When it comes to the quarterback position, the NFL Draft feels like it could be unpredictable this year. On one hand, there are plenty of teams — like the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers — who are widely expected to take a quarterback, but there are also plenty of other teams that could unexpectedly sneak in and grab a signal-caller early.
One of the teams that falls into that second category is the Indianapolis Colts. During a pre-draft press conference on Monday, general manager Chris Ballard was asked if his team might think about taking a quarterback during the early portion of the draft.
“If there’s a player we deem is worthy of it, absolutely,” Ballard said. “Why wouldn’t we? Yea.”
The Colts have three of the first 80 picks in the draft (14th, 45th, 80th), and it might make sense for them to grab a quarterback in the third round. (In our QB mock draft, we had the Colts taking Ohio State’s Will Howard with the 80th overall pick.)
As things currently stand, Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones are expected to battle it out for the starting job, but Ballard is always keeping his eyes open when it comes to the possibility of adding a quarterback in the draft.
“I think if you look every year, even when we had Andrew [Luck], we brought quarterbacks in,” Ballard said. “I think you do that all the time, and we also, believe it or not, we worked out a couple, we went and visited a couple. I think you do that every year.”
The Colts brought in Louisville’s Tyler Shough and Texas’ Quinn Ewers for pre-draft visits, and both players could all into that third-round sweet spot where Indianapolis might be looking to take a QB. Ballard explained why he likes to visit with quarterbacks during the period leading up to the draft.
“The one thing you can see with the quarterback position now, you better get to know them in the draft process because you never know when it’s going to come back around to you,” Ballard said. “You just don’t know.”
If the Colts like a quarterback and that quarterback falls into their lap at some point in the draft, there’s a good chance Indy will pull the trigger and take him.
“You don’t ever want to pass one up, pass up a player you think has a chance to be really good. I think you say that for every position, but especially at quarterback,” Ballard said. “I think Green Bay, just in their history, has done it, back to Ron Wolf to Ted [Thompson] to Brian [Gutekunst] now. Even when they didn’t need one, if one hit on the board that they liked and believed in, they would take him, and I think you’ve got to keep an open mind to that.”
As Ballard noted, the Packers are solid example of why you should always be taking a quarterback. In 2024, Green Bay used a seventh-round pick on a QB (Michael Pratt), even though they already have an established starter in Jordan Love.
If the Colts find the right guy this year, he could potentially come in and compete with Richardson and Jones for the starting job.
“Sometimes you got to struggle before you can be good. We got two guys that have had some really strong flashes and they’ve had some bad moments too and that’s OK,” Ballard said of Richardson and Jones. “I think both of them will be better because of this and I think the team will be better because of it. Competition brings out the best in everybody and I think we’ll see that.”
Both quarterbacks will be feeling the heat this year: Richardson was the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft while Jones was the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, and the guy that loses the quarterback battle this year might not get another chance at a starting job.
“You got to let things play out the way they should and compete and who gives the team the best chance to win,” Ballard said. “If I’m a betting man, at some point both of them will help us.”
If the Colts draft a rookie, that will give them someone to turn to in case Richardson and/or Jones can’t get the job done in Indy this year.
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Author: John Breech
April 21, 2025 | 11:55 am
