Without a doubt, the biggest objective for the Indianapolis Colts this offseason is to find a quarterback worthy of starting for the 2021 season. While some would say Indy is desperate for a new signal-caller, general manager Chris Ballard isn’t panicking.
Ballard, throughout his tenure, has always been against taking a quarterback just to take one when it comes to the draft. If that was the case, the Colts wouldn’t have gone this long without investing heavily into the position during the draft.
Even with the Colts being a very quarterback-needy team, Ballard won’t pull the trigger until they are convinced they have the right player.
“There’s a fine line in between being aggressive and desperate. We are not going to operate in a desperate world. That’s what the world does. That’s what Twitter does. That’s what people do,” Ballard told Dan Dakich on 1070 The Fan. “They operate in a desperation world. We are not going to operate in that world. We will be aggressive when we need to be aggressive.”
The Colts don’t really find themselves in a situation primed to grab a quarterback. The options available on the free-agent market are underwhelming at best. Trading up for a quarterback is likely going to cost at least two first-round picks and potentially more the closer we get to draft day.
They could also trade for a quarterback. They seemingly have interest in Carson Wentz and maybe could make a move for Marcus Mariota.
But even with Jacob Eason as the most prominent name in the quarterback room, Ballard doesn’t feel forced to make a drastic move.
“Everybody is like you have to do whatever it takes and they are right in that. But you have to be right. You can’t move up and take the wrong guy because history has proven that. If you just look at the last 10 years of drafts and the quarterbacks and the miss rate is a lot higher than the hit rate,” Ballard said. “So you have to be right. Just to move up and take one, to make everybody happy in the moment, to me, that’s wrong. You have to have enough conviction and belief in what you are doing, that even though you are getting criticized in the moment it’ll work out over time.”
Ballard is open to moving up for the player they think is worth it. Is that player in the 2021 draft? Who knows. But the roster seems to be hitting its peak in terms of age combined with production.
So while the Colts may not be desperate to make a move at quarterback, Ballard still must have a plan to improve the position this offseason if they are going to compete for a division title.
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