Chris Ballard, left (AP photo, Darron Cummings); Dorsey, right (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There was a video this spring, one of those team-produced, behind-the-scenes productions, that gave us a rare glimpse inside an NFL Draft war room.

The video, posted by the Indianapolis Colts, showed a tense, silent room. The phone in front of Colts general manager Chris Ballard rang. Ballard picked up the phone, said “I’m working” and slammed it down. He started laughing. Some tension left the room.

It was nothing new. It was just the first time the world got a chance to see Browns general manager John Dorsey play one of his favorite pranks on one of his close friends.

“It's every year,” Ballard said in a phone interview with cleveland.com. “Every year.”

Dorsey picked the trick up from his old boss in Green Bay, Ron Wolf.

“It's OK in that moment to play around just a tad,” Dorsey told cleveland.com in a separate phone interview. “We're working our ass off now. It's OK to kind of laugh a little bit and then move forward.”

When the Browns and Colts take the field this week for a pair of joint practices, it will feature two AFC teams very much on the come. Both have playoff expectations. The Colts are considered by some as Super Bowl contenders.

Those expectations are, in large part, because of the two men in charge of building the rosters. They share similar philosophies in scouting and picking players.

They also refer to each other in the same way: as brothers.

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Draft Day shenanigans with GM Chris Ballard and @Browns GM John Dorsey. 😂



FULL EPISODE ➡️ https://t.co/LeZhX68dFZ pic.twitter.com/4hT28Zaz3l — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) May 2, 2019

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'Here comes this big old dude (from) Green Bay'

Ballard took a different path to personnel than Dorsey. Dorsey started all four years at Connecticut and played 76 games for one of the league’s bedrock franchises. He was hired as a scout for the Packers in 1991, three years after he played his final game in the NFL.

Ballard never got that far as a player. An

describing his college career at Wisconsin, which ended in 1993, as “nothing.”

So he went into teaching and coaching, ultimately ending up in the college ranks, until he got a call to come scout for the Bears in 2000 on Jerry Angelo’s staff.

Ballard first encountered Dorsey, then Green Bay's Director of Player Personnel, while the two were working in Louisiana around 2001.

"I had absolutely zero clue what I was doing," Ballard said, "and here comes this big old dude who was a director in Green Bay."

Ballard, in fact, was so green, he didn’t even know what a director was.

Dorsey was working at a frantic pace, like he was still an area scout. Ballard couldn’t keep up. As he spent more time around him, he developed an appreciation for watching Dorsey work out linebackers.

“I'd tell him, 'You're going to kill those guys,'” Ballard said. “He would work them to the bone.”

What Ballard didn't realize was that big old dude from Green Bay wasn’t just there working out linebackers and scouting players.

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'I've got to get this guy'

Dorsey talks about scouting like Bob Ross used to talk about painting. Good prospects are his happy trees.

And when he’s out scouting ...

“I watch everything,” Dorsey said.

He watches from afar and certain guys -- certain scouts -- catch his eye.

Ballard was one of those guys.

Dorsey saw someone who was organized, detailed, had a passion for the game of football. He saw someone with great contacts at any school and loved how he went about gathering information. When the two would sit and talk at practices, Dorsey liked how Ballard talked the game of football. He sensed the passion Ballard had for the game.

The seeds of their friendship were planted in those early days the way it often happens in jobs where you’re always on the road, always running into your competitors in the same places. It starts with respect. It grows from a willingness to learn.

For a new scout like Ballard, being around other people on the road was vital, seeing how they worked, their schedules, what they’re looking for. Dorsey was one of the men willing to share with Ballard.

Ballard said their relationship reflected mostly mutual respect for the next decade.

Then, in 2013, Dorsey was hired as the GM in Kansas City. When he had the opportunity to hire a No. 2, he knew exactly who he wanted.

“(Chris) was the first guy, I said, 'you know what, I've got to get this guy.'”

Dorsey saw a like-minded man in Ballard, but he also saw a broad enough thinker to try new things, to continue growing and to serve as his right hand who could pass knowledge on to others in the front office.

Ballard wasn’t expecting the call. He had just been promoted to director of pro scouting for the Bears a year earlier by Phil Emery. He moved his family from Houston to Chicago.

Emery granted Dorsey permission to interview Ballard. The Chiefs named Ballard director of player personnel on May 7, 2013.

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'Give me three years'

Dorsey takes his role as teacher seriously.

“It's your responsibility to teach them as much as you can about this game of football,” he said, “because one day they may aspire to be in that same seat.”

So he made a promise to Ballard: Give him three years. Three years to learn the things he learned in Green Bay. Three years to learn the blueprint.

“You give me three years here,” Dorsey said, “I'll teach you everything about how to run this thing.”

Ballard was part of a group in Kansas City -- one that included current Chiefs GM Brett Veach -- that turned a 2-14 team the year before they arrived into an 11-5 playoff team the following season. In the four seasons Ballard spent with the Chiefs alongside Dorsey and Veach, Kansas City made the playoffs in three of four seasons and didn’t post a losing record.

