Colts GM Chris Ballard on his Team Building Philosophy and Decision Making Process

Indianapolis Colts General Manager Chris Ballard joined Colin Cowherd on his podcast to discuss his drafting philosophy and how he evaluates talent. Chris Ballard has done a great job of team building and roster management with the Indianapolis Colts that has led to being a consistent winner since he has taken over as GM.

Here are a few key takeaways from the interview on his team building philosophies and how he thinks through decisions as the leader of the organization.

Taking people’s character into account when acquiring players

Ballard has become one of the leading team executives in considering character as part of the evaluation process, and the recent success of the Colts shows how character can be used to building a winning team, even in a highly competitive environment where talent has a tendency to overshadow most teams’ decision-making when it comes to acquiring players.

Sometimes I wonder if we are too hard on the character aspect of it, but a lot of times, as long as I've been in the league and I look back on the misses that I've had, usually the miss occurs because of some type of character flaw, whether it's work ethic, instincts, toughness, it usually not talent, it's usually a character flaw.

Sometimes NFL teams, coaches and staff put too much weight into the talent of a player or let someone’s “potential” influence the decision to acquire that player. It’s refreshing to see how Ballard and Indianapolis have gone to great lengths to make sure character is considered, and emphasized, in their player evaluation process.

Chris Ballard’s decision-making: A long process of thinking, discussing, and making decisions only when you have to

When talking about the acquisition of quarterback Carson Wentz and how he went about thinking about making that decision, Ballard said:

We had been having long discussions. How my mind works, I have got to process things over a long period of time and really think them through. And then decisions will be made when they need to be made. I've always though 'Why make a decision before you have to...'

Let's think through everything; all of the parameters of what goes into it. All of the dominoes and what the dominoes are going to be down the line, not just now, but also in 2022 and 2023 and 2024. You've got to be thinking 2-3 years out on every decision, because every decision you make has an impact on your football team.

We considered Matt Stafford. The Rams went and got him and decided that was the player they wanted, and we weren't quite there yet.

When it came to Carson, it was kind of like Philip Rivers last year. Frank and Nick Siriani had familiarity and a good relationship with Rivers that made his transition to the team pretty seamless, and I see the same thing with Carson just because of his relationship with Frank Reich, who is the play-caller. You can't ever minimize how important that is.

Being with Andy Reid for 4 years, taught me a lot about offensive football and how important the play-caller is in all of this. And the QB has to feel comfortable with who is pulling the strings and who is pulling the trigger. And that made making the trade for Carson a lot easier because I knew there was a a trust level between the two of them. Trust is everything in this league. And trust between the Quarterback and the play-caller is everything. Now there are other things that are important too, you have to protect him and you have to put enough weapons around him. But if both the Quarterback and the play-caller feel comfortable with each other, I think you have a chance for success.

The Standard that has been established in Indianapolis

All great teams in the NFL have locker room cultures with strong elements of accountability from the players. This is where the character of the players they put in the locker room has a great rippling effect throughout the team when it comes to people doing their jobs, coming through for their teammates, and obtaining buy-in from everyone involved to bring the team together to play at their highest level of performance.

The Standard that we have for the way we are going to do business, they way we are going to play, the way we're going to practice, the way we are going to prepare, that is what it is. The young players that have grown up with us, they understand the standard and they demand the standard. And that has to come from the locker room. For the team to be good, that (accountability) has to come from the locker room. But then we have to constantly be in communication on all points on what's going on, and we can have bumps in the road, but don't let it become a giant pothole that we can't get out of. And that usually just come back to our players communicating with our players at all points. It doesn't mea that we are giving in, no. It's just about communicating and working through some of the issues that we have. I just have a lot of trust and faith in the players that we've brought in the building, that I think they understand that we are going to do everything in our power to get them better. That's our job. We are going to do everything we can to get you to your ceiling as a player, because that is going to help them financially...but on the flip side of that, you've got to give them back something too. It can't be a one way street. And the way you work and come together as a team, is important for winning.

The greater the level of communication with any team and it’s people, particularly in times of adversity, the better that team and organization can overcome the bumps in the roads, course correct, and bring everyone back together to get back on the winning path.