ORLANDO, Fla. — Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard has heard the whispers loud and clear.
The second-guesses of his decision to prioritize re-signing the team’s in-house free agents rather than go searching for new blood were impossible to ignore.
On Tuesday, Ballard took aim at those criticisms.
“Different is not always better,” Ballard said from the NFL meetings in Orlando.
Ballard demonstrated how strongly he believes that notion by re-signing core players like receiver Michael Pittman Jr., cornerback Kenny Moore II, nose tackle Grover Stewart, linebacker Zaire Franklin, defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis and punter Rigoberto Sanchez to contracts with an aggregate total that surpassed $180 million.
Outside of signing backup quarterback Joe Flacco and backup defensive tackle Raekwon Davis, none of the Colts’ consequential moves in free agency included outside acquisitions.
Ballard tried to emphasize that there’s no distinction between spending internally versus externally.
“We did spend,” he said. “We just didn’t spend on the outside names. That’s where I go into ‘Who?’ Everybody [says], ‘OK, go spend.’ [On] who? And that’s OK. That’s what makes our game great is you get to talk about it, debate it.
“At the end of the day, we thought our free agents were good players. We did take a shot at a couple, got [Davis], which we’re excited about, didn’t get the other ones. That’s OK. We keep moving forward and we keep building.”
One reality of the free agency period, Ballard said, is the complexity of navigating negotiations during the frenzied first few days of the signing period, during which many of the biggest names are signed and the richest contracts agreed to.
The Colts earnestly chased Vikings free agent pass-rusher Danielle Hunter, even offering him more money than the Houston Texans — a two-year, $49 million ($48 million guaranteed) deal — ultimately gave him, according to a team source. But after that failed pursuit and considering other potential moves, the Colts had some decisions to make on their own free agents before they availed themselves of alternatives.
“With free agency, you’ve got to make decisions,” Ballard said. “If you sit around and wait on a guy, other players are not waiting on you. They’re moving on. If they’ve got a chance to get money, they’re taking it and moving on. So, there’s a little bit of a balance there to when you’re going through this over that two-day [negotiating] period, making sure that, ‘OK, we’ve got a bird in the hand.’ And we know who [our] players are. They’re good.”
Ballard strongly suggested there would be roster moves to come, particularly in the secondary. The Colts, he said, have re-engaged with safety Julian Blackmon, their 2020 third-round pick who remains on the market after visits to the Bills and 49ers in the past week. The Colts are also likely to consider a cornerback with their first-round draft pick, 15th overall, next month.
But mostly, the Colts are doubling down on their known quantities. They are hoping, for instance, that Pittman, who had 1,152 receiving yards and four touchdowns last season, can build on his career season, Moore can duplicate some of his rare feats and Stewart continues to be a run-stuffing force.
That, coupled with improvement from some of the team’s young players — including the expected development of second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson — is what will move the team forward, they say. The Colts were eliminated from the playoffs in Week 18 with Gardner Minshew playing quarterback.
“I think consistency and continuity is huge in this league, and I think that’s what we have with our guys,” coach Shane Steichen said. “And it’s guys that you believe in.”
Said Ballard: “I think what gets lost is when you lose a player, it creates a void. You lose a Grover Stewart, you lose a Kenny Moore, you lose a Pittman, now you’ve got a real void. Sure, you’ve gone and signed another player at another position, but you’ve created another void. We felt that all our players were legitimate players. They were all coveted.
“Anytime you can keep continuity in your own players, that’s a good thing.”
