One would assume that general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen have one more season to prove they should be employed by the Indianapolis Colts. Their respective runs with the team haven't been good, and the key question is whether Indy will be better in 2026. Ballard doesn't seem to know.
That is clearly concerning, as his job every day of the year is to make Indianapolis better. Of course, this is the same GM who somehow has kept his job, though entering his tenth season with the team, the Colts have made the playoffs only twice, and not at all since 2020.
When asked during the NFL annual meeting what he thought about the 2026 version of the team, Ballard answered, "We feel good about what we’ve done...We got to play before I can tell you if we’re better or not. Do I like the work we’ve done? Yes. Do we have more work to do? Yes."
Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard says something extremely unassuring
Well, that is...reassuring? A general manager's job is to put together a roster of talented players that he thinks a coaching staff can turn into a winner. If anyone can say they need to wait to see if a team has improved until real games are played, a head coach might have an excuse. A GM doesn't.
If Chris Ballard looks at talent that is leaving his team and is being added, and he looks at the roster and says, "I'm not sure we are better," then that is pretty alarming. No coach or GM is going to say their team is worse, of course, but Ballard had to improve the team this offseason, and yet he seems proud only that he was able to re-sign Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce.
Bringing those players back is great, but they were already on the team. While Jones was lost for the season in Week 14 after tearing his Achilles tendon, what is easy to forget is that the Colts were already outside of the playoffs by the time he was hurt.
Indy got banged up, obviously, but every team does. The San Francisco 49ers had more players miss games than Indianapolis, but the 49ers made the playoffs and didn't use injuries as an excuse to underperform in the second half of the season.
Plus, a good general manager builds a roster in a way that the backups are quality players, too. If Indianapolis went from 7-1 to 8-9 simply because key players were hurt, that is partly on Chris Ballard, too.
For him to say he isn't sure if the Indianapolis Colts are better in 2026 yet is fairly unforgivable. His job is to make the team better and evaluate talent. Of course, this is also the same GM who has never won the AFC South and hasn't won a playoff game since 2018. What can one really expect from him?