Could Colts Have a ‘Return of the (Alex) Mack’ Interest?

On Wednesday, it was reported that Cleveland Browns All-Pro center Alex Mack voided the remaining 3 years on his current contract and is set to become a free agent–perhaps to the Indianapolis Colts delight:

It begs the question of whether the Colts could re-pursue the the Browns standout center, as the team showed significant interest in Mack during the 2014 offseason:

During that offseason, Mack was slapped with a transition tag by the Browns, who eventually matched a 5-year, $42 million offer sheet from the Jacksonville Jaguars and the rest is history.

Meanwhile, the Colts ended up signing Dallas Cowboys backup center Phil Costa, who abruptly retired shortly thereafter upon inking his new 2-year contract with the team.

Since then, the team has struggled finding any sort of stability at the center position, as both 2013 4th round pick Khaled Holmes and undrafted free agent Jonotthan Harrison have yet to solidify the position during starting stints respectively.

The Colts did find a brief breath of fresh air with A.Q. Shipley, who performed well during 5 starts in 2014, but he was inexplicably benched and wasn’t re-signed after that season’s end.

Even at age 30, Mack still remains one of the best centers in football. Originally a 2009 1st round pick of the Cleveland Browns, Mack has become a 3x Pro Bowl–including just recently this past season, as well as a 2x 2nd-Team All-Pro.

Mack started all 16 games for the Browns this past season. Something that he has done 7 of his 8 seasons in the NFL, as he’s been incredibly durable in the trenches.

However–perhaps buyer beware, as per ProFootballFocus (subscription), Mack was only the NFL’s 16th best center last season with a -0.9 overall grade including a -2.6 pass blocking grade.

Still, he’s just one season removed from a +6.8 overall grade, which effectively made him the 10th best rated center in football during 2014.

With around $22-25 million in cap space (before any additional roster releases), the Colts theoretically may be able to add a piece or two through free agency.

However, whether they want to make Mack one of the highest paid centers in football remains to be seen.

Last season, Mack had a cap hit of $8M for the Cleveland Browns. However, he’s likely looking for an additional pay raise on the open market.

Currently, the NFL’s highest paid centers have cap hits of around $10-10.5M for 2016: the Pittsburgh Steelers Maurkice Pouncey ($10.55M), Carolina Panthers Ryan Kalil ($10.3M), and Miami Dolphins Mike Pouncey ($10.3M), which Mack figures to seek a contract in that range.

Signing Mack would finally provide some much needed stability for the Colts interior offensive line and bolster the overall protection for Andrew Luck. He could provide an anchor in the middle for the foreseeable future.

After all, the Colts surrendered the 2nd most QB hits last season at 118 total QB hits, but that was ironically just behind Mack’s Cleveland Browns offensive line at 123 total QB hits.

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Things didn’t fare much better on the ground, as the Colts finished 29th in rushing, averaging 89.9 rush yards per game. Not to mention, the team only had 6 rushing touchdowns on the season which was 28th best in the NFL.

Ultimately though, about to enter the wrong side of 30, I think the Colts will ultimately pass on Mack for salary cap reasons.

Mack clearly wants to be one of the highest paid centers in the league, but with Luck’s mega-extension looming and the overall team need to get younger, the Colts may be better served signing a young offensive lineman to a high priced deal–someone like the Baltimore Ravens Kelechi Osemele at 26 years old immediately comes to mind.

After all, general manager Ryan Grigson recently said “the house usually wins”–referring to teams who let their players walk during free agency:

"“Our owner knows it,” Grigson said. “He knows that the house usually wins in free agency. He’s told me that before we make those moves.”"

Signing a 30 year old center, who is coming off a bit of a down season for his standards, may not be the most prudent free agent signing for the Colts given their recent free agent failures–even with his big name recognition.