Fans begged Ballard to do something at the trade deadline. We witnessed him finally pull the trigger in free agency and when healthy, his main prizes in the secondary look good. Now, he addressed a weakness on the defense by shoring up the backfield with a lockdown corner.

Jets general manager Darren Mougey asked his Indianapolis Colts counterpart, Chris Ballard, for a favor before the Sauce Gardner trade was announced.

The Colts beat Tennessee on Sunday, yes, but the seeds were planted April 24, 2020, at the NFL Draft. Time to give Colts GM Chris Ballard his flowers. In the second round of the 2020 draft Ballard took WR Michael Pittman Jr. and RB Jonathan Taylor ...

That structure isn’t a one-off. Chris Ballard has leaned on lighter early cap hits and heavier money in the out years, which is fine when your roster is young and cheap. It becomes harder when those later years line up with extensions for your own players.