Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard is coming out of the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft after selecting the organization’s next quarterback prospect.

With the No. 4 overall pick, Ballard’s team selected Anthony Richardson out of Florida. While Ballard’s staff is undoubtedly happy with the pick, he took time to harp on one part of the pre-draft process in one of his first press conferences after the pick.

Ballard dropped a few expletives while talking about the negative stories on prospects that are leaked leading up to the draft. He clarified he wasn’t speaking about Richardson but was talking about “some other kids in the draft” that were undeservedly the target of negative pieces.

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“I’m gonna go off on a sidebar here. All the f-, I almost said a bad word. All the crap that comes out about these kids, it’s crap,” said Ballard. “Like, it’s bullshit. I’m sorry, but it’s bullshit. Like people that leak these stories, these negative stories on kids, I don’t agree with it. It’s bullshit.

“These guys work their ass off to be where they need to be, and then all week you gotta read and then they gotta answer questions on it. So, anyway, not on Anthony (Richardson) it’s on some other kids in the draft that are good kids and I thought had to take a little bit of a beating that they didn’t have to take.”

While Ballard did not reference any specific prospect, his comments could certainly be in reference to Ohio State’s CJ Stroud who dealt with the perception of sliding draft stock and a report about his S2 cognition test scores. In the end, Stroud’s stock wound up being just fine with the Houston Texans selecting the Buckeye QB No. 2 overall Thursday night.