Reviewing The Chris Ballard Era: The Best Picks, Worst Picks And Final Grade

After going year by year through the Chris Ballard draft era, it feels right to finish with a bigger-picture look at the entire run.

The 2025 class is still too early to fully grade, but it is worth mentioning briefly. Tyler Warren was fantastic as a rookie and already looks like a major hit. JT Tuimoloau, on the other hand, was basically non-existent in Year 1. Justin Walley lost valuable time after tearing his ACL, but the talent and long-term potential are still there. Jalen Travis has a chance to prove himself as a starter this season, while Riley Leonard showed enough in one excellent game to make you wonder if he could become a strong backup, or maybe even something more down the road. The rest of the class has not made much of an impact yet.

So the early 2025 returns are promising because of Warren, with some potential still sitting in the middle of the class. But for now, it is too soon to include that group in the final grading.

For the rest of Ballard’s draft history, there is enough information to evaluate the major hits, the biggest misses, and what the full draft record says about his time in Indianapolis.

The result is about what you would expect…

The five best picks of the Ballard era

Bernhard Raimann, OT

Raimann belongs near the top because of position value and draft slot.

Finding a quality starting left tackle in the third round is one of the best outcomes a general manager can have. Raimann has developed into a high-level starter on the left side and has become one of the most reliable players on the Colts’ offensive line. He rarely misses time, rarely gives you bad games, and has provided stability at one of the most important positions in football.

He may not be a top-three left tackle in the league, but he has played like a top-10 player at the position. For a third-round pick, that is an outstanding return.

Grade: A

Jonathan Taylor, RB

Taylor was a home run.

The Colts traded up for him in the second round, and he quickly became the engine of the offense. At his best, Taylor has been one of the best running backs in football and one of the few players on the roster capable of taking over a game by himself.

He has given the Colts multiple great seasons, including superstar-level production at his peak. Injuries have limited him at times, but the overall return is excellent. Any time you land an offensive centerpiece in the second round, that is a major win.

Grade: A+

Quenton Nelson, G

Nelson was the safest pick Ballard ever made, and it worked exactly as expected.

The Colts traded back from No. 3 to No. 6 in 2018 and still landed, in my opinion, the best player in the draft. At the time, Andrew Luck was still on the roster after taking years of punishment, so adding an elite offensive lineman made perfect sense.

Nelson became a multiple-time All-Pro, a perennial Pro Bowler, and one of the defining players of the Ballard era. Taking a guard that high can always be debated, but Nelson justified the selection. He became a Colts legend.

Grade: A+

Zaire Franklin, LB

Franklin gets criticism from fans, and some of it has been fair at different points, but the pick itself was a massive hit.

He was a seventh-round selection who became a long-term starter, team captain, and tackling machine. That is incredible draft return. Very few seventh-round picks even become regular contributors, let alone players who start for years and become a captain.

He may not have been perfect, but for where he was drafted, this was one of Ballard’s best finds.

Grade: A+

Grover Stewart, DT

Stewart was the best pick of the 2017 class and one of the best picks of Ballard’s entire tenure.

He developed into one of the best nose tackles in football and has been a major part of the Colts’ defensive identity. He controls the middle, eats blocks, helps the linebackers stay clean, and gives the run defense a level of stability that is easy to overlook.

For a fourth-round pick to become that type of long-term defensive cornerstone is outstanding work.

Grade: A+

The five worst picks of the Ballard era

Adonai Mitchell, WR

Mitchell was a disaster in Indianapolis.

Maybe things go better for him with the Jets. Maybe a new environment changes the way his career develops. But from a Colts standpoint, this was a second-round pick who failed quickly and was gone after two seasons.

That alone is a major failure. When a player taken that high is off the roster that fast, there is no way to spin it positively.

Grade: F

Anthony Richardson, QB

Richardson is the most complicated miss, but still a miss.

The Colts took him fourth overall to become the franchise quarterback. Instead, his accuracy, ball placement, processing, decision-making, availability, and maturity never reached the required level. He had flashes because the physical tools are obvious, but the overall quarterback play was poor.

Missing on any first-round pick hurts. Missing on a quarterback at No. 4 changes the entire direction of a franchise.

The flashes keep him from being an F, but the pick was still a major failure.

Grade: D

Julius Brents, CB

Brents was another painful miss.

The Colts took him in the top 50 because of size, length, and athletic traits, but injuries completely derailed his time in Indianapolis. When he did play, the performance was fine in flashes, but nowhere near strong enough to justify the draft slot.

Only getting 11 games from a second-round cornerback is brutal. Availability is part of the return on a pick, and the Colts got almost nothing here.

Grade: F

Ben Banogu, LB/EDGE

Banogu gave the Colts almost nothing.

He was a second-round pick who never became a meaningful contributor, never started, and finished with just 2.5 sacks in 50 games. For a player drafted to help the pass rush, that is a terrible return.

There is not much nuance needed here. This was one of the clearest busts of the Ballard era.

Grade: F

Quincy Wilson, CB

Wilson was a brutal second-round pick.

He was often a healthy scratch, never became a reliable starter, and had little impact during his time in Indianapolis. For a cornerback taken in the second round, that is nowhere close to good enough.

He did not earn a second contract, did not become part of the core, and did not give the Colts much of anything.

Grade: F

Year-by-year grades

2017: C-
2018: A
2019: C
2020: B+
2021: C+
2022: B
2023: D+
2024: B-
2025: Too early to grade

Final overall grade: B-

The final grade lands around a B-. You could argue C+, and I would not fight too hard against it. The difference between those two grades is small.

Ballard has found some excellent players, especially Nelson, Taylor, Stewart, Franklin, Raimann, and others. There have been enough hits to say he is not a bad drafter.

But there have also been too many premium misses. Anthony Richardson, Julius Brents, Ben Banogu, Quincy Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Kemoko Turay, Rock Ya-Sin and others drag the overall record down. When those misses come in the first two rounds, they hurt a heck of a lot more.

That is why the final evaluation feels close to average, maybe slightly above average. And that fits the Ballard era perfectly.

The Colts under Ballard have been around .500, rarely bad enough to bottom out, but rarely good enough to make noise. His overall record sits around 70-78-1, which lines up closely with the draft review. Some strong pieces, some big mistakes, and a lot of middle-ground results.

That is the story of the Ballard era…

Not terrible. Not great. Mostly average.