INDIANAPOLIS – The buck ultimately stops at general manager Chris Ballard’s desk.
That was clear as owner Jim Irsay described the controlled atmosphere of the Indianapolis Colts’ draft war room.
“We usually defer to Chris,’’ he said this week.
But building and reinforcing the roster is hardly a one-man operation, and Irsay isn’t shy about weighing in when warranted.
He cast the only vote that mattered on April 26, 2012, when the Colts held the No. 1 overall pick. Andrew Luck – not Robert Griffin III – was going to fill the enormous void created by Peyton Manning’s release.
On April 24, 2020, Ballard and his personnel staff kept talking up Jonathan Taylor as the second round began unfolding. The Colts sat at No. 44 and there was concern the big-play running back out of Wisconsin wouldn’t reach them.
Irsay intervened.
“There was a group of about six or seven players at 34 that we were kind of talking through and Jonathan was in that group,’’ Ballard said at the time. “All of a sudden you get to 36, 37 . . . actually Mr. Irsay said, ‘Chris, y’all been talking about this guy, how much you love him. Y’all need to go get him.’’’
Ballard arranged a trade-up with Cleveland and selected Taylor with the No. 41 selection.
As is the case with most franchises, addressing roster through the draft – “The majority of your best players on your team you hope they come from the draft,’’ Ballard said – is hardly a one-man operation.
There are more than 20 members of Ballard’s personnel staff, ranging from assistant GM Ed Dodds to chief personnel executive Morocco Brown to director of player personnel Kevin Rogers to director of college scouting Matt Terpening to senior player personnel scout Todd Vasvari to area scouts to scouting assistants.
The Colts chronicled the depth of the evaluation process in a video Behind the Colts: A Lot of Smoke. It featured area scouts Anthony Coughlan and Mike Lacy, and Vasvari. It also drove home how Ballard forces the scouts to defend valued prospects during personnel meetings.
There also are nearly 30 assistants on Shane Steichen’s staff. Once the leg work has been done on draft-eligible players, it’s imperative to determine how they’ll fit in the Colts’ offensive and defensive schemes.
Last offseason, Steichen was instrumental in the decision to use the No. 4 overall pick on Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson. That player would be the catalyst for whatever Steichen’s offense would be.
Steichen admitted his second offseason with the Colts has “slowed down’’ after the whirlwind of activity that accompanied his first season as a head coach. No one should downplay his input as the team prepared for the three-day draft, which begins Thursday evening.
Ballard mentioned Steichen’s reaction when he looked at the Colts’ draft board.
“He starts looking at the board and tell, ‘This is how we’ll use this guy. This is how he fits,’’’ Ballard said. “From a GM perspective, that’s a beautiful thing now, knowing that he’s got a vision quickly for the player and it’s not a vision of negativity with many guys.
“He sees the strengths really quickly and will figure out a role for how this guy can play for you. That makes it fun.’’
There are several delicate balancing acts leading up the draft.
Generally, personnel types might be steered by a longer-range view. Pro Bowl center Ryan Kelly is entering the final year of his contract and right guard Braden Smith becomes a free agent after 2025.
Should this year’s draft include adding their possible successors?
“It’s always that,’’ Ballard said. “I think that’s the general coaching-scouting tug and pull you get where you’re looking at, ‘Two years from now this guy is up. We’ll draft this guy to replace him.’
“In coaching you’re like, ‘Screw that. I need today.’ It’s definitely a balance.’’
There also must be a collaboration between the personnel staff and position coaches on prospects. Steichen isn’t the only coach whose opinion matters on “fit.’’
That was the focus of a meeting last week.
“We just had a long discussion about a couple of guys – I’m not going to tell you what side of the ball – but, ‘What’s the vision for the player?’’’ Ballard said. “It’s easy for scouts and us to have a vision, but the coaches have to have the same vision and we’ve got to be able to see the thing, of how we’re going to end up developing and what role this guy is going to play.
“Then if he does have some deficiencies, what are the things he does really well and how are we going to use him to allow him to do those things really well?’’
Communication and unvarnished debate are critical, whether that comes from Irsay, Steichen, Dobbs, Terpening, Vasvari or one of the area scouts.
As Ballard noted, the draft process involves evaluating imperfect players.
“There’s no perfect ready-made players,” he said.
“Yeah, I mean we all speak our opinions, you know what I mean?’’ Steichen said. “But the thing is we’re going to have a collaborative effort when making final decisions.
“Obviously, Chris is the general manager that makes the final decisions, but we have a great working relationship. We see things similar, which is awesome. Very fortunate for that, and I love working with him’’
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.