Chris Ballard Press Conference : 2025 Training Camp

Chris Ballard Press Conference : 2025 Training Camp

Hey, good to be back at Grand Park as always. Um, just this place does a tremendous job. Um, and I always want to make sure we include that and thank everybody that’s involved, all the volunteers, the people that help from the city and around the city. I think it’s great for our fans. I don’t think we can lose that as a team or as a league. um is is like most important thing we have, you know, is our fans and why we do what we do. And so I think these opportunities in training camp to be able to give them an uplose personal look into our team I think is valuable. There’s something different about human interaction, face-toface human interaction that is I mean it drives me nuts because I mean I understand the value of social media but there’s no real human connection and I truly believe that’s what is one of the great aspects of training camp for our fans. Um and it’s a great place for us to get ready to play um and get ready for the season. We always are, you know, flooded with calls from other teams that want to come scrimmage us because of this setup. It’s so good and they enjoy coming. You know, we got Green Bay coming in here this year. So, that’ll be a good, you know, uh, time for our fans to see not only our team, but also Green Bay. Um, I haven’t talked about Jim, you know, Mr. Ersay and our loss. And I think it’s appropriate, you know, especially our relationship. Um, I care deeply about him and it’s going to be a big loss, not not only for the Indianapolis coach, but for the National Football League. He was unique. Um, he he cared about the game. He cared about the game, the game of football. He’d always tell me like, “Chris, we take care of the game and the game will take care of everything else.” And he was right. Um, he was charismatic. He was very quirky and unique as you all know. Um, he love he didn’t he loved the city of Indianapolis. He loved this city. He’s very prideful in this city. Prideful in the horseshoe. Um, and you know, it’s a big loss, not only for the organization, but I’m telling you, for the league, his experience, I I don’t think this gets stated enough. His the history of the league, like he cared about it. He cared about the history of the league. And you know he’s one of the originators you know with the new when the CBA came into a place he was one of the I can’t remember what Peter Rico who’s you know retired a couple years ago but is a brilliant man and was close with Jim and was part of the you know CBA process whenever they ri they they they wrote the original CBA. Um, and I know Bill Polium was a part of that and there was I think there was nine or 10 others, nine or 10 people total, but just a I think sometimes forget, you know, you see where the NFL is today, all right, as a league and how big it is, but you forget the owners back in the, you know, mid70s and early 80s, man. It was not, it was tough sledding, man. They had to struggle. Um and it I think it gave him a great appreciation for um you know where they where we are now and the growth but also the history you know he never wanted to lose that he never wanted to lose the history of the league. I think that’s why his relationship with players was so special like he cared about them all and people have no idea like you have no idea how giving a man he was. I mean look we’re all flawed. We all have our demons. Um, but man, he had as giving a soul as anybody I’d ever been around. So very for I feel very fortunate to have worked, you know, for him and he hired me and always grateful. I mean, extremely grateful. And then, you know, going forward, I mean, I think he he passed on to his daughters that same sense of community, um, to cherish the history of the game and to carry that forward. And I think all three of them are going to be outstanding. I do. I’ve been around them all a bunch. Um, Carly and Kayn a little bit more because they’re more, you know, they’re around more. But they’re going to be they’re going to be outstanding. They’re going to be outstanding owners. So, um, now on to our team. Um, all right. Going forward, let’s, you know, I’m still getting all the medical. As of right now, nobody on PUP. All right. So, Anthony is is good to go. He’s been throwing for about three weeks now. He’s really upped his volume. First couple weeks will probably limit some volume, but no real restrictions other than volume restrictions. And that’s something we’ll keep. you know, we have a four-day stretch where we’re practicing four days in a row. So, this first week, you could see in day two or three, a little bit of volume. We reduce his volume, but other than that, good to go. Um, we feel good about where he’s at. He’s in great shape, and you know, he’s ready to hit it and move forward. Um, I know y’all probably talked to Zire. He’s in a good place. He’s not quite there yet. Um, we will not put him on PUP because we think he’s going to be ready pretty quickly. I’ve watched him work out and um I think he’ll be ready sooner than later. Um Jaylen, you know, JC