The Colts Fired Chris Ballard And Kept Shane Steichen, So I Am Keeping My Colts

Folks, at 8:34 this morning Central time, the @Colts posted one sentence: "We have relieved Chris Ballard of his duties as General Manager." By 8:35, Pelissero, Schefter, Rapoport and Garafolo had confirmed it. My coffee was still too hot to drink, and I had not even reached for the bourbon.

Colts fans on X mostly cheered, then started arguing about whether the coach is next. I understand the cheering. I am here for the fantasy managers who read the same post and started shopping every Colt they own. Put the phone down. Court is in session.

What Happened Before My Coffee Cooled

Schefter reports Ballard "was in his 10th season as Colts GM and had a 72-82-1 record and a 1-2 playoff record." Garafolo tied the move to "Five straight seasons without a playoff appearance" and a team with "some work to do at 2-4 to avoid a sixth".

Ralph Vacchiano wrote that the firing came "after an inexcusable loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday". The line I care about came from Pelissero: "Coach Shane Steichen remains on the job."

Owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon's statement, posted by Pelissero, reads: "As I said at the start of the season, the sense of urgency has never been higher." And: "Our standard is to compete for championships, and I believe a change in leadership is necessary to meet that standard."

Exhibit A Is Printed On Letterhead

Exhibit A is that statement. By the owner's own account, urgency has held at a record high since the start of the season, and this morning it reached the general manager's office. It stopped there.

Members of the jury, think of a football team as a kitchen. The general manager buys the groceries, and the coach decides who eats. Indianapolis fired the shopper and kept the cook. The cook sets the ceiling on every Colt you roster, and for now it is the same cook who ran Week 6.

The Colts just made the loudest noise of their season, and not one snap has moved yet. A Monday firing feeds hot-seat talk and trade chatter all week. Managers selling Colts this morning are trading on the press release, and nothing in it touches the depth chart.

I did enjoy the statement, folks. It calls the midseason timing "a deliberate decision." I have never read a press release that announced an accident. It also says, "Waiting would only delay the important work that needs to begin now." And it promises a search that will "take the time necessary". Urgency has a waiting room after all.

So over my second cup I wrote a rule, and I call it the letterhead rule.

Never sell a football player on the morning a front office prints its feelings.

The Part Where I Help The Defense

A prosecutor who hides evidence loses on appeal, so here is what hurts my case. Vacchiano wrote that the firing "moves coach Shane Steichen WAY up the hot seat rankings, with big changes looming in Indy." If the cook goes, every role in that kitchen is back on the table.

Ari Meirov calls Ballard "one of the genuinely good people in football", and I have no quarrel with that. Meirov also says the Colts went all-in last year by "trading two 1st-round picks for Sauce Gardner" and then "gave a massive deal to Daniel Jones off a torn Achilles." The verdict: "It has not worked so far."

Five straight seasons without the playoffs and a 2-4 start add up to failure, and results are fair game. So is the calendar. Schefter reported Ballard "was in the final season of his contract" and "openly had discussed not being worried about not getting an extension. And now he is out in October."

My case rests on one coach keeping one job, and Vacchiano just told you how warm that job is. Continuity in Indianapolis is Shane Steichen for now.

Gordy, the porch is ownership's problem and the subject of its next press release. My readers rent a seat on it one Sunday at a time, and the coach who hands out the seats is still employed. If that changes, I will be the first one off the swing.

What I Am Doing About It

1. I hold every Colt I roster, in redraft and dynasty, until the usage changes. Steichen remains on the job, so I treat Week 7 roles as Week 6 roles until the depth chart says otherwise.
2. I sell nobody on a GM headline, and I buy from anybody who does. A manager dumping a Colt over a press release is selling a ceiling at a floor price. Make the offer.
3. Steichen's job is the next real signal. Vacchiano's hot-seat note is the one I am watching. A new coach can mean new roles, and that is the day I re-price every Colt I own.
4. I check the Week 7 depth chart when it posts. If a role moves there, I move with it.

I am a Raiders fan, folks, so a statement about urgency reads like a letter from home. I keep every one I get, and I have never once set a lineup by one.