Doyel: As Colts report to camp, GM Chris Ballard awaits Anthony Richardson vs Daniel Jones

Indianapolis Star

6 days ago

WESTFIELD – Colts GM Chris Ballard doesn't understand your hurry to get rid of Anthony Richardson. 'To flush him,' as Ballard was putting it Tuesday, when the Indianapolis Colts reported to training camp at Grand Park. So there was Ballard, being asked hours after the arrival of Richardson – and his competition for the Colts' QB1 job, Daniel Jones – if this is a 'make or break year' for Richardson, who turned all of 23 in May.
Ballard considers the timeline. Two years since the Colts chose Richardson fourth overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. Three years since Richardson became a first-time starter at Florida.
Ballard sounds ready for the question. Then again, he always sounds ready. Hard to catch someone this polished off-guard. Maybe he was going off the cuff, but it sounded so good, so perfect, that he might've had this answer in his back pocket.
'Do you think people regret Baker Mayfield's timeline?' he asks rhetorically. 'Sam Darnold's timeline?'
Mayfield and Darnold went No. 1 and No. 3 overall in the 2018 NFL draft, Mayfield to Cleveland and Darnold to the New York Jets. It took Mayfield five years to make the first of his two consecutive Pro Bowls, in 2023 and '24 with Tampa Bay. It Darnold six years to reach the Pro Bowl, in 2024 with Minnesota. Both were on their fourth NFL team. A reporter points that out.
Ballard doesn't see that as an argument against his plea for patience – but a point in his favor.
'Exactly,' he was saying triumphantly. 'Sometimes you've got to have a little patience with a guy, and let him grow through things. Like, if you just know this guy, no – he can't do it.
'But if you think, 'Hey, he's on the right trajectory,' why are you going to flush him? Just because people on the outside think you should flush him? I don't agree with that. I think we need to give Anthony every chance to be the best he can be. And I think he can be really good.'
Training camp is less than 22 hours from starting at Grand Park, with fans in the grandstands and players on the field. This is a time for optimism. And after a rocky start Tuesday, Ballard showed he's still good at being optimistic.
Ballard climbs out of the golf cart and steps into the muggy sunshine at Grand Park. He walks into a tented area near the main practice field, sits down heavily and looks around. This is different. Used to be, here at training camp in Westfield, Ballard conducted this annual news conference in the air-conditioning inside – back at the Indy Eleven facility the Colts share for three weeks every summer. But the Eleven have made changes, and long story short, the interview room has become an interview tent, outside in the mugginess.
'We lost our spot, huh?' Ballard says glumly. 'Over there? Indy Eleven?'
Reporters are grumbling about it, and someone teases Ballard. Don't you have any juice over here?
'None,' he says, then starts cackling. He's fine here. He's fine anywhere, which is why – just like he doesn't understand the outside world's hurry to 'flush' his 23-year-old quarterback – he doesn't understand why he should be bummed by the idea that this could be a make-or-break year for himself, too.
It's the ownership change, you understand. Colts owner Jim Irsay hired Ballard in 2017, calling him 'the best candidate for general manager that's come about so far in the 21st century,' and Irsay was patient with Ballard. But Jim's gone, having died in May, replaced by his three daughters. Will they be as patient? Doesn't seem likely, not after Carlie Irsay-Gordon told reporters in June during her first press conference as owner that 'we have a standard here – and it hasn't been good enough."
Later, she added: 'We know we have some things to fix.'
So someone's asking Ballard if he feels pressure. Ballard sounds ready for the question. Then again, he always sounds ready.
'Ah, pressure – people talk about pressure,' he says, his tone cutting that eight-letter word in half. 'They understand what Jim wanted. They'll do things differently, and they'll do things their way, but also with their father on their minds the whole time.'
Now he revs into the rest of his answer, the part where it's possible he was going off the cuff, but it sounded so good, so perfect, that you just don't know.
'When you talk about pressure,' he says, 'we get to play football for a living. For me, the journey is the reward. The good and the bad. When you roll up at the end of your life and you look back, it's not all going to be roses. To be able to do what I do – and what we're able to do is play football every day – I don't ever take that for granted. That's not pressure in my mind. That's being blessed.
'Pressure is the family that's living week-to-week on a paycheck and trying to feed their kids. That's pressure.'
Ballard looks around. Any more questions? Anything else about the 23-year-old quarterback with 15 career NFL starts?
