To make matters clear before we get into the murkiness of general manager Chris Ballard's decisions at the beginning of Day 2 in recent NFL drafts, Indianapolis Colts rookie CJ Allen still has plenty of time to prove his worth. If he does, though, it will go against the trend of second-rounders in Indy going bust.
Allen didn't have a chance to be bad against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 because he didn't see the field. Neither did 2025 second-round pick Jaylahn Tuimoloau in Week 1 of last year. Tuimoloau, though, hasn't shown he can be a valuable player for Indy yet. He was putrid as a rookie and hasn't been good in training camp or in Week 1 this year.
If Ballard's seemingly poor decisions in the second round ended with Tuimoloau and, so far, Allen (he still has time to be good, though!), things might be fine, but the issues go deeper. So deep that if Ballard's team misses the playoffs once again this season, he could be out of a job. His misses in round two are a big reason why.
Chris Ballard's consistent whiffs in the second round could lead directly to his downfall with the Colts
Wide receiver Alec Pierce has turned into a good player, and he was chosen in the second round in 2022. In 2023, though, cornerback JuJu Brents was the pick, and in 2024, wide receiver Adonai Mitchell was.
Players drafted that high need to become starters early in their careers, but being healthy scratches in the first NFL games means one of two things, and possibly both.
One is that Ballard simply doesn't have a good idea of what a second-round choice should be. The other is that his picks are fine, but the coaching staff doesn't know how to develop those selections quickly. There is an argument for the latter because Brents was the start of the recent trend, and he was chosen in the same year that Shane Steichen became head coach.
Steichen, of course, is an offensive-minded coach, but his job as the head guy is to oversee the entire team. If a defensive draft pick isn't working out as well as hoped, Steichen partly deserves some of the blame. In the last two years, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has.
Again, CJ Allen could turn into a great player, but, oddly, Steichen said after Week 1's destruction against the Ravens that the team was still trying to get Allen up to speed. The linebacker hasn't missed a practice since August 16 and played a bunch in the preseason, but didn't see a snap either on defense or on special teams against Baltimore.
Meanwhile, third-round choice AJ Haulcy missed later practices and didn't fully practice again until just days before Week 1. The safety played on every defensive snap except one. That would imply Allen was ready but not trusted, at least not yet.
Even more of an issue, Adonai Mitchell was given up on after a season and a half and was dealt to the New York Jets as part of the trade that saw cornerback Sauce Gardner come to the Indianapolis Colts. Since going to New York, he has been much better than he ever was with Indy. In Week 1, he had three catches for 60 yards, for instance.
Is Mitchell's recent uptick in productivity due to Chris Ballard's struggles with second-round choices? Seemingly not, but Ballard still took Mitchell high in the draft when he obviously wasn't a good fit in the offensive scheme that Shane Steichen was running.
Ballard's first Day 2 choices are more important in 2026 and 2027 if he is still the GM next year, because he gave the Jets two first-round picks to get Gardner. Unless Allen begins producing soon, he might be just the latest in a recent sad line of second-rounders for Ballard before the general manager is looking for new employment next year.
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