Is This Chris Ballard’s Last Chance as Colts GM?

With a pivotal season upcoming for the Indianapolis Colts’ future, general manager Chris Ballard must not allow 2023 to fall through the cracks with his job possibly on the line.

The Indianapolis Colts are staying busy during this year’s free agency period. Multiple signings/re-signings have happened on all sides of the ball. However, this isn’t the past strategy from general manager Chris Ballard.

After a horrific end to a tumultuous 2022 season, many questioned whether Ballard would be retained. Now in April, he’s still in Indianapolis and has a big opportunity to turn things around with new head coach Shane Steichen in control of the offense. This can play out well soon if everything falls in line for Ballard and the picks he’s invested in.

However, given that this is such a crucial season for the Colts is this Ballard’s final chance to prove he belongs in the general manager role? With six years of information to utilize, a few areas will be covered where Ballard hasn’t performed well, which could jeopardize his GM position.

The past nature of Ballard’s free-agent signings should be covered to begin.

Too Conservative with Free Agents

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If any reader sees what Ballard has done for 2023, they wouldn’t think he’s conservative in free agency. Thus far, here is a list of who has signed and re-signed in Indianapolis:

• WR Ashton Dulin (Colts)
• LB E.J. Speed (Colts)
• DE Tyquan Lewis (Colts)
• OT Carter O’Donnell (Colts)
• DT Taven Bryan (from Cleveland Browns)
• DE Samson Ebukam (from San Francisco 49ers)
• K Matt Gay (from Los Angeles Rams)
• QB Gardner Minshew (from Philadelphia Eagles)
• WR Isaiah McKenzie (from Buffalo Bills)

Needless to say, Ballard has done things differently with free agents this year. However, he has reason to, coming off of another four-win season (the other was in 2017 at 4-12). As it’s mentioned by Zach Hicks of Horseshoe Huddle in “A Comprehensive Look at Chris Ballard’s Free Agency History”:

“Chris Ballard typically sits out during the early phase of free agency, but he tends to dip his toes back into the market right before the draft.”

This season shows a version of Ballard that reflects a GM who knows he can’t sit around anymore. The brief list below shows some of the signings Ballard has made as GM by year:

• 2017: DE Jabaal Sheard, WR Kamar Aiken
• 2018: WR Ryan Grant, DT Denico Autry
• 2019: CB Pierre Desir, QB Brian Hoyer, WR Devin Funchess, DE Justin Houston
• 2020: QB Philip Rivers, CB Xavier Rhodes, TE Trey Burton
• 2021: CB T.J. Carrie, RB Deon Jackson
• 2022: S Rodney McLeod, CB Stephon Gilmore

Some of these have indeed panned out well, while others have been ineffective signings. Regardless of the past, it’s clear that Ballard is far more active early on. Given the information above, he’ll likely sign more as the NFL Draft gets closer.

There is a quarterback on the aforementioned list. With that in mind, let’s discuss the QB carousel that has helped potentially put Ballard on a hot seat.

Constant QB Changes

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It has been covered often by the media before Colts games, but to recap, here are the season starters for Ballard’s tenure by year:

• 2017: Jacoby Brissett (15 games), Scott Tolzien (1 game).
• 2018: Andrew Luck (16 games).
• 2019: Jacoby Brissett (15 games), Brian Hoyer (1 game).
• 2020: Philip Rivers (16 games).
• 2021: Carson Wentz (17 games).
• 2022: Matt Ryan (12 games), Sam Ehlinger (3 games), Nick Foles (2 games).

Indeed Luck’s 2019 retirement must be difficult to recover from. However, when there are a whopping six different day-one starters for every season, Ballard has been the GM; it’s concerning.

Top onto that nine different names to start games and it’s 1.5 starting signal callers per year. Although Ballard isn’t entirely at fault for the QB changes, he is partially responsible for it.

As recently as last season, the Colts players were becoming vocal. Former Colts running back Nyheim Hines, a team member since 2018, made it known how hard it is to win with no consistency. Per Zak Keefer of The Athletic, Hines was incredibly frustrated.

Colts RB Nyheim Hines yesterday (1/2):

"Not an excuse, but every year we have a new quarterback. So each year we have growing pains while we sit here + watch Tennessee, which has had Tannehill, what, my whole career? And each year we’re restarting and we have to turn the page."

— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) October 3, 2022

Yes, the Colts finally have a chance to remedy this in the 2023 NFL Draft. But, the hope is the quarterback will work out for years to come, ending the crazy carousel Indianapolis has been on.

The last area to address? The overall win-loss numbers.

Mediocre Record

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This isn’t fun to see if you’ve been in charge of a football team for six years. However, Ballard has to realize that it hasn’t been very successful.

Currently, the Colts have a record of 45-52-1 (1 playoff win), with Ballard as the general manager. With so many different quarterbacks and injuries, it has played into this performance. However, as with the previous subject, some blame must fall on the GM.

There is a combination of three losing seasons and three winning campaigns. But two of those seasons only boast four wins. To add context, both of those also led the Colts to a number four pick in the following draft (2017 and 2022).

Ballard hopes this season will eclipse a low number of victories and that he won’t have to continue picking so high in the drafts for years to come.

Outlook

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Ballard is one of 32 general managers in the NFL. All of them will tell you it’s not an easy job, and it isn’t. Ballard has been one to be smart, save money, and look for bargains that could help Indianapolis achieve greatness.

There have been the best of highs and the worst of lows; with a new team and environment, he may be allowed to get a slower start for 2023, but he can’t allow it to snowball into what the previous year was — a complete disaster.

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