Hours earlier the sun was still rising, still low above Grand Park. It was peeking over the trees, into the eyes of cornerback Kenny Moore II, who wore sunglasses.
Moore's the first Colts player to visit with reporters, and he's saying it feels like the 'first day of school all over again.'
Last year's grade? Give the Colts a C-minus. They went 8-9, missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.
'It'll be joyful to turn the page and begin a new season,' Moore said.
The first day was encouraging, with Ballard giving a nearly pristine injury report. First, and more importantly, Richardson will be ready to go immediately after missing some of minicamp with soreness in a right shoulder that was surgically repaired in 2023. He might sit out a few drills, perhaps even a practice early in camp – those are my words, not Ballard's – just to avoid overdoing things.
'Limit his volume some,' Ballard said, 'but no real restrictions.'
Linebacker Zaire Franklin, coming off ankle surgery in the spring, won't be ready for the start of camp but won't be out long, Ballard indicated, and defensive end Samson Ebukam – the Colts' sack leader in 2023 (9½) who missed last season with a ruptured Achillies – 'is cleared and ready to hit.'
Franklin showed up with some silliness, carrying an enormous, eight-speaker stereo contraption in one hand, and a pair of Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark's signature shoes – CC22's – in the other. Franklin got serious when asked about a fan base that is growing impatient. Four years without a playoff appearance? That's the Colts' longest drought since 1991-94.
'They're upset,' Franklin said, 'and they're demanding. And to be quite honest, I wouldn't have it any other way.'
Franklin kept going, saying he was inspired by the Indiana Pacers' run to the 2025 NBA Finals, and concluded this way:
'It's about time we make some great memories.'
It starts at quarterback. Even Chris Ballard will say that publicly, now. Remember when he was hired in 2017? That was the middle of Andrew Luck's chaotic run of injury, and Ballard was up there saying, 'It will never be about one guy.'
He was saying something a little bit different Tuesday.
'I think we've done some good things with the team, but at the end of the day we have – the one position we all know we have to get the quarterback settled,' said Ballard, who's seen some things at quarterback in Indianapolis. 'That position carries such an importance to almost the state of your team when you've got that position solidified. He's one of 53, and it's not all about him, but he's an important piece.'
Who will it be, Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones? Ballard doesn't know. When will the decision be made? Ditto.
'I can't put a timeline on it,' he said.
But he likes the new guy, Jones. Likes the way Jones conducted himself as the No. 6 overall pick by the New York Giants in 2019, likes the mobility in Jones' legs and the talent in his right arm.
'Good dude,' Ballard said of Jones, 'really good guy. He's centered. He's been through a lot. Being in New York, the scrutiny on being a top 10-pick, is not for everybody. I thought he handled it with grace and class. That's who he is. Daniel's talented – Daniel's a very talented player. It'll be a fun competition to watch between these two guys.'
Advantage, Daniel Jones? Not necessarily. Ballard spoke equally glowingly of Richardson.
'When you're young, sometimes when you get hurt it's easy to go into a shell – but his mindset stayed very positive,' Ballard said of Richardson. 'I'm proud of Anthony. He's growing. Growth does not happen through success. Grow happens when you go through a lot of (stuff). Lot of times, people don't have success because they don't want to go through it. He's somebody that's gonna go through it.'
How that competition plays out will determine how far the 2025 Indianapolis Colts go – and perhaps how much longer Chris Ballard stays as GM. On the one hand, he gets it, this is not a forever job.
'One day they'll have a different GM,' Ballard said of the Colts. 'That's part of our league. I don't sit around and worry about that.'
On the other hand, nobody can project optimism like Ballard. He looks at a franchise that hasn't won its opener for 11 consecutive seasons and has finished poorly in recent years – 'In '21,' he says of the Colts' late-season collapse, 'we're in the driver's seat and we piss it down our leg' – and sees a franchise in pretty darn good shape.
'We have got to finish the season better,' he acknowledges. 'We've had some really good football teams and did not get it done.'
Heat? Chris Ballard isn't feeling the heat on a muggy Tuesday in a tent at Grand Park. He's feeling something else.
'How about that breeze we got here?' he says. 'I think this is better than that indoor room.'
Ballard walks away from the podium, cackling.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.