will be ready. I’ve watched him work out a bunch. He’s cleared and ready to go. And same thing with Samson. Samson is cleared and ready to go. There’ll be a little volume with Samson working him back in. Um but he’s cleared and and ready to hit it. All right, questions. Chris, optimally, when do you want to know who your quarterback is going to be? Does it have to Do you have to wait uh late in the preseason? I think when you know when Shane and the staff and I and our staff feels like you know there’s a sure starter then we’ll move forward to that timeline. I can’t I can’t put one on it. What’s the the plan to what’s the plan in terms of how you get a good look at both of them and how you I think everything ma I mean like I think it starts now. I mean, look, OTAAS is like that’s important, but there’s no there’s not any pads on. All right. So, you know, now that we’re getting the pads and the work, I’ve always viewed OTAAS as a developmental aspect of of our game, which we’re losing a little bit, but it’s that’s a developmental time. This is when we crank up. So everything will be evaluated from practices to uh any kind of scrimmages we do um preseason games all of that will be evaluated. How much of the game element you I think it’s important that they get into games and we’ll play them. So I do think that’s important. Chris, did you all is the conversation going forward with Anthony just volume? I know he had like a chance overuse or stress. Is that a conversation you all have about how to monitor him going forward just in general? Yeah. And some things he’s doing strengthwise and you know the volume of throws each and every week which you know we track and you know sometimes it gets a little out of whack. So we just got to make sure we’re on top of it. He didn’t miss enough. What did he miss? Three or four days. You know it wasn’t like it was a the whole off season. Um and I’m proud of Anthony. I mean, I’m just his mindset, his, you know, he didn’t It’s tough when you get hurt like I don’t, you know, anytime you get hurt like you feel like you’re letting somebody down like a player and they almost It’s different in the OTAAS, but during the season, but like when you get hurt, it’s it’s a tough deal on them mentally and I’m proud of him. He worked through it. He went to work. He’s in great shape. So, uh, no, I don’t I don’t think it’ll I don’t think it’ll affect him. Chris, there’s a lot of things players can work on. Footwork, whatever, technique with injuries, I mean, with him, can you just sort of not worry about it? You just let him play. God’s plan. I mean, I mean, I wish I could control injuries. If we could, we, you know, I would get out of this and go start a business doing that, you know, to because you you’d make a lot of money doing it. Um, no. I mean, it it’s look, sometimes you things happen, guys get hurt, you you know, you wish it wouldn’t happen, but it it does and you move forward no matter what. What have been your big takeaways just being around Daniel Jones for a short period of time? Good dude. Really good guy. Um, centered. He’s been through a lot. Daniel’s been like he he’s seen and, you know, being in New York and the scrutiny on being a top 10 pick. um is is not for everybody. Um but I thought he handled it with grace and class like you would expect and that’s who he is. Um no he and Daniel’s talented. I mean Daniel’s a very talented player so it’s going to it’ll be a fun competition to watch between these two guys. They’re both very talented. You preach competition a lot with that position, but there is a challenge to having two different quarterbacks interchangeably with the offense. So, I guess are you confident that your skilled players are ready now to handle that? And does that I guess will that factor in all to wanting to get an answer earlier? No, it I think they can’t handle it. I mean, it’s a veteran. Even though they’re young, they’ve all played a ton. Um, and they’ve taken throws from both of them. So, um, no, their job is to get open and catch the football. Um, so no, I don’t I don’t see us pressing the timeline because of that. Chris, you talk about being injured is mentally tough. It’s also got hard mentally on the player. Yeah. High draft pick a guy brought in to compete with. What what have you seen from Anthony that tells you that he’s going to be okay with that aspect? It was I mean like when you’re young and like you sometimes when you get hurt you’ll you’ll you know you kind of it’s easy to go into a shell. Um but he was I mean his mindset stayed very positive. Um, I think once he heard from Dr. Elatro and our doctors that it wasn’t a major concern going forward and that this was going to heal in a short amount of time. I think that eased his mind, which it would do anybody. Um, but no, it’s it’s I’m proud of it. He’s growing. He’s still young, but he’s growing. That’s I mean, unfort I mean I told you all this before, but unfortunately growth does not happen through success. Growth happens through you have to go through a lot of and you know a lot of times people don’t have success because they don’t want