The Indianapolis Colts fired general manager Chris Ballard on Monday morning, and they didn’t waste any time doing it. After a decade in charge of the Colts’ front office, Ballard is out, with Indianapolis sitting at 2-4 and coming off a loss to the Tennessee Titans.

If you ask me, it was deserved.

We broke down the move on the latest episode of 13 Personnel with co-hosts Easton Freeze and Austin Stanley. One thing is very clear: whoever takes over this roster has a long road ahead. That reality also puts Colts coach Shane Steichen in a tough spot.

Why Chris Ballard’s firing was overdue

Easton called it the most overdue firing in the NFL. He pointed to the fact that Ballard never won an AFC South title in 10 years. Every other team in the division won it at least twice over that stretch.

That includes organizations with plenty of their own dysfunction. Easton also argued that the breaking point should have come when the Colts lost a must-win Week 18 game to a 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars team.

I think Ballard is a likable person. I also think he did some good things early in his general manager career. The last six or seven years, however, have been bad, with one questionable move piling on top of another.

Two moves stand out the most to me.

The first is the Sauce Gardner trade.

I laughed when it happened. Giving up that much capital for a cornerback was a mistake on its own, because corner is generally the most volatile position on the field. On top of that, Gardner had not been that good over the previous couple of years. It was a horrible deal at the time, and it hasn’t aged any better.

The second was getting strong-armed by quarterback Daniel Jones this offseason.

Jones was coming off an Achilles injury, and Indianapolis brought him back because it had no other answers. That was a half-season sample of good play, followed by regression and then the injury. As soon as that deal happened, it felt like the end of the era. It was just a question of when the shoe would drop.

Ed Dodds inherits a massive rebuild

Ed Dodds is taking over the Colts’ personnel department. Austin noted that Dodds has drawn interest and interviews for other GM jobs around the league, so Indianapolis could do a lot worse. Still, the situation he walks into is ugly.

The Colts’ first-round pick this year belongs to the New York Jets, just like last year’s first-round pick did. Young receiver Adonai Mitchell is also with the Jets now as part of the Gardner deal. Easton made the point that Indianapolis could try to move Gardner, but it would never come close to recouping what it paid.

Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner are valuable, but both are on the wrong side of 30 and on expiring contracts. With the trade deadline about three weeks away, the clock is ticking to get anything in return.

Easton added that Alec Pierce’s contract is another tough one, and that his health makes him close to untradable right now. Jonathan Taylor is a really good running back, but the trade market at that position rarely pays.

That is why I think a new general manager here needs to understand he is getting a runway. Second chances for head coaches happen regularly. Second chances for GMs don’t. Whoever leads this front office has to break things down to the studs and rebuild the foundation.

Where does Shane Steichen stand?

Austin raised the question of how much Jim Irsay’s passing in May 2025 extended Ballard’s leash. A change in ownership, along with the grieving process, likely gave things more time to settle. Austin also said he views the current issues as more of a player problem than a coaching problem.

I don’t think Steichen is a bad coach at all. I think he’s a pretty good coach and a brilliant offensive mind.

If he does get let go, I expect him to land a job quickly as an offensive coordinator, and I could see him getting a second shot as a head coach down the road. I even joked in our group chat that Steichen might end up as the Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator.

The problem is the timeline. Easton believes the Colts won’t compete until 2028 at the earliest, and Steichen is in year four without a playoff appearance. I don’t have much pushback on that. With a new general manager and a full reset coming, I just don’t see how you conceivably retain a coach who hasn’t won recently.

I assume Steichen is part of the reset. We will see how quickly Indianapolis decides to make that call.