“That group we had in Kansas City was pretty special,” Ballard said.

It was in those years that Ballard’s and Dorsey’s relationship grew. Long days together make you close. Families get to know each other.

“You're in that draft room a lot together,” Ballard said. “It's not just during draft meetings, it's year round and, over time, it grew and time builds trust.”

And if you’ve earned Dorsey’s trust, you’ve really earned it.

Ballard was learning from Dorsey, too. He learned about patience, not one of his strong suits. Be patient in your decision making, but aggressive once you’ve made the decision. Be patient with players and let them develop.

He learned Dorsey’s scouting system, the one Dorsey learned from Wolf and the one that’s used in Cleveland now. Scout an undrafted free agent no different than you scout the first pick. Put eyes on the tape. It’s not easy. It takes time. It’s a grinding process. Always put eyes on the tape.

Ballard gave Dorsey four years. Then, on January 29, 2017, the Colts named Ballard as their new general manager.

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'I'd be in the foxhole with John no matter what'

It wasn’t tough to see Ballard go, Dorsey said. That’s the point of passing on his knowledge in the first place.

“You want guys to earn degrees of success like that,” he said. “With success, you want them to get opportunity.”

Besides, Dorsey had kept his word. Give him three years. It was no surprise to him. The real surprise came five months later, when Dorsey was unexpectedly fired as GM of the Chiefs.

Ballard said it was a difficult time, but there was no venom from Dorsey, just moving on. It was a time when their relationship flipped in a way. Dorsey wasn’t the teacher. Instead, he was leaning on Ballard now.

“I think he knew that I was in the foxhole with him,” Ballard said. “I'd be in the foxhole with John no matter what.”

Dorsey stayed out of the game for a while, serving as a resource for anyone with questions, keeping himself up on both the college and pro game and salary cap matters.

“Chris helped me out a few ways,” Dorsey said, “and I'll always appreciate that because that's what friends do.”

The

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'I am not where I am today without John Dorsey'

What does it mean when Dorsey and Ballard refer to each other as brothers?

“We have the same principles, we have the same beliefs,” Dorsey said. “We have the same value structure, we have the same professional pride, we both hate to lose, we're both competitive as heck and that's what it's like. We know each other so well.”

“I love John,” Ballard said. “I love him like a brother. I just think over time of four years you build a special trust, it all comes down to trust. If John doesn't trust you, you're out.”

Both men’s families are close. Ballard has five children and Dorsey has two. Dorsey’s wife, Patricia, and Ballard’s wife, Kristin, are close.

“The kids get along,” Dorsey said. “God knows he's got enough kids. He's got great kids. I love his kids and I love his wife and I would say that my wife loves his wife.”

Ballard’s wife’s grandmother grew up in Sandusky and the families have been trying to get to Cedar Point. Sometimes the NFL calendar and kids’ sports in the summer make it hard.

“I'm waiting for him to come up here,” Dorsey said. “He's waiting to go ride all these roller coasters.”

Because it’s so hard to get together sometimes, there might not be two people looking forward more to this week’s joint practices than the two GMs. They tried to make it happen last summer but couldn't. This year, it all worked out.

Dorsey said he’ll probably get dinner with Ballard and try to sneak over to his house and see the kids.

It’s not lost on either man that they are both in the AFC and they both run pretty good football teams. Neither will look ahead that far, but the way both teams are heading, there might be some days in the future where their friendship has to go on hold.

Ballard has been through it with Kansas City. He’s close with Veach and head coach Andy Reid. The Colts lost to the Chiefs in the Divisional Round of the playoffs last season.

“I lived it,” Ballard said, “and let me tell you this, the relationship goes out the door, both sides are just worried about kicking each others' asses that day.”

Dorsey, for his part, is impressed with what Ballard has done in Indianapolis and how he’s tweaked the system he was taught. But he knows he has to be tight-lipped sometimes.

“From my standpoint, he's the competition,” Dorsey said, “so I can't tell him too much sometimes.”

The thing is, neither man needs to really tell many secrets to know what the other is thinking. Both admitted there are likely players one was targeting that the other wanted. Ballard says if you compared boards, they’d be “pretty freakin’ similar.” They look for the same things.

“There's been times we're both chasing the same dog,” Dorsey said.

This relationship is built to stand through those battles. Dorsey, one of the most well-connected men in football, says there are people he is close with in the league, but not many as close as Ballard. He describes their conversations as real and genuine.

Ballard sums it up simply: “I am not where I am today without John Dorsey.”

It's a friendship built over years on the road, years in draft rooms and helping each other through stages of their careers.

"We grew over time where there's such a trust level and respect," Ballard said. "I love him. I do."

The two text weekly if they’re unable to talk. Ballard says that if he needed to call Dorsey, no matter the time, he knows Dorsey would pick up.

Ballard would do the same. Even if he’s on the clock.

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