This free agency has to be different. Last season wasn’t good enough. Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard acknowledged as much. He got too comfortable, too convinced his team was better than it was.

A 9-8 finish in 2023 proved to be a mirage for what bled into a disappointing 8-9 season in 2024. By the end, team captain DeForest Buckner was calling out the Colts for their complacency, for having unearned egos before accomplishing anything of significance. That’s not all Ballard’s fault, but it does start with him. He allowed it to happen under his watch by not bringing in more competition.

Has he learned his lesson?

Ballard has a chance to right the wrongs of last season, starting at noon ET Monday when the NFL’s legal tampering period begins and free agents can begin negotiations with new teams. In the past, Ballard has tended to stay on the sidelines as the top free agents were snatched up. Now, he’s hinted at a shift in his approach. Some would say it’s overdue.

Ballard’s previous tactics have failed to position the Colts as consistent contenders during his first eight years as GM. Most GMs would not have gotten a ninth season at the helm, but Colts owner Jim Irsay is sticking with Ballard, and he challenged his general manager to “fix it” as the 2025 season approaches.

“That doesn’t mean we’re gonna be undisciplined and just do something wild,” Ballard said of free agency while speaking on 107.5 The Fan at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Don’t expect, ‘Hey, here’s the Colts, and they just spent $400 million on all these different players.’ But we’ll do our best to make this team better.”

Last year, there was at least one case when the Colts’ “best” still fell short. Indianapolis seriously pursued edge rusher Danielle Hunter, then a four-time Pro Bowler, to elevate its defensive line, but he signed a two-year, $49 million deal with the Houston Texans. He went on to have another Pro Bowl campaign in 2024 as the Texans went 2-0 against the Colts and won the AFC South for the second straight year.

“There’s been times when I wish I would’ve done just a hair more to get a couple players that we were heavily involved with in free agency,” Ballard later said on 107.5 The Fan. “Maybe if I would’ve pushed a little bit more financially it would’ve (sealed the deal). I think that’s probably the biggest difference, like, sometimes you just gotta finish it.”

As all eyes turn toward Ballard and, more specifically, the money he’s willing to spend on outside free agents, it can be easy to forget the times when he aggressively pursued a player from another franchise and got it right. The most notable feather in Ballard’s free-agency cap is the addition of quarterback Philip Rivers. Ballard landed the eight-time Pro Bowler on a one-year, $25 million deal in 2020, and Rivers led the Colts to the playoffs in his first and only season with the franchise. Indianapolis also signed veteran cornerback Xavier Rhodes to a one-year, $4 million deal that same offseason, and he elevated the Colts’ defensive secondary. Rhodes totaled 12 passes defensed and two picks in 16 regular-season starts while allowing just a 51.9 completion percentage when he was targeted, the lowest mark of his career.

Other notable outside free-agent signings include outside linebacker/defensive end Jabaal Sheard in 2017 (three years, $25.5 million), defensive end Denico Autry in 2018 (three years, $17.8 million), defensive end Justin Houston in 2019 (two years, $24 million) and cornerback Stephon Gilmore in 2022 (two years, $20 million). The Colts received a great return on investment from all of them.

Highlighting these moves isn’t meant to serve as a defense of Ballard but to take note of the fact that when Ballard has dipped his toes in the free-agent waters, he’s enjoyed some success.

Not all of his moves have proved wise, of course. Trading for Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan in 2021 and 2022 backfired tremendously as both quarterbacks lasted just one year in Indianapolis before being shipped out.

Excluding trades, it’s hard to live down last year’s conservative free agency, when Ballard naively chose to run it back with a nearly identical squad from 2023. The Colts’ most notable signings, besides retaining their own players, were two backups: QB Joe Flacco (one year, $4.5 million) and defensive tackle Raekwon Davis (two years, $14 million). Flacco was serviceable in place of the injured and benched Anthony Richardson, throwing 12 touchdowns against seven interceptions in eight games. However, Davis missed most of training camp due to high blood pressure, and when he did return to action, he wound up with more penalties (three) than tackles for loss (one) in 2024. The Colts released Davis last week.

But the misses aren’t really the point. It’s the positions they didn’t fortify that came back to bite Ballard and the Colts. Despite several questions about the team’s young and inexperienced secondary, Ballard insisted he already had the right players in-house. One of the players Ballard consistently mentioned was cornerback Dallis Flowers, who was coming off a torn Achilles he suffered in 2023. Ballard banked on Flowers to not only return to his pre-injury form in 2024 but also to take a step forward in his development. As it turns out, Flowers did neither. He was constantly picked on by opposing quarterbacks and was waived after giving up an 85-yard TD reception to Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Brian Thomas Jr. in Week 5.

“I kick myself for taking a couple years to be so daggum stubborn,” Ballard said at the end of the season. “If you look back at our good seasons, like (2020). I mean, we trade for (DeForest) Buckner, we add Philip Rivers. (In 2021) … we faltered at the end for some reasons, but we had made some moves then. We had signed Justin. We had signed the right people. And then I just got, for whatever reason, in my thick head, ‘You know what, we’re going to really double down on our own guys.’”

It didn’t work.

Perhaps the most intriguing — or damning, depending on your point of view — part about Ballard’s free-agency history is that he’s never spent more than $25.5 million on an outside free agent (Sheard in 2017). For anything to truly feel different this offseason, that will likely need to change. Difference-makers such as safety Jevon Holland (Miami Dolphins), safety Justin Reid (Kansas City Chiefs) or cornerback Charvarius Ward (San Francisco 49ers) won’t come cheap. Not to mention Ballard plans to bring in “real competition” at quarterback, and whether that means signing Daniel Jones, Justin Fields or someone else, they’re not coming to Indianapolis pro bono, either.

Ballard must be aggressive. He must be bold. He must be different.

Otherwise, the 2025 season will likely match many of the ones we’ve already seen: an uninspiring campaign cobbled together by an uninspiring GM.

“As hardheaded as I am … I’ve looked deeply (at) things I need to change and do,” Ballard said at the end of the season. “The proof comes with your actions.”