Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard has been on the hot seat for quite some time. While some have been calling for Jim Irsay to clean house completely, canning Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen, it's Ballard that has mainly come under fire.
Despite making empty promises about how great the Colts would be under his leadership, Indianapolis has instead floundered. Ballard has cultivated a culture of chaos, and have been to the playoffs just once... all while cycling through 12 quarterbacks in 10 years. He's also been notorious for his approach to free agency, typically choosing to run it back with his current roster rather than signing new free agents, and finding his new talent solely through the draft. That has led to numerous depth issues on the roster, and at the end of the 2024 season, Ballard promised things would be different this offseason at his end-of-year press conference.
So far, he's kept his word; Ballard was notably more aggressive in free agency. And according to NFL analyst Ari Meirov, it's not just about learning from his past mistakes. Ballard is fighting for his job.
The #Colts have been more aggressive this offseason — unusual for this regime. Feels like there’s pressure, and perhaps that aggressiveness will continue in the 2025 NFL Draft.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 9, 2025
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"Everyone, when the season ended, first of all, we talked about it a week before the season ended. I put Chris Ballard on the hot seat and people around the NFL, not in Indianapolis were like, you know, he has survived so much throughout all of this," he said. "We gave him, you know, a bit of a pass for Andrew Luck retiring years ago and trying to navigate through that. But going through all the quarterbacks with, I'll try to do off the top of my head. There was Jacoby Brissett to Phillip Rivers to Carson Wentz to Matt Ryan to, eventually, drafting Anthony Richardson. And so far, that has not gone as planned."
Now, with the Anthony Richardson-Daniel Jones quarterback competition, Meirov said it's clear that Ballard is feeling the heat. The only question is whether or not his more aggressive strategy will pay off in 2025... and save his job.