As Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard conducted his eighth end-of-season press conference on Friday, it was a much different tone than in years past.
But there was no mention of, 'We like our guys.' No excuses were made for a team that underachieved yet again under the direction of Ballard. Instead, the general manager was candid about the state of his team and how the 2024 season unfolded.
"Just disappointed, extremely disappointed," Ballard began. "I hear the criticism, and it's warranted. It is, and a lot of that falls on my shoulders. Look, (for) four years we’ve not gone to the playoffs. We've not won a division since I've been here, not won a playoff game since 2018. I've got to own all that, I do. I'm not going to run from it, but I've definitely got to own it because it's real. It is the truth."
The criticism has come from a Colts fan base sick of living in a world of mediocrity. Ballard has been unable to accomplish more than that as general manager, leaving many to call for his job. Despite the wishes of many fans, Colts' owner Jim Irsay is sticking with his general manager for at least one more season, and Ballard knows it could be his last chance.
"I'm grateful," Ballard confessed. "I'm humbled, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity that Mr. Irsay and the family has given me to continue to work here in Indy and get this right, because I do want to get it right for the organization and for the city and for our fans.”
For Ballard to get it right and bring the Colts back to prominence, he must begin to be honest about where his team stands. A lot of work must be done during the offseason for the Colts to be competitive again, and deciding to "run it back" is not an option. It seems Ballard has recognized that.
"Right now, we're not close," Ballard declared. "I'm going to make this really clear. Like close is losing on the last play of the Super Bowl. That's close. Going 8-9, that's not close. No. I'm not saying we won't be closer when we get to the start of the season, but right now sitting here today, we're an 8-9 football team and we’ve got to own that. We are not good enough."
While actions will speak louder than words, the words signal a change in how the Colts have operated in recent years. And, as always, Ballard left plenty of nuggets about the coming months for the franchise.
Here are five clues from Ballard on how the Colts plan to operate this offseason.
Richardson's Make-or-Break Year 3
Anthony Richardson's two seasons in Indianapolis have been a roller coaster. Richardson has only started 15 out of a possible 34 games, missing 17 due to injury. Richardson sat out the final two games of the season due to back spasms.
Richardson has displayed plenty of flashes when he has been available. The problem has been staying available, and while the saying, "The best ability is availability," may be cliché, the young quarterback has yet to prove he can stay healthy.
Ballard outlined what Richardson needs to work on during the offseason and display in Year 3.
"The No. 1 thing we have to figure out, and what Anthony's got to work through, is staying healthy," Ballard admitted. "Like he's got to be able to stay healthy. And that to me, is probably the biggest question right now because now we're going on two seasons in a row where he's dealt with injuries.
"And then No. 2, being consistent, getting consistent down after down, play after play – consistency with him. And that just takes – that takes time. ... We have zero patience as a league with quarterbacks. I mean, you're seeing it throughout the league, where guys fail one place and now all of a sudden they're doing really well somewhere else. Every quarterback's journey and developmental cycle is different."
Richardson looked improved on the field after returning from the benching, but he still has a lot to improve on both in terms of production and staying healthy if he wants to solidify himself as the franchise quarterback for the Colts. Ballard and Shane Steichen made that clear to the young quarterback, who is entering the offseason healthy and ready to get to work.
"The good news is, even with the back, which we think will be fine, he's going to go into the offseason healthy," Ballard disclosed. "He was rehabbing a lot (last offseason), so that's going to give him a chance to work on some things going forward that we think will help going into next season.
"Now saying all that, like we can't beat our head against the wall. We've got to have competition at the position – just for one for the fact that competition makes everybody better. And then two, he's not proven he can play 17 games.”
The Colts are not shying away from pushing Richardson to get the most out of their quarterback. While Richardson is the presumed starter, it seems very likely Ballard will bring in a veteran quarterback to compete with Richardson in an effort to bring out the best at the position.
Year 3 is a make-or-break season for Richardson and the Colts are treating it as such. He will either show marked improvement and solidify himself as the franchise quarterback or the experiment end.
Competition Coming Across the Roster
Quarterback is not the only position where competition will be added. The Colts need it at every position group.
Ballard has long been too confident in the group he has assembled. Not being honest about the talent on the roster has been a crux of the Colts, leading to holes throughout the roster that are obvious to those on the outside. It seems Ballard has, finally, come to that realization.
