With the NFL combine underway at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard gave his thoughts on several topics including the prospect of potentially trading draft picks.
Ballard has made it clear in the past that he prefers to acquire draft picks rather than trading them away, and the third-year general manager is sticking to that notion as April’s draft approaches.
“I’ve always been under the premise in how I was taught in this league (that) the more picks you have – the more darts you have at the dartboard – the better chance you have to hit on players,” Ballard told reporters Wednesday. “I still think we need to continue to add young talent. We like having draft picks.”
This is no surprise coming from Ballard. Ahead of the 2018 draft, he orchestrated a trade with the New York Jets that got him four extra picks while only having to move back three spots in the draft. One of those picks will be at the beginning of the second round in the upcoming draft.
The Colts currently have nine selections in the draft this year, which should give them the chance to add serious depth and talent to both sides of the roster. They have six picks in the first four rounds of the draft.
With the recent success of player evaluation in the front office, the Colts could come away with another strong corps of young talent to add to an already talented group.
It remains to be seen if the Colts will make any moves this offseason to acquire more picks, but Ballard seems to be giving the impression that they won’t be giving away picks.
