INDIANAPOLIS — Six days before the defining decision of his tenure, Chris Ballard oozed the same cool and confidence that’s been a staple throughout his stormy, six-year run in Indianapolis.
He hears the buzz. He reads (some) of the stories. He knows exactly how this time of year works, as the draft inches closer and the rumors start to run rampant and the chatter picks up steam. Everyone has a few thoughts on what the Colts should do with the fourth pick. Plenty seem to know who they’re going to take.
Ballard laughs.
Or, at least, he says he does.
“I always love to read the reports that the Colts love this guy and they love that guy,” the general manager said Friday. “Like, who’d that come from? It didn’t come from me. Who’s telling them who we love and who we don’t love? They don’t know.”
Not likely. The Colts have always been a tight-lipped organization under Ballard, rarely (if ever) leaking news, but the lead-up to this year’s draft has been particularly quiet, and not by accident. Ballard wants it that way. He told his staff as much.
What we know: the pressure’s on, whether Ballard acknowledges it or not. This team has started six different quarterbacks in six consecutive season openers and hasn’t drafted a QB in the first round since Andrew Luck in 2012. In recent years, owner Jim Irsay has wanted to draft a develop a young quarterback, building around him as the team climbs back to where it once was — one of the powers of the AFC.
Picking No. 4, the highest since they grabbed Quenton Nelson sixth in 2018, the opportunity has finally arrived, and it’s a good one. Ballard has his chance to pounce.
Get it right, and he could solve the riddle that’s handicapped this franchise since the night Luck retired.
Get it wrong, and he likely won’t be the man tasked with cleaning up the mess that ensues.
“I think y’all feel more pressure than I do,” the GM claimed. “When you do the work, the pressure is not as great as what people make it out to be … there’s not a lot of angst within you.”
Cool. Confident. A little cocky at times. That’s been Ballard since the start, way back in 2017, though the mood around this team has certainly shifted in recent years as the Colts have underperformed in consecutive seasons and the GM’s plan has been exposed. This team has regressed, no doubt, and with this pick, Ballard has a chance at redemption, a much-needed reset that this flailing franchise desperately craves.
Because nothing changes the tenor of a team quite like the arrival of a talented young quarterback.
It’s an infusion of hope, and more than anything, that’s what the Colts need.
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The pre-draft news conference is never a particularly revealing one — what’s a GM going to spill six days before decision time? — so take Ballard’s words Friday with a grain of salt. After all, it’s fibbing season, and the GM acknowledged as much. The last thing league execs want to do at this juncture is tip their hand or slip a secret.
Across the league, the misinformation, smokescreens and rumblings will only increase in the coming days. Not until Thursday night will we find out how much of it was real.
“Oh, everybody’s lying,” Ballard said, laughing. “I might be the most honest one, unfortunately.”
He is — to an extent. Ballard usually keeps it pretty real, unspooling his thoughts about as openly and honestly as any general manager in the league. But he certainly has no intent on divulging any intel that’s going to tip his hand or hurt his leverage. That’s when, in his words, he turns into something else.
“You ask a question, I’ll either dance around it or give you an answer,” he said. “Today, I’m a dancer.”
Chris Ballard’s been candid at times, defensive at others and largely insightful throughout his tenure as Colts GM on how he views drafting QBs.@zkeefer synthesized his quotes to understand more about Indianapolis’ potential strategy as the draft looms:https://t.co/Qse6m8bYBI
— The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL) April 17, 2023
As for the preparation, the reason he seemed so relaxed on Friday? Ballard likened it to an exam in college. When you don’t study, when you don’t know the material, you’re nervous, sweaty, apprehensive. Scared, even. “Beads of sweat, you’re freaking out, trying to BS your way through the frickin’ test and hope you get a C,” he explained.
He doesn’t feel that, not after the last four months, the thousands of hours of film he and his personnel staff have watched, debated and dissected. The visits and workouts they’ve held with the top quarterback prospects across the last few weeks. The interviews. The arguments inside the draft room. The conclusions they’ve come to.
The process was put in place for a reason, Ballard said, and he believes in it.
“When you study for the test, you walk in and you do really well.”
He certainly hopes so. Because he’ll need to.
As for the pressure and the undeniable stakes of this decision, Ballard seemingly swatted off the question, downplaying that type of thinking. The way he sees it: You don’t draft a player based on what happens if you’re wrong, you draft him based on why you believe you’ll be right.
“If you create that own anxiety within yourself, that’s when you start to doubt,” he said. “And that’s just … that’s not just me.”
What he seemed to push back on was the bubbling narrative — again, it’s rumor season — that the Colts are leaning toward one particular quarterback. Plenty of the chatter has them linked to Kentucky quarterback Will Levis, though Ballard mentioned no players by name Friday.
“Like, there’s always this assumption we’ve targeted one player,” he said. “This is the main assumption right now. I don’t know if that’s an accurate assumption. Matter of fact, I’d say it’s not.”
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Little matters over the coming days. What does: Thursday night, when the Colts will finally have to make a decision, and (presumably) roll the dice on the player they believe could grow into the face of their franchise.
Until then? They’re still working. Ballard said the Colts’ draft board isn’t yet set.
He’s got six days to make the decision that will weigh significantly in whether he’s here a year from now.
“We’re not done yet,” he said. “The cement’s not dry.”
It will be soon. Then the rumors won’t matter. It’ll be time for the test.
(Photo: Darron Cummings / Associated Press)
