Strangely I agree with you that it is a solid roster and you could do much worse. It is hard to move on from that when you know you are close. Until last year I was with you on this but now I wonder just how many more years we will be solid because solid doesn't cut it. It's a .500 team, give or take a few. I know what it is like to be the laughing stock of the NFL, it sucks. But so has the last decade. I would like ownership to say and act like the only thing that counts is winning Super Bowls. It is why I liked then and still like swinging for the fences with Sauce. If it signals a new more aggressive mindset I'm all in, but it doesn't feel that way quite yet.

I think Chris Ballard is a GREAT evaluator and drafter of talent.....for every position besides QB and DE.

Sadly, those two positions are the most important on an NFL team and greatly dictate the success or failure of the team.

And I still don’t believe he’s ever forced his hand and gotten the QB he solely wanted. He leaves a lot of creative control of QB choice up to the coach because they want this harmonious work place unlike they had with Grigson

Alas, that does not matter.

In the end, he is the one who green lit whatever acquisition the Colts did...the buck stops here as they say.

I am on the fence about keeping him or firing him. He does SO many things well...except find QBs and DEs.

If this is true than we are in more trouble than I ever thought. Of course he takes what the coach wants into consideration, I am sure he also runs it by the owner, but if he doesn't make the final decision who does? He kept Banogu on the team for years and the coaches kept making him a healthy scratch. That doesn't scream to me letting the coach make decisions on players. In the scenario you postulate, where decisions are made by multiple people, nobody is in charge and we are essentially rudderless. I am not saying you are wrong but if you are correct, jeez.

So you’re telling me he wanted to sign,

Xavien Howard

Mike Hilton

Germaine Pratt

I’m guessing Anarumo went to him and said this is what I need if you want my system to work because none of these are moves that would match Ballards tendencies

I am not saying that GMs don't let coaches sway them on certain players. I am saying when it is the most important position on the team, a position that affects the entire organization and how it is perceived the buck does not stop with the coach that 'loves' some QB for whatever reason. The GM makes that call, most likely in close consultation with the owner. Unless he is overuled by the owner he owns it in my view. Quarterbacks are different than other positions.

After years of trying and striking out, Ballard found a Quarterback in Daniel Jones. He might not be the next Patrick Mahomes or Josh Taylor, but if that’s your metric for judging talent, most NFL GM’s come up short.

At DE, Latu seems to be developing into a solid pass rusher, a 10-12 sack a season guy. We could use another presence on the other side, someone who offers more sudden impact. Those guys are hard to find; I suspect that the answer is going to be Trey Hendrickson.

I would prefer it to be Jaelan Phillips as he is a longer term solution to the problem and he is almost certain to hit free agency.

No...No...No! Maxx Crosby should be the target. I would be willing to trade 2 2nd rd. picks, Pittman and Richardson for him.

Of the 7/9 times we've not made the playoffs under Ballard I think you can legitimately excuse 3 of those seasons: 2017 b/c of rebuilding and Luck not being available, 2019 b/c of Luck bailing right before the season started, and 2025 b/c of the ridiculous amount of injuries that have happened to key players.

Just for fun here are some tongue is cheek excuses from all of the other years:

2021 - It wasn't Ballard's fault that the QB he traded for couldn't do a 180 deg. turnaround to his career. It also wasn't Ballard's fault that a rookie w/ 11.5 sacks in his entire college career and another rookie coming off an a torn achilles couldn't adequately take over for the loss of pass rushing vets Justin Houston and Denico Autry. And finally, it definitely wasn't Ballard's fault that the Jagoffs actually decided to play to win the final week of the year and not roll over and play dead like they had for pretty much the 2nd half of the season. That was just not fair!!

2022 - It wasn't Ballard's fault that Matt Pryor didn't work out at LT. He had the one game where he started at LT in '21 and played ok, so this was a total shocker. It also wasn't Ballard's fault that Pinter sucked at ROG. He and his staff only had 2 years to evaluate Pinter, which just isn't enough time. It also wasn't Ballard's fault that Matt Ryan's arm was shot. It's not like there was any film showing this in Ryan's last season or 2 in ATL.

2023 - To be fair the Colts exceeded any realistic expectations this year. Although it can probably be said that it wasn't Ballard's fault that starting one of the rawest QB prospects in history who had no idea how to protect himself from hits in the NFL got hurt.

2024 - It wasn't Ballard's fault that a QB who had a completion percentage in college of 55% couldn't improve on this in the NFL. It also wasn't Ballard's fault that he couldn't figure out that said QB wasn't willing to put in the time to be a good NFL QB during the predraft interviewing process. And it definitely wasn't Ballard's fault that the defense he put together didn't show up against the 2 worst offenses in the league that year (@ Jagoffs and @ NYG).

o


I would say that Ballard didn't strike out in 2020 also, when a 39 year-old Philip Rivers led the Colts to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth. The largely immobile 39 year-old Rivers was playing behind an excellent offensive line that season ...... Rivers was not sacked once and was literally untouched in the Wildcard playoff game against the Bills, a game which went right down to the wire on the Bills' homefield in northwestern New York State.

