Having taken a few shots at some of the roster moves undertaken by Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard this year, Many will likely love the answer he gave to a question regarding professional players returning to college. Suffice to say, he didn’t think very highly of the idea.
Ballard succinctly said, "The stupidest s*** I've ever heard."
This has been a hot topic in recent weeks, especially for the college game. At the risk of oversimplification, the basic idea is that several college players who declared their intentions to join the NFL before the 2026 draft are now attempting to return to the college game and play another season.
Indianapolis Colts’ Chris Ballard has the perfect reaction to pro players trying to go back to college
They argue that a rule passed after they left college allows them an extra year of eligibility and that, had the rule been in effect a few months earlier, they would have taken advantage of it and remained in college. As it turned out, these players engaged in tryouts and practices with NFL teams over the summer.
The NCAA and the college conferences are dead set against this, but the players are pursuing all legal avenues to win the right to one more season. A key ruling is expected on Thursday.
Ballard just laughed when asked if he understood the players’ mindsets: "Your entire life, you fight to get up to the NFL, but now you’re going to go back. That makes a lot of friggin’ sense."
This reflects an attitude that the players involved in this attempt may want to consider if they intend to give the NFL another try down the road. They are not doing much to impress their future employers – GMs like Ballard – by appearing to throw in the towel and run back to the security of college.
Ballard, like all coaches and executives in the league, understands and appreciates the commitment and effort their players have made to reach this level. Most of them will tell you that having a great 40 time or 35-inch arms is all well and good. But if there are questions about attitude, that’s it. No one is going to invest heavily in a player with commitment issues.
That may not be what is going on with the players involved in the current legal action. This is a very complicated issue with multiple moving parts.
The recently won ability of college players to earn money while maintaining NCAA eligibility has been like a hand grenade going off in the middle of the college game. Schools and conferences are justifiably concerned about where this all might end if Thursday’s ruling goes against them.
Will we see the day when an older vet, at the end of a long successful career, realizes he didn’t use up all his college eligibility and decides it would be fun and profitable to return for one more season on campus? Sounds unthinkable, no? It may be very thinkable in the near future.
But that’s not what Ballard is reacting to. From the NFL’s perspective, will this lead to a form of prior restraint? Will GM’s invest a draft pick or a UDFA signing bonus in a player who they know has the option of returning to college if they don’t like what they encounter in the NFL?
And how will players be judged if they run away from the challenge of trying to make it onto an NFL roster or practice squad?
This is a complex issue that is not likely to go away anytime soon. Chris Ballard succinctly expressed the NFL perspective. His fellow GM, the Las Vegas Raiders’ John Spytek, had a slightly different response when asked the same question a few hours later.
“I’m not giving you any Chris Ballard quotes,” the Raiders’ GM said.
No one at any level of football likes the current controversy. Most aren’t going to say it out loud. But here’s to Chris Ballard for delivering an honest take. He just couldn’t resist saying what everyone is thinking.
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