Zak Keefer: Chris Ballard Never Solved the Colts’ Pass Rush, and the Team Has Grown ‘Stale’
The Athletic’s Zak Keefer joined Kevin Bowen and James Boyd on the hotline on The Fan Morning Show to break down where the Chris Ballard era went wrong and what comes next for the Colts.
The Edges Never Came Through
Setting the quarterback debate aside, Keefer said Ballard’s biggest miss was the pass rush. “Chris Ballard might trade one of his own children to build a great defensive line. Like, he lives for that,” he said. Keefer credited Ballard for DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart, but said “on the edges they just continued to whiff,” and the team “could never finish games.” He noted the best single-season sack total by a Colt in the Ballard era belonged to a free agent signing, Justin Houston.
A Fan Base That Stopped Caring
Keefer said he has “never felt less juice around town at the start of a Colts season,” calling the team “incredibly stale.” Some fans “are not just mad anymore,” he said. “Some of them are just apathetic.” Finding something that energizes the fan base is the challenge in front of owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon, he said, adding, “I don’t think Peyton Manning’s coming to save this team either.”
A Team President? And What About Richardson?
Keefer said the Colts could split the job by hiring a team president above a new GM, the setup used by the Rams, Chiefs and Jaguars. GMs have told him only 10 to 30% of their job is actually football, he said. “It wouldn’t stun me if this is something she pursues.”
On quarterback, Keefer said he doesn’t think Shane Steichen trusts Anthony Richardson to run his offense and that Daniel Jones is still Steichen’s guy. But if Jones keeps struggling, “he might not have a choice.”
Watch Keefer on the team president idea in this clip, and read Zak Keefer’s work at The Athletic and the Colts front office page. More on The Fan: why firing Ballard now was beyond needed, Marlin Jackson on needing a Bill Polian-type leader and this week’s Colts notebook.