to they don’t want to go through it. You sometimes you got to go through it. Chris flipping to defense. Buck said today that last year’s defense was the worst that he’s been a part of being an indie. So now that you brought in Lou, what changes do you expect to see from that side of the ball and how much pressure is there to perform this season? Well, I mean, look, all of us, and Buck, Buck’s right, and that and look, Gus Bradley and that staff, they’re those are good football coaches. Let me let me preface that. Um th those guys are really good football coaches. And I can’t All of us have our name on it. Like me, coaches, players, everybody has their name on it. Um I think, you know, lose a little different. you know, you’re going to see some schematic change, probably a little more diversity within the scheme, but look, at the end of the day, it all this game is not hard. Like blocking and tackling and don’t turn it over. Usually, you can track those things to wins. All right, we’ve got to be a better tackling team. Hopefully, I’ve helped them um and my staff and I’ve helped them by giving them, you know, more players um to create a little more competition. Um but we’ve we’ve got to be a better tackling defense. um without question and you know hopefully we’ve added the pieces to help that. You talked about the competition aspect of it right after the season. I think you can probably make a case that across the board every unit has some level of competition and it is did did it hit the level that you hope to accomplish back in January? Um I think so. I mean, I think we’ve got comp I mean, look, I mean, of course, there’s a few jobs that with great players that they’re going to play no matter. They’re great players and so I don’t worry about them, but to watch, you know, Tanner and Borderini, you know, compete. Um, Jaylen Travis and Freeland, I think Travis has got a really good, um, ceiling to what he’s going to become in our league. Um, and Freeland has gotten stronger and bigger and stronger, which has been really encouraging. Um, you know, on the defensive line with the and I think it gets underscored a little bit because you probably didn’t notice, but we think ne Neville Gallammore is going to really help us. He had a had a really good off season. He’s a really good dude. Um, and we think he’s going to add some real needed interior depth, but with the addition of of, you know, Tim Smith and then Tommy. Tommy had a great off season, so this is going into year three and a big year for him. So, I think you can point to a lot of different spots. Corner, you know, with Wall-E, Guju, and Jones, that’s going to be a that’s going to be a good one to watch. And let me tell you, I mean, Wall-E is competitive now. He’s a little pitbull and it’s fun to watch those type of competitions take place. I think at linebacker we’re going to have really good competition. Um, a lot of unknown names. That’s okay. Nobody knew who Zier Franklin was. Nobody knew who Dar Hell, we drafted Darius with a 36 pick and y’all didn’t know who he was. So, like they come like the name, they got to make their own name by their play. Okay. So, I think we’ve got good competition across the board. Chris, you have high expectations every year, obviously each individual year, but when you have a string of of playoff misses, I mean, the message from your players this morning was like this this has to end. Yeah. Um, how do you see it? And is there additional pressure because it’s been years? Um, yeah, it sucks, man. I mean, first time in my career I’ve ever gone four years without making I mean, no, it’s a it’s a bothersome thing, especially with the expectations we have here in Indie. I mean, that’s the one thing with Jim that always appreciated, man. Like, he he he don’t want to he don’t want to be average. He wants to be great. And that’s Carly. Carly and I I mean, look, we you know, we spent a lot of time together because she’s around us so much. But, I mean, Shel’s tell look, I don’t want to be good. I want to be great. Um and you know that’s always the goal going in and you know 22 was 22 the le you know the 23 season we you know last game of the year we’re right there and even last year at the end you know we didn’t play as like as good as I thought we should have but we were still kind of in the mix and then you go back to 21 and we’re in the driver’s seat and we piss it down our legs that that’s we have got to finish better like that at the end of the day we have to finish the seasons better because we’ve had some really good football teams that just haven’t got it done. Chris kind of echoed that saying that there’s a little bit of optimism knowing that they were so close last season despite playing poorly. How close do you think this group is to getting back to the postseason? I don’t know. I mean, it starts Look, you know, we’re kind of I think we’ve got a a good football team. How good we become will play out over time. Like, we got to go to work. I mean, it’s always about the like there’s not a magic pill that you can take. There’s nothing no ma there’s not a magic wand. You got