Jim Irsay: Chris Ballard's 'not on some quick hot seat,' but Colts owner wants progress

PHOENIX — Jim Irsay made his choice last fall.

Frustrated and infuriated by his team’s collapse, by its repeated failures to live up to expectations to win the AFC South crown, the Colts owner decided it was time for change at the top.

But only a partial change.

Irsay fired head coach Frank Reich but decided to retain general manager Chris Ballard, vigorously defended Ballard’s credentials in the press conference immediately after the Reich decision and doubled down by putting the team’s head coaching search in the hands of his general manager.

Because of the Colts’ collapse last season, the team’s overall record and its inability to find answers at quarterback, there have been questions in Indianapolis about Ballard’s job security, about whether or not Indianapolis needs to take a giant leap forward in 2023 for Ballard to keep his job. Indianapolis is 45-52-1 in Ballard’s six seasons as general manager, with just two playoff appearances, one playoff win and no division titles.

Requiring an immediate turnaround to playoff contender could be somewhat at odds with the franchise’s desire to draft and develop a rookie quarterback. Few quarterbacks, including the passers who’ve developed into the NFL’s best players, have been able to turn around a team’s record in their rookie season.

Irsay made it clear at the NFL owner’s meetings that he realizes the road the Colts are about to take may require some patience.

The Colts owner also made it clear he wants to see progress.

“He’s not on some quick hot seat,” Irsay said. “But the expectations are there to succeed, and everyone knows when you’re going in the right direction. You can tell.”

Knowing the difficulty of winning with a rookie right away, Irsay made the case that evaluating if the Colts are headed in the right direction in 2023 might not come down to wins and losses.

“One thing people underestimate about Mr. Irsay is he is very knowledgeable about the game, the history of the game and the quarterback position,” Ballard said. “He knows the history of the game, he also knows how hard those guys are to acquire.”

By way of example, Irsay offered a conversation he had with former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. in 1998, when a Colts team quarterbacked by a rookie Peyton Manning was on its way to a 3-13 season.

“Eddie DeBartolo came up to me when we lost to the 49ers in ’98 and he was going, ‘Man, do you know what you have in front of you? Oh my God. You better hold on, because you’ve got a franchise there that’s going to be something to behold,’ and you could see it,” Irsay said. “You’re going to have some people who are knee-jerk reacting and just look at what the record is, what the score was, but … a lot of people know football well. They study it, and they know when you’re going in the right direction.”

Ballard shrugged off any suggestion that his job security might influence how he’s handling his duties this offseason.

The Colts general manager hasn’t changed his approach in free agency much this offseason. Indianapolis jumped at the chance to sign Matt Gay in an effort to find a long-term solution at kicker, and the Colts have made a couple of signings in Samson Ebukam and Taven Bryan to shore up depth on the defensive line.

But Ballard also traded away the team’s No. 1 cornerback, Stephon Gilmore, and resisted any urge to plug holes with big-money veteran contracts in a free-agent class that was short on big names this spring.

“I just keep working,” Ballard said. “I don’t ever look it at that way. Continuity’s a good thing. We had a bad year, but we’ll learn our lessons from what things we’ve done wrong, and we’ll move forward, but I don’t ever work in a world where I worry about my job or what’s next. I don’t ever worry about that.

Irsay defended Ballard’s approach on several fronts.

The Colts owner pushed back on criticisms of the roster, saying he believes the Colts have a lot of good pieces, almost all of them drafted or acquired by Ballard.

And although Ballard’s approach to free agency has often been criticized as one of the general manager’s weak points, Irsay made it clear at several points in his interview that the team’s reticence to tweak contracts, circumvent the salary cap and push money into future years is an organizational philosophy that comes from the top down.

Irsay repeatedly said he doesn’t want to mortgage the team’s future for short-term results, preferring to build an annual contender, a goal the Colts owner believes is centered on salary-cap discipline, even though teams like Kansas City, Philadelphia and Buffalo have been aggressive and successful in recent seasons.

“I don’t think Chris is conservative,” Irsay said. “I think he’s always willing to pull the trigger and do something to help the team be better, but he is also smart in cap management, and knowing that keeping gunpowder dry is so important in franchise-building and sustaining that.”

Irsay also offered some defense of Ballard’s inability to find a franchise quarterback since Andrew Luck’s shocking retirement, although the Colts’ owner did say that he’s wanted to go all-in on the rookie quarterback route since Philip Rivers retired at the end of the 2020 season.

The Luck decision plays a role in Irsay’s evaluation of his general manager.

“The Andrew Luck card’s never been seen by a general manager before,” Irsay said. “I’d like to see how other teams would respond when you have a 29-year-old who’s supposed to be there for the next 10 years to win two Lombardis just walks away two weeks before the season starts.”

Ultimately, Irsay still believes in Ballard’s ability to build a winner, a belief fortified in consultations with former Indianapolis general manager Bill Polian and others around the league.

“I have worked with Chris and been around him for six years, and I know general managers, I know head coaches, I’ve been around them for 52 years,” Irsay said. “Chris has the right tools and the right capabilities.”

That doesn’t mean Ballard has an unlimited rope.

“I see him here with Shane, but everyone has to be successful to keep their job if you’re a general manager or head coach,” Irsay said.

The quarterback decision the Colts make over the next month will likely determine that success.

Ballard’s job, and the franchise’s job at large, is to find a quarterback of the future.

“I have a lot of faith in Shane and Chris, and their ability to find the right person,” Irsay said. “My responsibility is to make sure those two guys are in place, and they’re the right people in place, and to support them.”

And to evaluate the direction the Colts are about to take.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts owner Jim Irsay: Chris Ballard's 'not on some quick hot seat'