Insider: New Colts regime has different take on character risks
INDIANAPOLIS – The question came exactly eight days before the start of the NFL draft.
Indianapolis Colts General Manager Chris Ballard was asked directly if he’d removed any player from his draft board yet.
“At this point, no,” Ballard said.
The context here is important. The answer came in the course of a conversation about how the team views prospects with character risks. In fact, the name Joe Mixon had just been broached in the previous question.
Yet, when asked if he’d taken any players off the board, Ballard’s answer was unambiguous.
None of this suggests the Colts will select a player with a checkered past. There are hundreds of players available and most of them are generally clean.
But you should know this heading into Thursday night’s first round and beyond:
The Colts are taking a significantly more open-minded approach to players with character concerns. Why? Because the man making the picks — Ballard — has an open mind about these matters.
That’s in direct contrast to Ballard’s predecessor. Ryan Grigson, who was fired in January, had a stated aversion to taking players with character risks in any of the first four rounds.
Ballard, however, has gone to great pains to explain his thought process and why he refuses to close the door to any possibilities.
“We’re going to vet every player,” Ballard said. “We’re going to go A to Z on every player. And I tell our scouts this: Ignore the noise. Let’s make our own opinion of people. That’s why they pay us to do what we do. Let’s go meet the family. Let’s go A to Z. Kids make mistakes. They’re young kids still growing up and they make mistakes.
“We have to figure out … the guys we’re willing to take a chance on.”
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This draft includes Mixon, one of the most polarizing figures to come along in any draft. The Oklahoma running back was caught on camera violently punching a female student in 2014, leaving her with facial fractures that required surgery. The release of the video in December drew comparisons to video of former Ravens running back Ray Rice’s punch of his then-fiancee in 2014.
Here’s the thing: Mixon is supremely talented. He is one of the best pure runners available in this running back-rich draft, a big, fast and physical back at 6-1 and 226 pounds. But Mixon also possesses dazzling potential as a receiver out of the backfield or even in the slot, with soft, reliable hands and crisp route running.
But, oh, the video. Asked directly about Mixon, Ballard didn’t flinch.
“Much like any player, we exhaust them all,” he said. “No stone unturned. All of them. (On) all of them, we go A to Z.”
No stone unturned.
Ballard has gained a bit of a reputation for digging deep on troubled prospects. He took the lead on the Chiefs’ efforts to get a handle on cornerback Marcus Peters, whose series of issues at the University of Washington — including confrontations with coaches — led to his dismissal from the team in 2014.
Ballard was dispatched to Oakland to spend time with the family and what he reported to Kansas City General Manager John Dorsey helped embolden the team to audaciously pick Peters in the first round.
Thing is, it worked. Peters was selected to his first Pro Bowl last season and has quickly become a fabulous player.
Similarly, the Chiefs took a chance on receiver Tyreek Hill, who pleaded guilty in 2015 to domestic violence by strangulation for an incident involving his pregnant girlfriend in 2014. Dorsey had the confidence to make that pick, too. Keep in mind, Ballard and Dorsey are like-minded in many, many ways. Dorsey recently said of Ballard, “He’s like a brother to me.”
A team that makes this kind of call will have to deal with the requisite blowback. A headline on the website of the Kansas City Star the day following the Hill selection blared, “The Chiefs, who brag about their character, draft a man who choked his pregnant girlfriend.”
Mixon isn’t the only prospect in this draft with questions. Alabama’s Reuben Foster recently admitted to failing a drug test at the NFL Scouting Combine. And Florida defensive lineman Caleb Brantley was arrested in recent days for allegedly punching a woman during an altercation and is facing a charge of simple battery. Both players are possible first-round picks.
Even if the Colts wish to take a chance on such a player, Ballard’s open-mindedness won’t be enough to seal the deal. Owner Jim Irsay will certainly have to get involved. Where he stands on drafting players with these kinds of questions is less clear than Ballard, though Irsay often extols the merits of having a team that embraces a family atmosphere.
Ballard acknowledged there are considerations that extend beyond football on any player with flags.
“That’s an organizational decision, from Mr. Irsay, from the rest of our ownership, down to our marketing,” he said. “How’s it going to impact our fans? We have to weigh all of that before we make a decision on a high-risk character guy.”
It is difficult to say where the rest of the organization stands on the notion of taking chances on players. But Ballard’s stance seems clear.
If he can reconcile the decision and reach a comfort level with a player, it appears just about anything is on the table.
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