I come to praise Chris Ballard, not to bury him.

[Kray007]

First of all, apologies to William Shakespeare for plagiarizing Julius Caesar.

Second, I know that there’s a lot of anger and hostility flowing in the direction of the Colts front office. Somewhere east of the White River, crowds are gathering, heating up tar and feathers, and passing out torches and pitchforks.

Most of the angst Centers around Anthony Richardson, Daniel Jones, and the quarterback position. Let me be the first to say that I join you in your unhappiness. So far in his career, Anthony has disappointed. Some of the blame, of course, falls on Chris Ballard’s shoulders. He drafted the man and he entrusted Shane Steichen with the responsibility of developing the young man’s vast potential. Ultimately, we have no idea of how the Richardson experiment will play out. The Colts aren’t cutting ties anytime soon, and there is still a glimmer of hope that things will work out.

But, even if they don’t, I’m not ready to crucify the general manager. Drafting a quarterback might well be the biggest crapshoot in the NFL. The majority, no matter how talented, will fail. That’s a simple fact of life. The Colts spent the better part of a quarter century looking for a replacement for Bert Jones. In the interim between Jones and Manning, we saw a host of quarterbacks lining up under center, the likes of which included names like Don Majkowski, Chris Chandler, Marty Domres, Blair Kiel, and Dan Orlovsky. One first round draft choice was spent on Art Schlichter, another on Jeff George. If Anthony doesn’t work out, we simply have to suck it up, move on, and take a shot in a 2026 draft class that Mel Kiper says is six deep.

I’m not sure that there’s any potential GM hire I trust more than Chris Ballard to make the call. No less an eminence than Bill Polian peered out over the draft landscape in 1998 and, save for the intervention of a stiff necked Jim Irsay, would’ve gifted us with Ryan Leaf.

At the end of the day, after all the grumbling, we face the stark fact that our perception of this club is shaped by Anthony Richardson‘s struggles. Last year‘s club was on the cusp of the playoffs even though they were helmed by a quarterback who completed less than 50% of his passes. That is a testament to the kind of team that Chris Ballard puts on the field. As I see it, this is a team with at least a dozen pro bowl quality players…Pittman, Pierce, Downs, Raimann, Nelson, Warren, Taylor, Buckner, Franklin, Bynum, Ward, and Moore.

There is nothing wrong with Chris Ballard’s ability to identify talent. There’s no reason to burn the organization to the ground and start over from scratch with another GM, especially when you consider that finding another Bill Polian is almost as elusive as finding another Peyton Manning.