Just because there won’t be any changes to the Indianapolis Colts’ general manager position with Chris Ballard returning doesn’t mean that his approach to free agency should remain the same.
“We like our guys” is a phrase often mentioned by Ballard, and his actions back those sentiments up. Most often, rather than dabbling in free agency and making outside additions, Ballard will opt to re-sign his own players.
A prime example of this was the 2024 offseason. Coming off a 9-8 season in 2023 when the Colts just missed out on a playoff berth, Ballard re-signed a number of the team’s own free agents, with the only outside additions that were made being Raekwon Davis and Joe Flacco–a rotational defender and a backup quarterback.
This approach, building through the draft and signing a number of those draft picks to second contracts–assuming they’ve earned it–isn’t a bad idea. In fact, it’s what just about every good team does and then they utilize free agency to supplement any position groups that are lacking impact players.
But for the Colts, as the on-field product has shown us for several years now, this isn’t a team that many would put into that good category, which means that free agency needs to play a bigger role than what it has.
Let’s go back to this past offseason for another example: with the secondary struggling mightily in 2023, Ballard chose to runback essentially the same group of players. Now it’s one thing to want to give the young players reps–that is the only way they will grow and develop–but not bringing in any veteran options at cornerback or safety to bolster the depth, the competition, and to provide insurance was a miss by Ballard.
We could also point to the tight end position, which has underwhelmed in the passing game, and the backup running back role as well where a veteran addition would have been helpful–and in none of these scenarios would a high-priced free agent been a requirement, just added competition to raise the floor of each of the mentioned position groups.
Also, for a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in four seasons and has suffered several devastating losses, adding a player or two to the roster who has won and been in the playoffs could be a benefit to the locker room.
“There’s going to be guys out there who can help this team,” DeForest Buckner said via the Indy Star. “We’ve got to make the right moves. I’m not a GM. They’re going to look at everything, and I believe they’re going to pick the right people to be in this locker room and to help this football team.”
According to Over the Cap, the Colts currently have just over $49 million in cap space for the 2025 offseason, which ranks around the middle of the pack compared to the rest of the NFL.
I don’t think anyone is expecting Ballard to do a complete 180 and start handing out lucrative contracts to every top free agent on the market. However, he does have to be more flexible and willing to make some additions to bolster a roster that has again missed the playoffs because continuing to do the same thing over and over obviously isn’t working.