The Colts’ inward-focused roster-construction strategy came up at various points in this space, and while Chris Ballard changed up late in his GM tenure, the long-held focus on internal builds proved costly when the team was unable to stack draft classes that matched the muscle of 2018.
Franchises have overcome worse, of course. The 49ers remained one of the NFL’s best teams despite a spectacular miss on Trey Lance. The Broncos absorbed a then-record-obliterating Russell Wilson dead cap hit before booking back-to-back playoff berths with the released quarterback as the team’s top cap figure. Indianapolis may not have run into an issue as financially punitive as Denver’s Wilson misstep, but the compound trouble it experienced at quarterback defined an era — and sank a nucleus once ticketed for a much better ending.
For as damaging as teams’ various mistakes at the game’s marquee position have been, the trouble the Colts encountered (and created) when Andrew Luck retired at 29 has made that 2019 decision one of the 21st-century NFL’s most important transactions. Ballard’s recovery attempts all but buried the roster he built.
Luck’s injury-driven exit effectively removed a Colts path into the AFC’s top tier, and their subsequent mistakes at quarterback — a diverse collection — ensured Ballard’s prized 2018 draft class, along with some other early- and mid-round hits down the line, were part of rosters trapped in the NFL’s middle class. The Colts took more memorable swings to escape that sector compared to the Steelers and Saints this decade. Those backfiring also leaves the AFC South franchise in worse long-term shape, calling into question ownership’s patience with a GM whose tenure veered off course years ago.
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