Do you like the move to retain Ballard for another year?
Chris Ballard may be the most polarizing figure associated with the Indianapolis Colts; more than the head coach and more than the second year quarterback who produced his own set opinions among fans this year. Maybe it comes down to tenure. Ballard has been with the Colts double those two men combined, so there is plenty of data and points of pain and praise for the GM. With so many opportunities to do right or wrong by fans, it only makes sense that a clear opinion would be had by all. The question is, what is your opinion? Are you team Ballard or team anyone else?
Team Ballard points to the draft and his overall ability to find diamonds in the rough. Zaire Franklin, Josh Downs, Shaquille Leonard, Grover Stewart, Kenny Moore (I know he wasn’t drafted by the Colts), and E.J. Speed are among players who certainly were not well known but have come in and made a positive impact on this franchise. His ability to assess talent and shrewdly move through free agency while keeping the Colts financially flexible can be viewed as a positive. There are quite a few NFL teams that find themselves in a cap crunch which limits their ability to make moves when needed or desired. Ballard has positioned the Colts to be able to strike when the time comes.
Fans on the other side of the coin feel that time never comes. Ballard is cautious to a fault. When players are on the free agent market and appear they could help move the needle, Ballard seemingly sits idle. Sitting on cap space as if spending is a no-no, frustrates these fans to no end. Additionally, for each player he hits on, there seem to be four misses. That is the nature of the draft and the reason why Ballard loves to collect picks. For fans that are done with Ballard, that also causes pain as he continues to slide back in the draft seemingly forgoing top talent available at that particular moment. The blue-chip players he and his staff target with the sky high RAS don’t seem to pan out.
Team Ballard gets another year to gloat while team anybody else gets another year to sulk. What is done, is done. Chris Ballard will be back next year and leading the charge. Nothing is going to change that. Even those on team anybody else should be rooting for his success because it means the Colts are doing well and found some solid pieces to help bring this franchise back to greatness. Ideally, everyone would be team Ballard, but unfortunately, unless something drastic happens, there will remain two camps.
