement in particular is raising eyebrows. Ballard had a NSFW reaction to learning what one anonymous Colts player had to say about the current state of the franchise.
In an interview with the Athletic, the player -- identified only as a veteran -- didn't have much good to say about the Colts.
"“There’s no vision. From the top down — from the front office, to the coaches, to the players — no one is ever on the same page, and every year at the end, we’re sitting here losing. If you look at the best teams in the league, they all have a vision, and they commit to it. The Chiefs keep winning because they have a vision. The Lions turned things around because they have a vision. There’s no vision here.”"
Unsurprisingly, Ballard was not pleased.
Ballard said Steichen does a good job keeping guys accountable.
— Jake Arthur (@JakeArthurNFL) January 10, 2025
"If someone was late, he handled it internally. Do I like all the things said in the media and not handled internally? No."
Called anonymous player criticizing team "chicken shit" for not putting his name on it.
"One thing I'll say is at least all but one put their name on it, okay?" he said in the press conference. "The one that didn't put their name on it, that's even more damning on me, because that chicken s*** wasn't man enough to put his name on it. That is losing football. Distractions are losing football."
He may have preferred that the anonymous player was willing to speak more openly, but the reality also is whoever this player is... they weren't wrong. The Colts franchise is in turmoil, and that lays at no one's feet but Ballard's.