Chris Ballard on Colts free agency: ‘We signed a bunch of good players, happened to be our own’

The Colts were ‘quiet’ regarding external free agency additions, as they focused on re-signing their own players.

During last weekend’s ‘The Rich Eisen Show,’ Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard supported the franchise’s recent activity in free agency—as the team re-signed a number of key starters for next season and beyond, without many external additions:

“I mean we signed a bunch of good players, they just happened to be our own,” Ballard told Eisen. “I think sometimes we forget that. I mean Grover Stewart’s a really good football player. Kenny Moore II is a really good football player. Michael Pittman is a really good (player). I mean these are really good players. Julian Blackmon is a really good player.”

“Look, I’m always going to lean our way, especially when they’re good players. I mean we dabbled with some guys, and we just didn’t get them. I mean that happens.”

“I just truly believe we know, I’ve always said this, that you know who your guys are. You don’t always know in free agency who you’re getting. I mean there’s usually a reason they’re in free agency, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but there’s usually a reason—and I felt really comfortable, and we felt really comfortable with getting our guys back. There’s other guys you know we went after too. It just didn’t work out, and the players we got back are really good football players.”

It’s worth noting the Colts also signed veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, as well as run-stopping rotational defensive tackle Raekwon Davis in free agency this year.

While those outside free agent additions haven’t been overly significant (as both players project to be top backups—not starters), per Spotrac, the Colts have spent the 10th most free agency dollars (including contract extensions) so far at roughly $214M—meaning Ballard’s recent words appear to have some merit regarding money spent at face value.

Ballard’s direct comments on his belief of the success of the Colts’ recent free agency activity isn’t necessarily surprising, as ESPN’s Stephen Holder, who appears pretty plugged into Indianapolis’s front office, when called upon (*having also successfully shot down the prior robust L’Jarius Sneed trade speculation), noted that the Horseshoe was already proclaiming having spent “over 200M+ total in contracts” a few weeks ago in mid-March:

(Holder also references former Minnesota Vikings edge Danielle Hunter, who assuredly is one of the top external free agents Ballard mentioned, that “didn’t work out” from Indy’s end—despite reportedly offering more free agency dollars than the Houston Texans).

That Colts’ prior stance has remained par for the course, although having recently re-structured and extended DeForest Buckner—and with newfound team salary cap space (now projected at $28.4M), it cannot be entirely ruled out that Indy could look to add a veteran, particularly at safety to shore up their defensive secondary.

Otherwise, Ballard’s approach on free agency isn’t all that different from the tail-end of former general manager Ryan Grigson’s tenure, who after several initial failed attempts at free agency, would later say something along the lines of ‘the house wins’ regarding signing external players to significant contracts—noting that the former team has knowledge of the particular free agent that is unbeknownst to the signing team.

Those items could theoretically include their personality, leadership, mental make-up, practice habits, and even underlying injuries.

In the end though, while it’s fair to wonder whether the Colts have actually improved all that much from last season—having largely re-signed their own players (and some of those veterans, like Stewart and Moore II, now just another year older).

A lot of the Colts’ 2024 success will certainly rest on the surgically repaired right throwing shoulder (and legs) of Anthony Richardson, who the team hopes to have for a full season after a tantalizing start to his rookie season that was cut entirely too short because of season-ending surgery.

However, there’s still some heavy-lifting that needs to be done come draft day to address some remaining key deficiencies on their roster—with their free agency activity still being relatively quiet, all things considered, as far as key additions and actual improvements go.