Jim Irsay’s final decision, savvy draft moves, bold signings: How Colts built their roster

It all began with a trade on a Saturday in March 2018. Equipped with the third-overall pick in the next month’s NFL draft – the franchise’s first single-digit first-round pick since it drafted Andrew Luck first in 2012 – Colts general manager Chris Ballard looked at his front office’s draft board, as well as the team’s needs, and knew there was more value in holding true to his long-held mantra: “I like them picks.”

And why wouldn’t he?

Coming off a disappointing 4-12 first season at the helm in Indianapolis – one, notably, that didn’t include an injured Luck – there was reason to think this wasn’t the third-worst roster in the league. With a healthy Luck returning, there wasn’t reason to take a rookie quarterback in the first round when what the team needed were a few more well-placed picks.

And so, on that Saturday in March, Ballard struck a deal for the first piece of what very well may be Indianapolis’ first Super Bowl contender since 2010.

Here’s how Ballard, the late Jim Irsay and his daughters put together the pieces of this year’s juggernaut beginning in 2018 that over the next two-plus months will have the opportunity to prove to the rest of the league whether or not it’s for real.

Colts turn No. 3 pick in 2018 into Quenton Nelson, Braden Smith

On March 17, 2018, the Colts announced they had slid back three spots in the following month’s draft – from No. 3 overall to No. 6 – in a move with the Jets that would net the franchise three additional second-round picks.

For a team without a need at QB at the time – at least so they thought – they rated running back Saquon Barkley, atop their draft board, followed by edge rusher Bradley Chubb and then offensive lineman Quenton Nelson. There was plenty belief that at least two quarterbacks would be taken in those first six picks, giving the team a relatively high likelihood that one of their top-three players would be there at No. 6.

More than seven years later, Nelson has been voted to a spot on the Pro Bowl each season. He’s missed just three of a possible 125 regular season games at offensive guard, become a three-time First-Team All-Pro and is one of the four highest-paid players at his position. Simply put: He’s the type of foundational offensive linemen several teams search for each draft but only a handful ever truly hit on.

They also landed fellow foundational offensive lineman Braden Smith in the second round as one of those picks.

Colts land Michael Pittman Jr. in 2020 from 2019 draft trade

The next year’s draft trade – dealing away the 26th-overall pick and dropping out of the first round – wouldn’t be as instantly impactful, but with two additional second-round picks now in Ballard’s arsenal, the Colts would go 1-for-2. The hit was more than enough.

In the 2020 draft, the Colts took now-lead wideout Michael Pittman Jr., who has surpassed 5,000 yards, caught 24 touchdowns while missing just six games. Of the seven wideouts taken before him that draft, only three have compiled better stats.

He’s a No. 1 receiver. The Colts also dealt a fifth-round pick to move up three spots to draft Jonathan Taylor at No. 41 overall, and it’s a single draft round that has paid massive dividends for the Colts’ offense.

Colts trade 2020 first-round pick for DeForest Buckner

For the second consecutive year, the Colts went without a first-round pick. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Colts dealt that 13th-overall pick for one of the best young defensive tackles in the league, DeForest Buckner – the seventh-overall pick from the 2016 draft who’d already been voted to a Pro Bowl and Second-Team All-Pro.

But the 49ers, fresh off a trip to the Super Bowl, were facing an increasingly expensive roster. San Francisco’s front office deemed Buckner to be the odd man out.

The Colts dealt a first-rounder for a sure thing (minus the first four years of production and low salary), rather than the roll of the dice that are first-round picks. The 49ers learned that the hard way, essentially drafting Buckner’s replacement in defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw 14th-overall – who played just 41 of a possible 66 games and recorded five sacks, no forced fumbles and a single interception in four years after San Francisco declined to pick up his fifth-year option.

During his five-plus years with the Colts, Buckner has twice been named to the Pro Bowl, was a First-Team All-Pro in 2020 and has produced 43 sacks, despite frequently seeing a double-team no matter who’s on the other side.

Colts’ surprising 2-2 start in 2023 results in Jonathan Taylor extension

It was painful for the two-plus months the saga wore on, but the three-year deal Jonathan Taylor, his representation, Irsay and Ballard came to terms with in early-October 2023 – making the fourth-year running back the third-highest-paid player in the league at his position – has undoubtedly paid off for both sides.

Taylor has risen to new heights, sitting at nearly 1,400 yards from scrimmage through 10 games in 2025 with a shot at closing in on LaDainian Tomlinson’s single-season touchdown record of 31.

Though Irsay lamented after the deal was announced that it had been struck “sooner than I think it should have happened” — the Colts were 2-2 under then-promising quarterback Anthony Richardson — Taylor seems primed to continue to operate as one of, if not the, best back in the league through the end of the deal in 2026.

Colts sign four major extensions for veterans in 2024 offseason

Coming off a 9-8 season, the Colts held onto its must-have free agent pieces with new deals for Pittman, linebacker Zaire Franklin, slot corner back Kenny Moore II and interior defensive lineman Grover Stewart. A series of extensions like this that can often go overlooked – none are among the league’s biggest names at their positions – but without them, you lose the heart of the team.

