Colts GM Chris Ballard Breaks Down Indianapolis’ 2026 NFL Draft Class

Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard joined Rich on The Rich Eisen Show to walk through the franchise's 2026 NFL Draft haul, starting with first-round linebacker CJ Allen out of Georgia.

Rich opened the conversation by asking what Ballard liked about the Bulldogs defender. Ballard said any young player who steps onto Georgia's defense and contributes immediately has something to him, and Allen checked that box on the field. The fit, though, went beyond athleticism and speed.

"He fits kind of not only athletically and speed-wise what we wanted, but his mentality," Ballard said. He described Allen as one of the face-of-the-program players in Athens, a guy who stands for the right things and brings toughness and consistency. The Colts were thrilled he was still on the board when their pick came up.

Asked whether Allen could start from day one, Ballard refused to anoint him. He pointed out that no matter how confident a front office gets, rookies still have to prove it on the field. He believes Allen will, and he believes the rookie will ascend quickly once he gets in the building, but the proving still has to happen.

From there, Rich shifted to the back end of the draft. He noted that Indianapolis hit the defense hard, added to the offensive line and the running back room, and then took Dion Burks with the fourth-to-last pick of the entire draft. Daniel Jeremiah, Rich pointed out, had Burks ranked inside his top 70. So how did the Purdue product slide that far?

Ballard didn't pretend to have a clean answer. He said he looked up in the seventh round and saw two players the Colts had real conviction on, Burks and a player named Seth, and he grabbed both. Then, after the pick was already in, Ballard went back and pulled Burks's old Purdue tape just to remind himself what they had landed.

What he saw made him pick up the phone. He called Shane and said, "Holy cow, what luck. How this kid was here this late, I don't know. I'm just glad he was and I'm glad he's a Colt."

It's the kind of admission that doesn't usually come from a sitting general manager. Most front office executives, in Ballard's own words, carry enough ego and arrogance to think they're right 100% of the time. Ballard's spin is more honest. The draft is hard. You do the work, you build the board, you stack the players, and then sometimes the room runs cold and a guy you valued is still sitting there in the seventh round. You take him, and you thank the football gods quietly.

The Colts walked out of the weekend with a Georgia linebacker built to lead the defense and a wide receiver they had pegged much higher than the league did. For Ballard, that's a draft where the work and the luck both showed up. Now, as he reminded Rich, the players have to prove it.