The Indianapolis Colts dismissed general manager Chris Ballard one day after losing 26-20 to the previously winless Tennessee Titans. The Colts dropped to 2-4 with the loss. Ballard is the first head coach or front office executive to be fired during the 2026 NFL season.
His nearly 10-year tenure as Colts general manager was hindered by an inability to find a long-term solution at quarterback after Andrew Luck's surprising retirement shortly before the 2019 regular season started. The Colts haven't made the playoffs since going 11-5 in 2020 with a 39-year-old Philip Rivers, who signed a one-year, $25 million deal in free agency. Rivers retired following a 27-24 wild-card playoff game loss to the Buffalo Bills, who lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game.
There's one bold move Ballard could have made in 2021 that would have ended the revolving door at quarterback that has plagued the Colts and changed the franchise's trajectory. The Detroit Lions were accommodating Matthew Stafford's trade request. The Colts were on Stafford's short list of teams, along with the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers.
Stafford mentioned during a March 2025 episode of Jason and Travis Kelce's "New Heights" podcast that he searched for houses in Indianapolis on Zillow before his trade to the Rams. The Lions received a 2022 first-round pick, a 2023 first-round pick, a 2021 third-round pick and Jared Goff, who was thought to be a throw-in "bridge quarterback" because of his hefty contract, from the Rams for Stafford. After a rocky start in Detroit, Goff has proven to be the answer at quarterback, earning a four-year, $212 million contract extension, averaging $53 million per year in 2024.
A Ballard offer the Lions couldn't refuse would probably have been somewhere between the actual Stafford acquisition cost and the two quarterback trades made the following year, in 2022, for Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson. The Seattle Seahawks dealt Wilson and a 2022 fourth-round pick to the Denver Broncos for multiple players (tight end Noah Fant, defensive lineman Shelby Harris and quarterback Drew Lock), 2022 and 2023 first-round picks, 2022 and 2023 second-round picks, and a 2022 fifth-round pick in March 2022. The Washington Commanders reportedly offered the Seahawks three first-round picks, but Wilson's no-trade clause, which he waived for the Broncos, gave him control over his destination.
Watson's trade from the Houston Texans to the Cleveland Browns followed shortly thereafter. The Browns received Watson and a 2024 sixth-round pick for 2022, 2023, and 2024 first-round picks, a 2022 fourth-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick. Perhaps, a trade based around Ballard giving up 2021 (21st overall), 2022 and 2023 first-round picks for Stafford would have gotten the deal done.
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