Colts Chris Ballard ranked 6th best general manager in the NFL for his ten most expensive free agent signings

According to The Athletic’s Mike Sando (subscription), Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard places 6th best (tied) in league when ranking each NFL GM (among the 26 incumbents, i.e. the return of the 2021 NFL GMs) by their ten most expensive free agent signings respectively:

T-6. Chris Ballard, Indianapolis Colts

Average signature score: 2.0

Philip Rivers helped bring the Colts back into the playoffs on a below-market deal for high-end starting quarterbacks, so his signing lands in Tier 1 even though Indy might have wanted a second season from him. Justin Houston is tied with Joey Bosa for ninth in sacks (19) while also placing 32nd in presses since the Colts signed him ahead of the 2019 season. Denico Autry was an incredibly good signing. He has 25 sacks in three seasons with Indy after collecting 12 sacks in four seasons with the Raiders.

Scores were assigned based on the following categories:

Category 1: Movements that a smart GM would make again (20% of signatures)

Category 2: The measures that we could put forward in both cases (37% of signatures)

Category 3: Travel that a smart GM would no longer make (43% of signatures)

Ballard received three “ Category One ” (i.e. smart signings from GM) Philip rivers, Justin houston, and Denico Autry, but was given three “ three categories ” (i.e. “ let’s not repeat this ”) with Devin Funchess, Ryan grant, and Austin howard.

The rest of the signatures: Johnathan Hankins, Jabaal sheard, Eric Ebron, and John simon were all “category two” – or those that could go both ways.

Of course, Ballard has a reputation for being notoriously cautious in spending a lot of money on free agency, choosing to recruit players during the second and third waves of free agency – rather than overpaying them beyond his assigned value. for a respective free agent.

His more lucrative free agent contracts rarely go beyond essentially two-year appointments.

Armed with about $ 47 million of ceiling space available before free agency, its “financially responsible” approach should not change much for Indianapolis this offseason.