Indianapolis moves on after McDaniels’s reversal

Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard skipped the small talk when he received an unexpected phone call from New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels on Tuesday night, well after the franchise announced him in a press release as the team’s next head coach.

“He said he had bad news for me. I said, ‘Are you in or out?’ We went around for a few minutes and he said ‘I’m out,’” Ballard said.

Ballard denied what he called “rumors” around quarterback Andrew Luck and his timetable for a return to the field. However, Ballard did confirm Luck has not yet picked up a football in his rehabilitation routine. Luck missed the entire 2017 season recovering from shoulder surgery.

Ballard said he has “a list of great guys” he will interview and is treating the situation as an opportunity to start anew. McDaniels had lined up two assistant coaches for his staff with the Colts, and Ballard said the club would honor those agreements.

Agent Bob LaMonte, who attempted to talk McDaniels out of a professional U-turn on Tuesday that could lead to a career dead end, has terminated his relationship following McDaniels’ stunning decision to reject the Colts and remain with the Patriots.

“My word is my bond,” LaMonte told Sports Business Journal on Wednesday. “Once you break that, there’s nothing left.”

A source told ESPN’s Dan Graziano that LaMonte was stunned Tuesday when McDaniels informed him of the decision and said that McDaniels was “committing professional suicide.”

Meanwhile, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson would not deny a glow about himself and the team in the aftermath of winning the first Super Bowl in franchise history.

On Tuesday night, Pederson and his wife went to dinner at a restaurant near their home. And then the parade before Thursday’s championship parade began. Dozens of fans approached with thanks, congratulations and stories of what the Super Bowl victory meant in their homes. “It’s surreal,” Pederson said. “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet.” Also, an immigrant illegally living in the US was charged with four felonies on Wednesday in the drunken driving crash that killed Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson.

Manuel Orrego-Savala, 37, was charged with two counts of causing death (Jackson’s Uber driver was also killed in the incident) while operating a vehicle above the legal alcohol limit and two counts of failing to remain at the scene of an accident.