ESPN’s Ben Solak put together his list of 100 things to know with the NFL season now 100 days away. These items were broken up into categories, which included one titled “11 jobs with question marks.” Of the 11 items in this category, the Indianapolis Colts appeared twice.
The first was in regard to GM Chris Ballard. As Solak noted, with the Colts having missed the playoffs the last four seasons and not having won a playoff game in six seasons–I’ll also add that they’ve never won the AFC South under Ballard–he finds himself in what feels like a must-win season.
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When the 2024 season ended and Ballard had his end-of-season press conference, he called his roster construction approach from last offseason a “mistake.” He relied way too heavily on internal growth from a team that missed the playoffs in 2023.
To remedy that, we did see a much more aggressive approach this offseason. This included spending big in free agency to land Charvarius Ward and Cam Bynum, along with bringing in Daniel Jones to compete with Anthony Richardson.
In addition to that, the Colts also made a change at defensive coordinator, hiring Lou Anarumo, and were able to land Tyler Warren in the NFL draft–addressing their biggest offseason need–and found several other players who should be able to contribute right away.
On paper, the Colts’ roster looks well put-together overall. However, the big question that lingers is also at the game’s most important position–quarterback. Ultimately, the play from under center will determine how good this Colts team can be, which leads us into Indianapolis’ second appearance on Solak’s list.
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Along with mentioning Ballard as someone on the hot seat, the Colts’ starting quarterback competition also made Solak’s list of “jobs with question marks.”
“It’s rare to see an actual open camp battle at quarterback, but that’s what we’ve got here in Indianapolis,” Solak wrote. “The camp battle format — throws against air with no live tackling or pass rush — skews toward Daniel Jones, who also has the advantage of being the new kid on the block. But Anthony Richardson still has the potential to be the future of the franchise, whereas Jones would be a stopgap.”
Both Ballard and Shane Steichen have said that they believe the competition will help elevate the play of both Richardson and Jones, and therefore the play of the entire room. Steichen has said that the two will split reps, and at the end of the day, the most consistent player over the summer will be the Week 1 starter.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Chris Ballard, Colts QB role appear in ESPN’s ‘jobs with question marks’