to go to work. You know, the one thing you love about the NFL is you got to earn your you got to earn the right to win. Um, and it it it takes a lot of hard work. It takes a a group being connected and coming together. That’s what’s great about training camp. So, kind of day by day, we’ll go to work and we’ll see if we can reach what we think we can be. pressure at all when there is a shift in ownership or does it feel the same as every year? pressure. I mean people talk about pressure. Um I mean pressure first the change in ownership. No that they understand what Jim wanted and and I think they’re they’ll make they’ll do things differently but it’s and they’ll do things their way but also with their father on their minds I think the whole time. And then when you when you talk about pressure, I mean like like we get to play football for a living. Let’s let’s like it to me it’s all for me in general like it’s always about the journey. Like the journey is the reward. Okay. Um the good and the bad. Like at the end like when you roll up at the end of your life and you look back it’s not going to all be roses. Okay. But to be able to do what I do and what we’re able to do is play football every day. I don’t ever take that for granted. That’s not pressure in my mind. That’s being blessed. Pressure is the family that is living week to week on paycheck trying to feed their kids. That’s pressure. This is this is entertainment. And I have been blessed my entire career to be able to do something I love and I’m passionate about. And I will never one day take that for granted. Even I have to sit up here and take sometimes. I It’s okay because I I could have to do I could do something else that I didn’t love. Uh contracts. I mean, you know, I won’t talk about that, but he’s a really good player and we think a lot of him. So, I mean, perhaps a different word, pressure, whatever, but in the space you’re in, um, there’s a certain level of expectation. And when Carly was saying, she said that, you know, you and Shane, they know it hasn’t been good enough or you haven’t fixed this. So, when you hear her say that, I guess, how do you feel? No. No different than I feel about anything. It’s it like I don’t know if y’all realize the amount of like scrutiny that we put on ourselves. It’s much harder than you. And I don’t ever like if I go into something worried about the outcome and it being a negative outcome, that’s that’s no way to live, man. You can’t live that way. I come to work and do the try to be the best steward I can be for this organization and for this city. That’s what I try to do every day. That’s it. Um, and look, one day they’re going to have a different GM. That’s part of our league. I don’t know when that’ll happen, but I don’t sit around thinking I don’t I don’t think about that. Knowing that, how hard is it for you to to grade yourself after four years and not going to the playoffs, saying, “I work my ass off. I do my best and but I’ve got to adjust somehow. How difficult is that? It’s not I mean I’m stubborn. I mean we I think y’all all know that. Um but I mean I think we did in some a lot of ways we did and I think that’s all part of growth. I mean like being able to really look internally and figure out okay this what we’re doing there’s a lot of really good things that are very valid. Um, but also being able to sit back and say, “Okay, we need to do things a little bit differently.” Um, and you know, those discussions and collaborations with our staff was good. And I think we did do some things a little differently than we have in the past. Say a couple more. Well, we’re more aggressive in free agency than Well, I say like y’all say we never do. I mean, like I disagree. I’ve always disagreed. I’ve told y’all that. I mean like the year we signed Buckner and Rivers and you know I mean so but we were more aggressive at the onset of free agency and I think the the the guys the players we signed are going to really help us and be good you know be good Colts after years of being kind of hamster wheel not make the playoffs talk about having confidence in your process what gives you that confidence and watch other people have confidence in your process I guess the end result hasn’t been the last yeah um no it look when you Well, anytime you don’t make the playoffs, people are going to question what you do. But at the end of the day, you have to believe in something like we have to have if I if we are vacasillating on what everybody else says and thinks, then we really don’t believe in anything. We don’t we don’t we have no belief in anything if we’re not willing to believe in what we’re doing. I do believe I look, I think we’ve drafted really well. I think we all and and done some and not been perfect by any stretch. Not by any stretch. I’m not saying we’re perfect, but I think we’ve done some good things. And I think we’ve done some good things with the team. But at the end of the day, we ha the one position we all know. We have to get the quarterback settled and you know get that position is carries such an importance um to just almost the state of your team