Here's how Chris Ballard responded to Pat McAfee in his end-of-season presser

Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard had a lot to say in his season-ending press conference, some expected and some... not so much. Having a NSFW reaction to an anonymous player's interview with the Athletic was likely not on anyone's Bingo card, but Ballard has seemingly been feeling the heat from the criticism of the job he's done over the past eight years.

One person who has held absolutely nothing back is Pat McAfee, a former punter for the Colts who has, until now, been a staunch supporter of his former team. He has season tickets for a suite located on the field, but after the 2024 season, McAfee said he was done.

In a take-no-prisoners, NSFW rant, McAfee said the entire team should be thrown out: management coaches, players, everyone.

“I wish we could transfer portal the whole f–king team,” he said. “We need like 70 guys to hit the portal, we can’t do it in the NFL, I guess. Just in case I ever wanted to pitch myself as the president of the Indianapolis Colts, not that I ever would. I’d put a plan together, ‘How do you get rid of this entire f–king roster?'”

Only a handful of people were privileged enough to make it on McAfee's "stay" list.

"I want Pittman here. I want Pierce here. Let's keep Quentin Nelson. Let's keep DeForest Buckner. Let's keep Kenny Moore. I like Kenny Moore," he said. "Other than that, see ya. Every one of them. Goodbye. Take a hike. Thanks for coming. Jonathan Taylor, trade his f--ing ass out of town. How do we go about doing it? You got a second round pitch? Sweet. First would be better. We'll do this for the good of the program. Anthony Richardson was a good project. Get him out of town. Fourth round or whatever the hell you got. See ya. That's what I would do if I was going into this place."

In his press conference, Ballard made it clear that he heard what McAfee said, and doesn't necessarily disagree.

"I don't agree with everything Pat said. I don't. But there's some truth to it. There is. You can't fool players. You can't do it. So I tell our team all the time, players in that locker room, they can BS the media, they can BS their family, but they cannot BS each other. And Pat was on good teams. Pat was a great player. Pat knows what it looks like. So he saw the cracks. And I guess the biggest issue, and our players know this because I've voiced it, how about solving the problem?"

While it's nice to know that Ballard is willing to admit there are problems, and that there are aspects of his management that need to change. But fans have heard all of this before. Year after year, Ballard gets in front of the Colts nation and says it's all on him, that he failed, and that he needs to be better.

Maybe once he actually does do better, we'll believe him.