Zak Keefer | IndyStar

Clark Wade, Clark.Wade@Indystar.com

A year ago, it was all about Andrew Luck’s shoulder – is he throwing yet? Is he? – and Josh McDaniels’ last-minute change of heart, Frank Reich’s hectic first month on the job and what they were going to do with that third overall pick. The roster was full of questions, the future fogged by uncertainty.

“I’ve gotten so used to chaos and dysfunction,” GM Chris Ballard joked Wednesday.

So much for that.

Storms weathered, shoulder healed, coach in place, foundation built, future bright, the Indianapolis Colts are amidst their quietest offseason in five years. Maybe longer. Everything about this franchise is pointing up, from the heaps of salary cap cash at their disposal to the nine draft picks waiting for them in April to the belief that their 2019 season could be even more stirring than its predecessor.

Yeah, they like where they’re at. They’re proud of the progress. But they also know they’re still climbing, and veering down a different, perhaps rockier path – like, say, signing a splashy free agent – isn’t a risk these Colts, as currently constructed, are looking to take. Not yet at least.

Clark Wade/IndyStar

The Colts are about culture, they keep preaching over and over, and to Ballard, the locker room is the backbone of his team. Last year’s turnaround speaks to it. At 1-5, the Colts could have splintered. Instead they gelled, ripping off 10 wins in 11 weeks, lifting a season that looked dead in October to the divisional round of the playoffs in January.

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“I think we’re a team on the rise, and I think the reason is we got the right players in that locker room,” Reich said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “That culture starts with the guys in that locker room. It’s not open to just anybody. That locker room is not just open to any great player. You gotta be the right guy, the right player, you gotta wanna join the other players on this team on the mission that we’re on, to get to the top of the mountain.”

Reich wasn’t specifically referring to two soon-to-be ex-Pittsburgh Steelers, but his point was clear: Talent won’t trump all. Not here.

In other words: For anyone still wondering, don’t bet on Antonio Brown or Le’Veon Bell wearing a horseshoe on their helmets in 2019.

For one, acquiring Brown, the All-Pro receiver, would require a trade, and a trade would require hefty compensation. Asked in roundabout fashion Wednesday if sees himself parting with draft picks, Ballard paused, thought for a moment, then finally responded.

“I like them picks,” he said, smiling.

Point taken.

“We’re young, it’s a young locker room,” Ballard said, speaking generally, not of one specific player. “Do I feel a little better than I did a year ago? Yes. Are we quite there? No. No.”

While he has long conceded he’s willing to make a bold move if it’s the right move, Ballard doesn’t feel like the Colts’ locker room, at the moment, is ready for that sort of risk. It’s still growing. Still developing. Thrusting in a dominant personality — no matter the on-field talent players like Brown or Bell would undeniably bring to the fold — could upset the very good thing the Colts have going.

“We have a very strict criteria of what we want to bring in: We want players that want to get better, that want to be great, want to be part of the team, that are willing to sacrifice sometimes their individual stats for the betterment of winning and being a good teammate,” Ballard continued. “If they fit into that criteria, absolutely they’ll fit in. But it is going to be a strict criteria, and I think the locker room is looking, at every moment, who you bring in.

“They want to add as much talent, too. But saying that, they want to add talent that fits in with what we stand for.”

As for Bell, Pittsburgh’s former dual-threat running back who sat out the entire 2018 season to protest his contract situation, the Colts like where they’re at. More to the point: they like Marlon Mack, the second-year speedster who blossomed in 2019 and put to rest any glaring concerns about the position moving forward.

The chances the Colts shell out the sort of fat contract Bell is seeking, with Mack entering Year 3 still on his meager rookie deal, are minimal. At best.

“We think a lot of Marlon Mack,” Ballard said. “We think he can play on all three downs. We think he can carry the load.”

As for those who could become free agents in a few short weeks, the Colts are planning to sit down with the agent of safety Clayton Geathers this week; Ballard hasn’t been shy about expressing his admiration for Geathers, who battled through a litany of injuries in 2018 and served as a defensive captain. Put simply: They want him back. Badly.

Two other notables, cornerback Pierre Desir and wide receiver Dontrelle Inman, figure to hit the open market as unrestricted free agents on March 13.

“We like them, absolutely, they were great contributors on our team this year, and would we like to have them back? Yeah,” Ballard said. “But does that mean they necessarily will be back? Not necessarily.”

It’s a good thing the biggest questions facing the Colts are the moment are the impending free agencies of Clayton Geathers, Pierre Desir and Dontrelle Inman. It’s a world of difference from where this franchise sat a year ago, wondering with the rest of the city if that shoulder would ever heal, if Frank Reich was the right man for the job, if they’d be able to stop a streak of three straight playoff-less seasons.

All those questions have been answered. The way the Colts see it, the process is working. It’s too soon to switch it up.