"The hardest thing to do is evaluate your own team," Ballard explained. "I think this is across the board in the NFL. And look, I'm emotional and I care about our players, and I think sometimes I've let that bleed into how I built the team.
"Coming off last year when we were 9-8, I thought the arrow – I thought we were playing really good football at the end of the season. I'm thinking, ‘Okay, we're trending up.’ Instead of really creating competition throughout and throwing new blood into the locker room, new players into the locker room, I said, ‘You know what? We're going to run it back.’ That was a mistake."
The result was a team that regressed in almost every area and failed to reach the postseason yet again. Ballard put his faith in the Colts continuing to trend in the right direction without adding much in the way of outside talent. The problem is, that it is unrealistic to assume multiple players coming off career years would produce career years again.
"I bet on that we could bring players back, and they would be – they would be as upset about what happened at the end of the season last year that they'd want to rectify it," Ballard said. "At the end of the day, we were not able to. I didn't do a good enough job creating enough competition throughout the roster, and keep everybody on edge."
In the places where the Colts did add competition in 2024, it led to fantastic results. Alec Pierce had a career season, leading the team in receiving yards and touchdowns after the Colts drafted AD Mitchell in the spring. Nick Cross rose to the occasion and became a very promising starter at safety. It is not a coincidence that the Colts saw a rise in production from the two areas with the most competition.
Failing to keep a sense of competition everywhere within the locker room led to complacency, which in turn led to worse results on the field. Adding competition will be at a premium for Ballard and the Colts this season. Keeping and rewarding your own is great, but it cannot lead to complacency.
"I didn't create enough competition on the roster for it to want to achieve in the way it needed to achieve," he admitted. "There's got to be some stress. There has to be. There has to be real stress within that locker room, an uncomfortability that if I don't play well enough, my ass will not be on the field playing. That directly falls on my shoulders."
Adding competition to the roster does not mean the Colts will sign every top-dollar free agent on the market this spring. It is still likely the Colts will be prudent in their approach. But it can be assumed that Ballard will be more aggressive in adding outside talent to the roster, unlike the two free agents they brought in last year.
Players like Stephon Gilmore, Justin Houston, Denico Autry, Eric Ebron, and Xavier Rhodes were all free agents that brought competition and production to the Colts. Expect more of those types of signings from the Colts this offseason to help improve the quality of the roster and an edge to the locker room.
Culture To Be Addressed
One area of the team that has been discussed often over the last month has been the culture. While the Colts are not a team filled with bad people, leaks, distractions, and questions about playing for one another have come up in recent weeks.
Ballard has long preached about having a winning culture in the locker room. He has strived to build a team of individuals who are obsessed with football and will do anything in their power to win. That culture showed signs of crumbling this season, and when players like DeForest Buckner and Kenny Moore II begin to publicly question the team's commitment to winning, the problem cannot be ignored.
"Today's compromises become tomorrow's standards," Ballard stated. "This is what my vision for the players has always been. Like, being a good guy and having good people – that's not a good culture. That doesn't mean it's a good culture. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad one, but it doesn’t mean it’s a good one.
"A good culture has some friction in it, because there's some accountability within that challenges each other and never walks by a mistake, and we've got to get there. That was not done this year, and that's probably my biggest disappointment."
So, how does Ballard plan to fix the cultural problems within the team?
"That's my job to bring players in that will do that, that will have that mentality. It doesn't mean you’ve got to be an asshole all the time, but when you know something's wrong, fix it. Fix it. ... Anything you do can't get in the way of winning. ”
Players and coaches must hold one another accountable. The work being put in has to live up to the winning standard. If not, the players who are falling short must be called out.
Outside distractions must be eliminated as well. Leaders on the team cannot have public spats with members of the media or former players. Those with a platform to express themselves must not bring unnecessary attention or drama to the fold.
Ballard and Steichen have made it clear that the culture needs to be about winning. If someone is not living up to that, there needs to be the threat that that person may lose their job, no matter their standing with the team.
More Aggressive Defensive Scheme on the Way?
The Colts parted ways with defensive coordinator Gus Bradley earlier this week after three seasons. The defense regressed every year under Bradley and the Colts desperately needed to go in a different direction. Ballard feels responsible for how things played out on the defensive side of the ball.
