Jim Irsay said the NFL would keep rolling after he died, so what's next for Colts?
The end came suddenly, even if we couldn't help but notice the subtle signs that something had changed.
This past year, Jim Irsay wasn't the same Jim Irsay anymore.
The last time the eccentric Indianapolis Colts owner spoke to the local media about the state of his team was in July 2024. As had become a yearly routine, Irsay arrived at Colts training camp in a suit and sunglasses, oozing with reckless optimism, as he addressed reporters from his golf cart.
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'That is our goal, to win the division,' Irsay said at the time. 'I really think, to me, it's the best team we've fielded in a while.'
But missing from Irsay's annual speech was that signature relentless thrum of positive energy. Each new season seemed to reinvigorate him, but he couldn't quite access the same spirit. Not because he doubted his team, but because he physically couldn't. His voice didn't rise to the amplified volumes it used to under the hot training camp sun. During that interview, Irsay said that he was still recovering from left leg surgery and promised he'd be back to his old boisterous self in the future.
In the months after, however, he was largely absent from the public eye, perhaps foreshadowing what was to come. Irsay died Wednesday at the age of 65.
But as he once put it, the NFL must continue without him.
'If I die tonight, and Jonathan Taylor is out of the league, no one's gonna miss us,' Irsay said in July 2023 when he was embroiled in a contract dispute with his star running back. 'The league goes on. We know that. The National Football (League) rolls on. It doesn't matter who comes and who goes.'
Irsay was right, of course. So, as the NFL world mourns his loss, it's fair to start thinking about the future and the next chapter for an Indianapolis Colts franchise poised to enter a new era.
Where else is there to start but at the top? As part of the succession plan, Irsay's three daughters — Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson — are expected to take control of the franchise as co-owners, titles they've held since 2012. But Irsay-Gordon, the oldest of Irsay's children at 44, will presumably shoulder most of the football-related responsibilities. How exactly she plans to lead the franchise remains to be seen, though she has some experience.
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Irsay-Gordon stepped in as the Colts' shot caller after her father, who was open about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, was arrested for driving while intoxicated in March 2014. Her first opportunity to take the reins came when Irsay spent time in a rehab facility and then again when the NFL suspended him six games later that year for his misconduct.
Over the past several years, Irsay-Gordon has been present in the Colts' war room on draft weekends; on game days, she's been seen on the sideline wearing a headset, and she was heavily involved in the team's coaching search in 2023 that ended with the hiring of Shane Steichen. Colts general manager Chris Ballard, who'll enter his ninth season with the franchise, holds her in high regard.
'She will ask 500 questions about why, and a lot of times, it'll halfway piss me off, but I'll go, and I'll (start) thinking, 'She's right,'' Ballard said of Irsay-Gordon in February 2019, per IndyStar. 'She asks the question from a different perspective and makes you think about why you do what you're doing.'
Pete Ward, Irsay's longtime right-hand man and the team's chief operating officer, will remain in place, overseeing the non-football side of the building.
A big question lingering now that Irsay is gone, though, is how involved Irsay-Gordon will be in the football operations. It's no secret that when her father was healthy, he exerted his influence regarding the team's players and coaches. Part of Irsay's legend includes his determination to pick Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf in 1998 and his decision to hire coach Tony Dungy in 2002.
Just in the past half-decade alone, you can see Irsay's fingerprints on the team. He was the one who urged Ballard to aggressively trade up to draft running back Jonathan Taylor — a player Ballard coveted — in the second round in 2020. Irsay was the one driving the Colts' push to re-sign wide receiver T.Y. Hilton in 2021. Irsay was the one who demanded the Colts part with quarterback Carson Wentz after a vexing 2021 season, that they bench former league MVP Matt Ryan in favor of third-string QB Sam Ehlinger in 2022, that they fire coach Frank Reich and hire former Colts center-turned-EPSN-analyst Jeff Saturday — even though he had no prior coaching experience at the college or pro levels — as the team's interim coach and that they draft Anthony Richardson at No. 4 in 2023.
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Irsay was also the public face of the, at times, contentious contract negotiations with Taylor ahead of the 2023 season.
Those are just some of the instances we know about.
And just about every time the Colts made a move, regardless of what anyone else thought, he'd share his thoughts publicly, sometimes calling reporters himself to vent on the record. He called my former colleague, Bob Kravitz, after hiring Saturday to dispute suggestions that the Colts were tanking.
'That's bulls—. … We don't tank in Indianapolis,' he told Kravitz.
That was Jim Irsay. Will that be Carlie Irsay-Gordon, too?
Irsay's latest and last public message regarding the team, following a frustrating 8-9 finish in 2024, was a letter to the fans in January that declared that coach Shane Steichen and Ballard would be back for another season. Irsay was always fond of Ballard in particular, even comparing his GM to Michael Jordan amid a disastrous 2022 campaign and despite his underwhelming resume. Through his first eight seasons, Ballard has just two playoff appearances, one playoff victory and zero AFC South titles. Most owners would've moved on after nearly a decade of mediocrity, and it'll be interesting to see if Irsay-Gordon shares the same affinity for Ballard as her father.
Irsay's death comes at a time when the franchise is undoubtedly at a crossroads. Indianapolis is a long way from the perennial juggernaut it was when Manning was running the show. Many believe the Colts don't have a franchise QB on the roster, as the team is preparing to enter a 2025 season that will largely hinge on the performance of Richardson or Giants castoff Daniel Jones.
Both quarterbacks, who are currently in a position battle, are coming off abysmal 2024 campaigns. Last year, Richardson threw eight TDs against 12 interceptions and finished the season with a league-low 44.7 completion percentage. Jones, meanwhile, threw eight touchdowns against seven picks before being benched and released. The Colts signed Jones in free agency to challenge Richardson for the starting job, but will one really make a difference over the other?
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Indianapolis hasn't made the playoffs since 2020, a drought that bothered Irsay, who was eminently proud of the Lombardi Trophy his team claimed after the 2006 season. He agonized over the Colts' Super Bowl loss in the 2009 campaign and annually talked about reclaiming the throne.
Serendipitously, Irsay's final post on X was a congratulatory message to the Pacers as they geared up for the Eastern Conference Finals. Hours later, they rallied for a dramatic Game 1 victory over the Knicks. Indiana is now three wins away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000, three years removed from going 25-57 and landing the No. 6 pick in the draft.
Irsay never lost hope that the Colts could experience a similar turnaround.
'Let's find a way back to our greatness,' Irsay told his players in the locker room after the 2024 regular-season finale. 'That's what my goal is.'
Now, that goal belongs to Irsay-Gordon, her sisters and the rest of the organization. Can they help restore the Colts' former glory?
(Top photo of Carlie Irsay-Gordon: Tommy Gilligan / Imagn Images)
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