when you’ve when you’ve got it when you’ve got that position solidified. Um he’s one of 53 and it’s not all about him but he’s an important piece. Chris, how much has how much has the last two years with Anthony, the injuries kept you guys from being settled offensively just in terms of learning him being able to develop the identity? It feels like, you know, you quarterback, it takes like six games and you guys kind of figure something out, but it’s been in and out so much as a coaching staff had a chance to really learn that. It’s a I’m trying to get with what you’re getting at here. I mean, like our offensive philosophy at it’s going to change a little bit, you know, when Anony’s in the game. And I think Daniel and Anthony are are similar in a in a lot of ways. Now, Gardner and Anthony were completely different. Flaco and Anthony were completely different. So, I think you’ll see more, you know, continuity, you know, just B and really all of our quarterbacks now, you know, they all, you know, have ability to do some things with their with their feet. So, I think I think you’ll see more, you know, of the of a similar offense with each guy. Now, you of you figure out what each one of them are really good at and you try to do that. That’s the one thing I always appreciated about coach Reed and Ken City is like, whoever the quarterback was, man, he could he could fit it. And, you know, Shane can do the same thing. But now we have, you know, the the group is is they’re different, but there’s some similarities. So, I think the offense will be able to carry over a little bit more. you view this year as a make or break year for Anthony and I know you said this follow up to that. Why not considering that you want to see your 30 you have the you know option coming up that decision but I guess why your timeline perhaps different than one I might have do you think people regret Baker Mayfield’s timeline Sam Darnold’s timeline let’s just go exactly so how about a little sometimes you got to have a little patience with a guy and let them grow through things now there’s got to be like if you just know this guy, no, he can’t do it. But if if you think, hey, he’s on the right trajectory, why are you going to why are you going to flush him just because people outside think you should flush him? I don’t I don’t agree with that. Um I think we need to give Anthony every chance to to be the best he can be. Um and I think I think he can be really good, you know, but things got to come together. just sort of feel on that. How the injuries is complicated, you know, trying to pass that. Oh, it’s there’s no question it’s complicated. I mean, you know, you miss like you just think about missing your and I know the mental reps. Yes. But it’s physical reps, just practice reps, all that stuff when you miss it. Yeah, it does. It It delays the timeline a little bit. obviously still there. When you think about those things, start finishing wise you guys try and change how you start. Um this will be a this will be a pretty physical training camp. Okay. Um and Shane and I have had long talks with that about that. You know, this game is still look toughness still wins. It does. And I think that I mean we’re limited enough as it is without pads. Um and the NFL is and I think football in general has done an unbelievable job taking the head out of the game. Okay? They’re teaching much different than they did 101 15 years ago. They’ve taken the head out of the game, but it’s still a physical game. All right? And you I think to be physical, you have to practice physical. You do. So I think I think you’ll see a little a little switch there. Let’s do one more here. What have you seen wise considering the injury? Yeah. Well, I mean look, there was a I mean there was a three-game run, three or four game run, you know, after his benching when he came back that was really good. I think you I think we’d all agree that was a was a great stretch of football. And there’s been stretches of accuracy that’s been really good. Um, I mean, the the Jet game was, you know, that’s probably best game he played in his career against a really good defense. I mean, the record didn’t show it, but that team defensively was really good. Um, and then what really gives me a lot of hope, so I don’t know if you can think back to these moments, but at the end of the Pittsburgh game, people forget we had to get a first down there. He threw a he threw a pass to Pitman to get the first to kind of get to get the clock down and in pressure moments his ability to slow it down and make a play. He’s shown it multiple times. You go back to the his rookie year against the Rams bring we’re down what 23 nothing brings us back to tie a game. Um the Jet game, you know, to win it, he had to make throws to win it. New England. I mean, fourth down throw to to to get us within, you know, one the two-point conversion. So, there’s been some signs in pressure moments that he can get things done. Now, we just got to be able to do it all the time. All right. Thank you. Awesome. Thank y’all.

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