Colts General Manager Talks QB Situation, Draft, and More
Colts General Manager Chris Ballard Talks QB Situation, Draft, and More
PHOENIX, AZ.–Indianapolis Colts General Manager Chris Ballard gave an update on where the Colts stand with the NFL Draft coming up.
This will be Ballard’s fourth draft since he’s been the General Manager where the Colts have not had a first round pick. He told Larra Overton on Colts.com this week that the Colts draft status is not hurting his confidence.
“We’ve done really well in the second round and beyond. It’s not that we haven’t done well in the first round, but we’ve done well in the second round and beyond too. I give my staff a lot of credit for that. Right now we have seven picks. I would guess that we end up with more. We’ll see. You never know on Draft Day,” said Ballard.
Overton asked Ballard about the health of starting quarterback Daniel Jones. He suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in his right leg last year. Before that, he played with a fractured fibula in his left leg. Ballard says he’s doing all the necessary rehab work.
“Nobody is going to outwork him. You almost have to pull the reins back in on him a little bit. So far, so good. One thing you don’t ever have to worry about is his work ethic. He is going to work and he cares about, not only the team’s performance, but his performance. He understands him being healthy is going to be a big part of that,” said Ballard.
Ballard was at the 2026 NFL Annual League Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. That took place from March 29 through March 31. Owners, coaches, general managers, and league executives met to discuss various topics.
He also spoke with the Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams about the possibility of trading quarterback Anthony Richardson. He told Adams that nothing has materialized on that at this point.
“I got with his agent. He’s done a really good job with Anthony. We’ll see what happens going forward. I’m proud of Anthony. He’s had some bad luck. He’s a good young man and a good teammate. When he didn’t win the (starting quarterback) job last year, that was one of the cool things that came out of it. Like, watching him learn and be an unbelievable teammate was fun to watch,” said Ballard.
Richardson, 23, has dealt with several injuries in both his pro career in Indianapolis and his collegiate career at Florida.
Richardson carries a $10.816M cap hit in 2026, but the Colts could save $5,385,549 if the former 4th overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft is traded this offseason.
