INDIANAPOLIS – Chris Ballard has a clear gameplan of how the next couple days of pressure-packed, franchise-altering boardroom decisions will go at 56th and Georgetown.
Just don’t expect to hear from the Colts’ brain trust on Thursday.
“See you all on Friday,” the Colts general manager said cordially to the media contingent seated at the team’s facility Monday afternoon, closing Ballard’s annual pre-NFL Draft news conference that has gained a reputation within the Indianapolis fanbase for being short on substance.
Monday, Ballard pulled back the curtain ever so slightly, audibly catching himself once before uttering, “Other teams read all the comments, so I’ve got to be careful about what I’m giving.”
The overarching theme: Once the Jets are on the clock for pick No. 33 Friday evening, Ballard plans to kick things into high gear. Defense, Ballard often hinted, is the clear target, but Indianapolis won’t be caught glamorizing any specific player or position – at the expense of the larger goal of getting better.
“I’d anticipate us being pretty aggressive, moving around the board,” Ballard said. “Now, don’t misconstrue ‘aggression’ for moving up. For me, being aggressive can be about moving back and then moving around to acquire more picks.
“I just think we’ll be ‘active.’ That’s a better word.”
Ballard, famous for his prior exploits of trading back around the second and third rounds in attempts to walk the tightrope of landing the optimal player for the moment while also marrying the team’s needs, said multiple times that his guiding light heading into this week’s three-day draft extravaganza is to target team improvement. Doing that, he said, involves first taking what the board gives you and then diagnosing the available talents, identifying the team’s needs and compiling the best-fit arsenal of rookies as possible.
The NFL Draft, he said, can’t be about falling in love with, and therefore mortgaging the farm, for one individual player. For a team that has either traded away or let walk a half-dozen starters from the Colts’ 2025 squad, while failing to unequivocally sign any of their replacements in free agency, Indianapolis’ front office simply can’t afford to put too many eggs into a single basket.
“I just kinda think the more shots you have at the board, the better you are,” Ballard said. “What you can’t do is get so fixated on one player that you lose sight of the big picture of what you could get.
“If they’re the same level, and everything’s equal, you’re going to take (the player) you think is the need, but if a guy is ‘here’…”
Ballard raised his hands above his head.
“…and everyone else is ‘here,’” he said, before lowering his hand to chest height, “well, we put him there for a reason. You don’t put him there just to let him look at us. More mistakes are made because you pass on a really good player, because you’re trying to fill a need, and you’ve got to be really careful with that.”
It’s a guiding light the Colts will have to grapple with from their first scheduled selection – No. 47 overall, in the second round Friday evening – with two glaring voids in a defensive front seven where Indianapolis lost, traded or have yet to re-sign three starters from 2025 in linebackers Germaine Pratt, Zaire Franklin and Kwity Paye this offseason.
Of the team’s 10 free agent signings since mid-March, half have centered around the front seven – including a pair of defensive ends (Arden Key and Micheal Clemons) and one linebacker (Akeem Davis-Gaither).
None of them should, in an ideal world, be in starting roles come Week 1, even though all three have spent significant chunks of time in elevated roles on struggling units of late.
Whether Ballard & Co. should spring for an edge rusher or linebacker with that first pick has been a common debate. But, as Ballard noted Monday, this year’s class is deep not only at those positions, but also at receiver – where the Colts have a clear opening for WR3 – and safety – where they lack a certain starter at strong safety.
And it’s a class that, as a whole, may not be jam-packed with headliners, but one with gems to be found well into Day 3 – an interesting note from a GM who’s already pledged to be in the market to acquire picks.
When asked to gauge where his offense stands, having traded away veteran wideout Michael Pittman Jr. and let starting offensive tackle Braden Smith walk in free agency, Ballard said he sees a unit largely poised for growth opportunities for those already on the roster.
“We’re going to be on some development of players. You’ve got to be able to do that,” Ballard said of the group that saw the re-signing of foundational members receiver Alec Pierce and starting quarterback Daniel Jones, but little else in free agency. “(Offensive tackle) Jalen Travis, we saw enough good stuff at the end of the year that we think he’s got some real upside.
“And we think we’re going to be able to get (receiver Alec) Pierce and (receiver Josh) Downs (the ball more). I think that will be a good thing.”
Defense, though, is another matter.
Led by Lou Anarumo, a defensive coordinator in his second season in Indianapolis, it’s a unit that seems poised to feature youth, unlike a year ago. After season-ending training camp injuries to cornerback Justin Walley and safety Hunter Wohler, relatively young – but often injury-hindered – players like corner Jaylon Jones and linebacker Jaylon Carlies were rarely heard from last season in Anarumo’s system. Last year’s second-round pick, Jaylahn Tuimoloau, found himself for early chunks of the year stuck behind veterans.
Given the team’s holes as the roster stands, Indianapolis desperately needs to hit on its early picks that, on paper, seem likely to favor the defensive side of the ball. But Ballard said those picks’ impact, ultimately, will ride on how those players pan out within Anarumo’s system that’s deep in its scheming and favors players who fly around the field and can pack a punch.
Being drafted high, even for a team with such glaring needs, doesn’t guarantee a major role. And a need, no matter how alarming it may seem, will not predestine a specific player or position come Friday.
“Young guys, first they’ve got to prove it. We’ve drafted them, we’ve done all this work on them and brought them in here. (Last year), you can bet if Hunter and Walley don’t get hurt, they play major roles, unequivocally, but now they’ve got to earn snaps (again),” Ballard said. “Lou’s fine. Lou will play young players. That’s not an issue.
“But they’ve got to earn their way up.”
At linebacker, Ballard said Indianapolis would be looking for players capable of playing all three downs, guys with speed and players whose game revolves around playing instinctive football.
With any prospective defensive end? Ballard was more concise.
“Adding a fastball,” Ballard said, “is kinda what we need.”
“We’ve never gotten the homerun guy in the draft, but we’ve drafted some pretty good football players (at defensive end). Those double-digit sack guys aren’t always easy to find, but we’ve got to do a better job of trying to identify the right things. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that. I think we can.”
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: NFL Draft ‘aggression’ will look different for Colts GM Chris Ballard, but needs are known
Reporting by Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
