Insiders Stephen Holder and Zak Keefer discuss the upcoming free agency and NFL draft. Clark Wade/IndyStar
INDIANAPOLIS -- It wasn't long after his introductory press conference last January that Chris Ballard made up his mind. “I’m going to get you a new defense,” he told his incumbent head coach, Chuck Pagano, after just a few weeks on the job. Then he went to work.
Over the ensuing months Ballard made good on his pledge, dismembering an aging, unproductive unit and infusing it with new blood. The total haul: 13 notable signings during free agency, eight of which came on the defensive side of the ball, via $39.