Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard sat in front of the media on Friday and answered questions for nearly an hour.
As he’s reflected on what went wrong in 2024, one of the biggest issues was the lack of competition.
“Instead of really creating competition throughout and throwing new blood into the locker room, new players into the locker room, I said ‘you know what, we’re gonna run it back,’” Ballard said. “That was a mistake.”
After finishing 9-8 in 2023 and narrowly missing out on the playoffs following a Week 18 loss to Houston, outside of the draft, Ballard barely added to the roster. The only outside additions made were Joe Flacco and Raekwon Davis–a backup quarterback and a rotational defensive tackle.
Instead, Ballard banked on the internal development of this group and it backfired.
Ballard would go to mention DeForest Buckner’s comments about ego and complacency being accurate depictions of the 2024 Colts, and in part, those mindsets were fostered because there was little competition on the roster.
Players on a team that hadn’t been to the playoffs in three seasons–at that time–were guaranteed playing time without anyone pushing them.
In fact, really the two places where there was some sort of competition was at safety, as then defensive coordinator Gus Bradley mixed and matched starting configurations over the summer, and at receiver with AD Mitchell drafted to compete with Alec Pierce.
Perhaps not surprisingly given the circumstances and competition that was created, Nick Cross and Pierce were two of the players that took steps forward this season.
“I didn’t create enough competition on the roster,” added Ballard. “That directly falls on my shoulders. I was wrong. I was wrong.”
How this will impact free agency this offseason remains to be seen, obviously. When asked for specifics, Ballard wasn’t going to get into what free agency might look like, but did acknowledge that “We’ve got to be better about making sure that we identify the right free agents that can help push this team to where it needs to go.”
This time last year, Ballard did believe that the Colts were trending in the right direction, however, he doesn’t feel that way any more. Change in how he goes about building this roster has to happen.
“Right now, we’re not close,” Ballard said. “I want to make that clear. Being close is losing on the last play of the of the Super Bowl. Going 8-9 is not close.”
(This article was updated to provide additional information.)