The bottom can quickly fall out, and so locking down three of its most vital veterans on defense and its young No. 1 wideout was a sign of a Colts franchise continuing to do what it needed to position itself for success even though it wasn’t clear team had a quarterback that would allow it to reach its full potential.

Colts draft offensive line replacements with back-to-back picks in 2024

Though they haven’t had the strength at QB to put it to full use, the Indianapolis Colts have had one of the better offensive lines thanks to Nelson, Smith and center Ryan Kelly. This past spring, however, the Colts knew they couldn’t keep Kelly and guard Will Fries under the salary cap, allowing them to sign elsewhere in free agency (for a total of $105.5 million) following injury-plagued seasons.

That created opportunities for a pair of rookie offensive linemen the Colts had taken in the previous draft – center Tanor Bortolini (fourth-round pick in 2024) and tackle turned right guard Matt Goncalves (third-round in 2024). Combined, the pair made 13 starts a year ago – by no means typical for rookie Day 2 and 3 offensive linemen, but both have re-solidified a line that has helped pave the way for Taylor’s MVP candidacy, even if pass protection questions remain.

It’s not often a team can watch two starting offensive linemen walk in free agency and look inward for their replacements. Neither were flashy selections nearly two years ago, but both have been vital.

Jim Irsay’s last publicly announced decision: Keeping Ballard and Steichen

This wasn’t a popular choice to make less than 24 hours after the 2024 Colts’ season was complete, but keeping head coach Shane Steichen and Ballard together has paid off beyond anyone’s expectations.

Ballard had just finished his eighth season as the team’s GM, leading a franchise that had made just two playoff appearances and had no division titles. He was on his fourth head coach (Jeff Saturday’s interim stretch included). The QB position was no more certain than it had been since late-August 2019, so after an 8-9 campaign, making a switch at the top of the franchise wouldn’t have been tough to explain.

Getting rid of Steichen would’ve felt a bit premature — a 17-17 record with the quarterback questions — but if the Irsays had wanted a new GM to select his own head coach, no one wouldn’t have blamed them.

Ultimately, Jim Irsay was steadfast in his belief that a retooled lineup — not retooled leadership — was the next step to take. In the wake of his passing, that faith has clearly been properly placed.

Bears draft tight end Colston Loveland 4 spots ahead of the Colts

The consensus was there were two premium tight ends available in the 2025 draft with Michigan’s Colston Loveland flashing athletic traits during the lead up resulting with the Bears selecting him 10th overall.

And leaving Tyler Warren for the Colts.

Loveland has flashed his potential the past two weeks (10 catches, 173 yards, 2 touchdowns); Warren, however, has not only been productive all season — 50 catches, 617 yards, 3 touchdowns — but his versatility has helped open up Steichen’s playbook and made the Colts’ one of the best offenses in the league.

Colts sign failed Giants quarterback Daniel Jones

Yet to truly see what Anthony Richardson could do across a full season entering Year 3 of his career, it would’ve been understandable – perhaps not wise, but understandable – to make Richardson the starting QB for 2025 to determine once and for all whether he could succeed.

He was a top-five pick and there was evidence of QBs taken that high but seeming to flame out early shouldn’t always be given up on. But instead of Zack Wilson, Mason Rudolph, Bailey Zappe or Andy Dalton, the Colts found the happy medium of someone who wouldn’t break the bank (like Sam Darnold) and could legitimately lead a team if Richardson wasn’t able to.

There is still more that needs to be seen from Daniel Jones before we can undoubtedly know for sure that he’s the QB of the future but in a 10-game sample size, you can’t argue that they have done as good as one could’ve hoped. There clearly are imperfections that need to have been ironed out over this bye week if the Colts should be seen as serious contenders in the AFC, but if the Jones of Weeks 1-8 is the player we see down the stretch, then Ballard and Steichen will have done as well as a franchise can two years into a bust of a top-5 pick at QB.

Chris Ballard’s persistence finally pieces together elite secondary

Ballard viewed the Colts’ weakness in the secondary as a primary focus this offseason. The Colts signed All-Pro Charvarius Ward and drafted Minnesota’s Justin Walley in the third round, thinking the team may have had its 2025 starters.

Then, Walley went down with an ACL tear in camp. Veteran signing Corey Ballentine didn’t pan out. Jaylon Jones and JuJu Brents missed weeks of camp with injuries. Ballard signed former star Xavien Howard, who hadn’t played the previous season, and traded a sixth-round pick for the Vikings’ Mekhi Blackmon, a former third-round pick.

Ultimately, the Colts cycled through nearly a dozen options at the position since the start of the offseason. Now, having landed first-team All-Pro Sauce Garder from the Jets for two future-first-round picks and Adonai Mitchell to pair with Ward (when he comes off injured reserve), the Colts will have one of two secondaries with former All-Pros on the corners.

Ballard, conservative in the past, saw a need, and new team CEO and co-owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon greenlit the all-in move that could be the finishing touch on a championship-caliber roster eight years in the making.

“Do you want to Band-Aid it,” Irsay-Gordon asked Ballard days ago, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, “or fix it for the long-term?”

Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.