I wouldn't count the 2019 season against Ballard because of the fact that Andrew Luck retired abruptly only 2 weeks before the start of the regular season ...... Ballard had no choice but to roll with Jacoby Brissett that season.

So Ballard had 4 consecutive seasons of being unable to find a solid quarterback from 2021 through 2024, although Carson Wentz was close ...... Wentz gets blamed for shitting the bed at the worst time in the final 2 games of the lone season that he played for the Colts, as he should ...... but he also led that Colts to a 9-6 record prior to that late-season collapse, and had 27 TD's, 7 INT's, and a passer rating of 93.1 for that season.


So Ballard's inability to find a solid quarterback for the team spanned 4 seasons, from 2021 through 2024.



*******************************


On the other hand, I would put the disastrous 2022 season entirely on Ballard, as I thought that it was a minor miracle that Matt Ryan had the Colts with a record of 4-5-1 after 9 games with that atrocious line blocking for him. That offensive line was nothing short of awful that year ...... in fact, if Philip Rivers had had that same terrible offensive line "protecting" him, I think that that 2020 solid, playoff season would have resembled the disastrous 2022 season. Philip Rivers had the mobility of a statute at that point in his career, and there is almost no way that he would have survived that season without getting killed, let alone led the team to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth. Philip Rivers had one of the best offensive lines in all of football blocking for him in 2020, which is the complete opposite of the line that Matt Ryan had "blocking" for him.

o

Noah Compton
@nerlens_
·
3h
Bruce Arians on
@PatMcAfeeShow
yesterday discussing the fate of the Indianapolis Colts:

“I hope the Colts don’t make a change, because I think they’re close…be patient, you’re very, very close. Don’t let one or two injuries run you out of the whole damn thing.”

I will say this.

When Carlie has her end of season meeting with Ballard and Steichen, if either of them even insinuate that we should keep either Zaire or Kwity, her response should be; Here's a box get your shit out of my building.

I would keep Kwity only if it were for a back-up role, and not as a starter. Zaire needs to kick rocks.

o


We got a lot out of a 7th-round drafter pick from 2018.

Between 2019 and 2021, Franklin was excellent on special teams. He evolved into an excellent linebacker between 2022 and 2024, culminating in his 2024 All-Pro season when he led the league with 173 tackles.

After his sub-par 2025 season, he may be finished as a Colt.

o

He definitely earned his spot the hard way and he had a hell of a run but honestly he got outplayed by Pratt and he has no business out there covering anyone.

He can run and hit with the best of them but a totally glaring liability in coverage

The shocking thing is that he went from the pro bowl to looking washed up in the course of less than a year.

In a perfect world, you have a hard time cutting a guy who’s been one of the faces of the team, a team captain, a beloved figure in the locker room, a fan favorite. You hate to be a Bill Belichick, who never saw a player he wouldn’t cut if his performance didn’t exceed his cap numbers.

If it were me, I’d be asking myself if, maybe, we spent the year trying to pound a round peg into a square hole. As far as I’m concerned, finding a Linebacker who can cover ought to be pretty much near the top of Chris Ballard’s honey do list this offseason. The question I then ask myself is whether I think that Franklin still has value lined up next to that guy.

The other question comes down to personnel and roster building. The team has six starters and three key backups whose contracts are expiring. Cutting Franklin adds to the number of positions you have to address. If you cut him, are you shooting yourself in the foot?

Absolutely not shooting yourself in the foot. Ballard has shown that he can draft LB's. Also this sends a a team message that with sub-par performance anyone can lose their job.

I don't think Franklin regressed outside of his injury. I don't think he started the season at 100% and nobody finishes it at 100%. There's been multiple circumstances this year where I saw him take a long time to get up.

Anecdotally I initially felt like honestly this year was not the worst I'd seen out of Franklin but empirically speaking there is clearly a production drop.

I think he has more value with us as backup then just letting him go. Indianapolis has to find a guy that can beat him out on some snaps but if his health improves I think Franklin could have a better year next year as a run defender.

It's mostly not Franklin's run defense that are the issue. I this atrocious pass defense. He's often not in the same zip code of receivers crossing into his zone. No spatial awareness or speed.

Zack Hicks makes the case that Ballard should be fired. He isn't predicting it, nobody knows how Carlie is going to make decisions, but he believes it is time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhHtLwqLwsw

I tend to agree with Hicks on this and would like the opinion of our resident Ballard backers as to why his argument is incorrect. To be clear, I am not saying he needs to be fired, I trust Carlie on this, but I think it is a pretty convincing argument that Hicks throws out.

He's always been a liability in this regard. He's good to get toasted multiple times in a year and he'll make a small handful of plays like he did this year, within the context of pass defense.