"Look, I bet on some young players coming through," Ballard stated. "JuJu (Brents) gets hurt. Dallis (Flowers) was coming off his injury. And at the end of the day, I did not give them enough. And we've got to – in totality, have to do better defensively – from a player acquisition standpoint and from a play standpoint.”
The Colts have already started their search for a new defensive coordinator. Indy has interviews lined up with former Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo and former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. They have also completed an interview with Cleveland Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda.
The Colts have run an even-front defensive scheme for much of Ballard's tenure, with former defensive coordinators Matt Eberflus and Bradley hailing from the Monte Kiffin Tampa 2/Seattle Cover 3 scheme. But the Colts are not opposed to a defensive coordinator who brings in a different scheme and philosophy.
"A lot of the league, because it's such a heavy nickel league, ends up being a four-man front," Ballard noted. "Now, you'll see some out of nickel getting into five-man stuff, but Shane and I are working through that. ... Shane’s going to make the hire. Of course, I'll be involved. But we're working through that. We'll interview – we'll have some good candidates for the job.”
Of the three candidates named thus far, each would bring a slight change in scheme to what the Colts are accustomed to.
Anarumo is known for being multiple with his schemes, adjusting weekly to exploit the weaknesses of opposing offenses. Wilks ran Bradley's scheme with the 49ers, but his past suggests he prefers to heavily disguise his coverages and bring pressure. Banda, who spent time as the defensive coordinator at Utah State, places a premium on creating confusion with the front to get rushers free.
All of the candidates that have been made public so far have a background working with the secondary. The Colts feel like they desperately need to get better on the back end and want a coordinator who can bring out the most in the group. But it will always be about the front and getting after the quarterback for the Colts.
“I definitely think there is value. You have to be able to affect the quarterback. You do.”
If the early candidates are any indication, the Colts will have a defensive coordinator in 2025 who brings a more aggressive scheme to Indy predicated on getting after the quarterback and maximizing the secondary.
Secondary, Tight End Will Be Positions of Emphasis
Speaking of the secondary, Ballard did not try to hide his disappointment in the unit. While they played admirable at times, the talent level is lacking and major changes seem to be on the way.
“We need to get better," Ballard quipped about the secondary. "We’ve got to get better.”
Moore was his normal self in the slot, making plays and showing why he is one of the best in the game. But the other cornerback spots have room for improvement, especially with JuJu Brents missing 15-of-17 games. Cross will return at strong safety, but Julian Blackmon is set to be a free agent after a down year.
The secondary looks to be the group where the most competition is added. The Colts could have at least two new starters in the back end while also adding depth at cornerback and safety. Do not be surprised if the Colts place a premium on the secondary in free agency and the draft.
On offense, the tight end position severely lacked production this year. The Colts assumed a group effort would be enough to have an impact. Unfortunately, the group failed miserably in the passing game and the offense struggled because of it.
"We didn't get enough production from (the tight ends)," Ballard remarked. "They did a very good job blocking in the run game. They're excellent blockers, but our inability to control the middle of the field, which we've got to be able to do, I've got to be able to give Shane and them a guy that can really control the middle of the field that teams have to account for and defend."
A name to watch this spring, and one Colts fans are already clamoring for, is Tyler Warren out of Penn State. The 6-6, 261-pound Warren is the most well-rounded tight end in the class and is largely considered one of the best prospects in the draft.
The Mackey Award winner is a huge threat as a receiver, hauling in 104 catches for 1,233 yards and eight touchdowns, while also serving as a plus blocker. Already drawing comparisons to Rob Gronkowski and Greg Olsen, Warren would be the franchise tight end the Colts need and is a realistic option for the Colts at pick No.14 in the NFL draft.
Ballard's Last Chance
The reality is Ballard will not get many more chances, if any, to turn this team around. Irsay made it very clear to the general manager what he must do.
“Fix it," Ballard revealed when asked what Irsay told him. "I mean you know Mr. Irsay, he wants to win. ... So, he was direct, ‘Look, Chris, y'all need to win. Y'all need to get this thing going back in the right direction.’”
Ballard seems to have realized the changes he needs to make to get the Colts heading in the right direction. But until he proves he is willing to make those changes, Colts fans have every right to be skeptical. Ballard will only be able to earn back the trust of fans with his actions this offseason and by producing winning results on the field in 2025.
