Chris Ballard Up Front About Relationship with Jim Irsay
Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard opened up about the 2022 season during his end-of-year press conference on Tuesday.
Many subjects were questioned, including Matt Ryan, the struggles of the offensive line, the lowly 4-12-1 record, and not grabbing free-agent talent in past offseasons. However, one subject stood out that many were curious about, and that is the relationship between Ballard and long-time owner Jim Irsay.
Irsay had his hands all over decisions before, during, and near the end of the 2022 disaster for the Colts, so Ballard’s input was dire for information on their business relationship. With that being said, let’s look into what Ballard had to say about his boss and why it seems they are on the same page going into 2023.
Two questions truly forced Ballard to address Irsay. The first is: “Has your level of input or control varied since you’ve got here? Do you have the same control over the shots since you’ve got here, because it seems like you have not?”
Ballard finished the question with an answer, stating: “I know what you’re getting at. I’m going to say this about Mr. Irsay, I love working for him. He’s a good man. He’s a good owner, and he has a lot of experience in this league. We talk about everything, and we don’t always agree. If we’re agreeing all the time, I’m not doing my job. I think y’all have been around me long enough to know that it just comes out. Like sometimes even when I don’t want it to, it just comes out. Like I’m going to be honest and tell you what I think, and I’m very honest with him about what I think and he’s very honest and direct with me. At the end of the day, there’s some decisions that I’ll make that he’ll say, ‘Good. Chris, I don’t completely agree with this but let’s move forward.’ Then there’s some decisions that he’ll make that I’ll say, ‘Look, I don’t completely agree with that, but we’ll move forward.’ But when we make one, we make it and we make it together and we move forward. Mr. Irsay lets me do my job.”
Ballard truly respects Irsay with this statement. For most of Ballard’s tenure (six seasons), Irsay hasn’t meddled at all. It didn’t truly get out of control until 2022, forcing many pieces to move underneath Ballard’s control and leading to a lot of chaos. Speaking of that, Ballard even blindly defended Irsay when asked if Irsay’s decisions during the year hurt the team.
Ballard stood tall, taking the blame, replying: “No, Mr. Irsay does – we’ve had some long talks. We had a long talk Sunday. No, I don’t – he’s been in this a long time, and he’s got a good feel for this and every decision that has been made we have talked through. I don’t think it hurt us – no. Ultimately, look, it falls on my shoulders.”
This shows how much Ballard wants to stay working under Irsay and that he wants to be with the Colts for the years ahead. Also, it’s 100% worth saying that Irsay’s decisions, from the outside, did hurt the team. However, Ballard still took the blame despite not making those choices.
There will be a lot to unpack this offseason. Just look at the first two days after the Colts finished their year against the Houston Texans on Sunday. First, a Jeff Saturday presser left more questions than any answers. Now, a true and honest Ballard conference where nearly every question was answered, detailed, and promised.
It will be a fireworks display of events for Indianapolis in the upcoming months. Buckle up, Colts Nation.