I'd love to see him in a backup role (I've always felt that was his best role anyway) as a special teams contributor and someone that comes in to help defend the run or blitz.

I think it was Belichik who had the philosophy to put a player in a position to succeed. Franklin should never be on the field during obvious passing situations. It's not his fault he sucks at pass defense, he certainly makes the effort. He just sucks at it. Keeping him on the field during obvious passing situations is not on him, it's on the coaching.

I will have to watch it later, as I am about to leave for a while, but I will say you could make a good argument either way. It depends on what one wants to hear.

It’s a pretty compelling case that he makes. On one hand I can talk myself into believing we can find success next year but it would require me to ignore the cumulative results of Ballard’s tenure. Having lost so much draft capital while facing some serious holes yet to fill it’s beginning to feel like next year will be another sub-par season, maybe just for different reasons. Teams go from last in their division to first and I won’t rule it out. After all even a blind squirrel…
But should we be putting all our eggs in that basket? Now I could see Carlie keeping him for another potentially lost season while she takes on greater control of the draft. It would allow her to see if Jones and other players return to form and produce. It would also give her a bit of time to consider a new coach and GM. But like you, I have to trust Carlie. What other choice do I have?

This is true. To the point that I've often wondered why the Colts keep two backers on the field in obvious 3rd and long situations. Eberflus did it, Bradley did it, and now Anarumo is doing it. It wasn't a burden when Eberflus did it, because Leonard and Okereke were excellent coverage backers.

Well articulated with data to back up his position. The guy is not a good GM, he just isn't. His final parting shot of looking around at the turn around's for some of Indy's other franchises and then looking at the Colts with this prolonged period of just "meh"... YOU HAVE TO FIRE HIM!

No doubt he makes some great points. His 3rd point (ignoring position groups in the offseason) has always been one of Ballard's weaknesses, and we all know the QB story all too well. What's scary though is his 2nd point as Ballard appears to have lost his edge in the draft. Take 2023 for example - we drafted a whopping 12 players and in year 3 of that draft class only 2 players have made any sort of impact on the season (Downs and Ade Ade) with one of them being a rotational guy.

Like you I'm torn. Seems like our best chance to have success next year is to roll it back and hope Jones can stay healthy and that he and Steichen can figure out how to beat the defensive blue print Pitt put in place. But long term wise it's probably better to move on. If you're the owner of a company and under your current COO you've finished in the red for 5 straight years and 7/9 since the COO has been put in place then you'd be crazy to not replace him.

This is exactly how I feel. Not an easy decision and probably no right or wrong one. It will be interesting to see how Carley handles this.

Great points in here.

In the real world, there is typically an annual appraisal performed. That appraisal is a retrospective look at the year. When you have someone responsible for a department / sector, when they are the ONE person accountable for the totality of that area, that evaluation will look at the totality of the 12 months. If the year started hot, but ended with a thud, and the person in charge is fully responsible for the full 12 months performance, there is a severe consequence for the totality of the performance. In that situation as the ultimate evaluator you don't say "hey, you did great early on, but once Brad left, well the department collapsed and we failed to meet all our objectives as a company as a result and a bunch of employees are getting cut, but since you did good early on we are going to ignore what the final outcome was, here's your bonus, have a great time in Tahiti". It doesn't work like that. For some reason we seem to want to see that approach taken with Ballard and I just don't understand why?

I sure as hell would not retain this person when over the course of 10 years I look at their performance and conclude they have seldom, if ever, met the performance expectations. Why would you WANT to keep that person in place in that circumstance?

So why retain him?

Yeah, I won't be upset either way. Now if we roll it back next season and miss the playoffs for the 6th straight year (no matter the circumstances) then I'll be of the opinion that Ballard and SS absolutely have to go.

Both teams that drafted ahead of us in 2023 have since made the playoffs--and a bunch after us.

The downturn started when DJ broke his leg which we didn't find out until later. Rivers was a waste in so many ways.

I thought the play calling felt different in the KC game.

It seemed like all this team needed was a slightly mobile QB with slightly above average play. That was Jones until he got hurt. Could it have been Lenard after a game or 2 under his belt?

Ballard and Steichen will return next season

Carlie will speak to media tomorrow

o


I come not to praise Chris Ballard ...... I come not to bury Chris Ballard ...... I come to congratulate Chris Ballard on having the most threads in his name on the ColtFreaks website for the 2025 season.




Ballard’s Presser From Today

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


Is Ballard a Buyer ???

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


Ballard and Steichen Are Coming Back

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


I Come to Praise Chris Ballard, Not to Bury Him

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


What Hath Ballard Wrought …... A Look at the Roster

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


Ballard

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


Daniel Jones Saved Ballard’s Job

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


What Could Ballard Do ???

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


Ballard Presser

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


Ballard and Steichen Are Safe

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard


Ballard’s Draft Record

https://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/sho...hlight=Ballard

o

When your GM gets the most threads it is a bad sign