Image from Coltswire - USA Today
Finally after all, we are here: the Colts have a solid 90 man roster, with a lot of returning players from last year. As a matter of fact, 21 of the 22 starters from 2018 are on the roster in 2019.
That isn’t necessarily a good sign, but if the same team went to the playoffs last year winning 9 out of their 10 last games in the season (10 out of 12 if you count the two games in the playoff vs the Texans and the Chiefs), that surely falls in the positive end, giving a ton of hope and also rising the expectations from simple fans through journalist to the players and staff in Indianapolis heading into the next season.
Ever since Chris Ballard stepped into his role as the general manager of the Colts, he’s been praying one major aspect about the team: competition. Obviously it has two sides as well, because it’s rather easy to let some guys go when you have a clear leader of guys in a race for a given position, while if you have more than 53 really talented guys who also have the ideal mind-set for the organization, you’re going to have to make some tough decisions while making the final cuts.
The Colts are currently in a favorable situation, where they don’t really need to play with the books to be able to get under the salary cap. Of course, it’s not that simple, since you need to think for your future extensions, especially when you have such a young roster. That’s mainly Ballard’s merit. He made some trades in the last two drafts to collect some extra picks while also getting his guys.
Trading down is not necessarily the correct method, but when you do it conceptually, thinking every option through, there’s a good chance that you’ll come out as the winner of the trade (while also the other team could get a win, like the Jets finding their potential franchise QB in Sam Darnold in the 2018 draft). It doesn’t mean that you’ll move down every time you have the chance, that’s the part of doing it conceptually: in 2019, Ballard and company had a chance to move down from the 34th pick (that the Colts received in the 2018 trade with the Jets), but they didn’t want to risk the chance of selecting Rock Ya-Sin, a corner from Temple who they really liked.
So what have Chris Ballard done since he arrived in 2017? Let’s take a look at the players he’s managed to add to the team:
Draft selections (26): Malik Hooker S (2017/1), Quincy Wilson CB (2017/2), Marlon Mack RB (2017/4), Grover Stewart DT (2017/4), Nick Hairston CB (2017/5), Anthony Walker LB (2017/5)
Quenton Nelson OG (2018/1), Darius Leonard LB (2018/2), Braden Smith OT (2018/2), Kemoko Turay DE (2018/2), Tyquan Lewis DT (2018/2), Nyheim Hines RB (2018/4), Daurice Fountain WR (2018/5), Jordan Wilkins RB (2018/5), Deon Cain WR (2018/6), Matthew Adams LB (2018/7), Zaire Franklin LB (2018/7)
Rock Ya-Sin CB (2019/2), Ben Banogu LB/DE (2019/2), Parris Campbell WR (2019/2), Bobby Okereke LB (2019/3), Khari Willis S (2019/4), Marvell Tell S/CB (2019/5), E.J. Speed LB (2019/5), Gerri Green DE (2019/6), Jackson Barton OT (2019/7)
Image from Colts.com
Free agents signings (41): Jabaal Sheard DL (2017 March), Margus Hunt DL (2017 March), Phillip Walker QB (2017 UDFA), Mo Alie-Cox TE (2017 UDFA), Rigoberto Sanchez P (2017 UDFA), Krishawn Hogan WR (2017 September)
Denico Autry DL (2018 March), Eric Ebron TE (2018 March), George Odum S (2018 UDFA), Skai Moore LB (2018 UDFA), Steve Ishmael WR (2018 UDFA), J’Marcus Webb OT (2018 July), Carroll Phillips DE (2018 September), Jihad Ward DT (2018 September), Ahmad Thomas LB (2018 September), Jonathan Williams RB (2018 October), Evan Boehm C (2018 October), Rolan Milligan S (2018 October), Antonio Garcia OT (2018 October), Jalen Collins CB (2018 November), Josh Andrews C (2018 November), Billy Brown TE (2018 December), Will Poehls OT (2018 December), Jordan Veasy WR (2019 January), Gabe Holmes TE (2019 January), Isaiah Johnson S (2019 January)
Justin Houston DE (2019 March), Devin Funchess WR (2019 March), Spencer Ware RB (2019 April), Penny Hart WR (2019 UDFA), Shakial Taylor CB (2019 UDFA), Ashton Dulin WR (2019 UDFA), Hale Hentges TE (2019 UDFA), Sterling Shippy DT (2019 UDFA), Cole Hedlund K (2019 UDFA), Tre Thomas LB (2019 UDFA), Dadi Nicolas DE (2019 May), Chad Kelly QB (2019 May), Nico Siragusa OG (2019 June), Caraun Reid DT (2019 June), Obum Gwacham DE (2019 June)
Waiver claims (8): Pierre Desir CB (2017 September), Kenny Moore II CB (2017 September), Ross Travis TE (2017 November), Mark Glowinski OG (2017 December)
Zach Pascal WR (2018 June), Al-Quadin Muhammad DE (2018 September)
Derrick Kindred S (2019 April), Jake Eldrenkampf OG (2019 May)
Image from Yahoo Sports
Players acquired by trades (2): Jacoby Brissett QB (2017 - week 1), Marcus Johnson WR (2018 - week 1)
Players that had been on the roster before Chris Ballard took over (13): Andrew Luck QB, Anthony Castonzo OT, TY Hilton WR, Jack Doyle TE, Le’Raven Clark OT, Joe Haeg OT, Clayton Geathers S, Ryan Kelly C, Mathias Farley S, Adam Vinatieri K, Christopher Milton CB, Luke Rhodes LS, Chester Rogers WR
Not counting Javon Patterson OC (2019 7th round pick) and Jegs Jegede DE (2019 UDFA), who have been already placed on IR unfortunately, Ballard almost completely reshaped the Colts roster. 77 out of the 90 players (85.5%) have been added to the team by him. That’s just an incredibly high number.
Of course, the 53 man roster is going to be another topic, but you can clearly see that he’s done what he's been preaching from the beginning: adding and creating competition for every position.
Image from Aecom