The Indianapolis Colts (2-4), and specifically team owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon publicly announced on Monday that longtime general manager Chris Ballard has been relieved of his duties:
Ballard had compiled a 72-82-1 through a little over 10 seasons with the Colts franchise, having arrived in 2017. However, he had just two playoff appearances, 1 playoff win, and 0 division titles during his lengthy GM
tenure.
While he initially got off to a hot start following his 2018 NFL Draft Class which included Quenton Nelson, Darius ‘Shaq’ Leonard, and Braden Smith among others, winning PFWA Executive of the Year for that elite draft class, the quality and returns of his subsequent draft classes largely diminished (aside from arguably 2020, which was a solid haul with both Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr. in the 2nd round).
Never one to seriously spend in free agency, Ballard was notoriously frugal, preferring to re-signed his own players, despite glaring starting holes on the Colts roster year-after-year, which weren’t properly addressed.
That approach changed during the 2025 offseason, when the Colts signed both safety Cam Bynum and cornerback Charvarius Ward to lucrative, multi-year free agency deals, but by that time, it was too little, and too late. It’s a fair question of whether either one of those signings have dramatically paid off for Indianapolis either.
Having had two consecutive 8-9 seasons, and stumbling out of the gates to a 2-4 record, with no playoffs in Indianapolis since 2020 (the COVID-19) year, Sunday’s brutal loss was finally the straw that broke Ballard’s tenure with the Colts.
The Tennessee Titans were winless at 0-5 and had an 11-game losing streak in the AFC South, while the Colts were at home and blew a 13-0 lead at halftime—with former franchise legends in the house to honor Adam Vinatieri’s induction into the franchise’s Ring of Honor.
Colts fans had been publicly frustrated with Ballard’s recent results, and coming off an offseason where Irsay-Gordon publicly proclaimed that, “The Stakes had never been higher” for the franchise. She made good on her word, as Ballard was finally shown the door and exits stage left.
