Indianapolis Colts Free Agent Update

Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

For a long time the Indianapolis Colts had the great Bill Polian at the helm. Polian’s attitude was that free angency was not the way to build a championship team. He believed, and still does, that you build your team by drafting well. He did just that. He drafted players like Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, Bob Sanders, and Antoine Bethea.

With Polian gone there is a new philosophy. It’s not that Ryan Grigson doesn’t believe in the draft. His draft picks have proven to be extremely effective so far. The difference is that he seems more willing to look places outside of the draft. One of those places is free agency. This season is showing just that. Grigson has already brought in players from the CFL and AFL. He signed Jackson and he keeps plowing ahead to build his championship team.

We’re almost 24 hours into free agency and it has been an exciting 24 hours. Let’s take a look at all that has happened so far.

The first move happened right before free agency began. The Indianapolis Colts resigned Adam Vinatieri to a two year deal. That was good news to alot of Colts fans and even better for the players that seem to follow the leadership of this proven veteran.

The Colts also signed DE Arthur Jones of the Baltimore Ravens to a five year $33 million deal. This reunites him with Chuck Pagano who was his defensive coordinator in Baltimore.

The Colts made a surprising move by resigning Ahmad Bradshaw to a one year. The benefit of the one year deal is that he can be released when it comes time to give Luck and the other rookies more money.

With the biggest and most anticipated move the Colts bit the bullet and resigned Vontae Davis. Davis had apparently been in serious negotiations with the Jets. If the Colts wanted to keep him they were going to have to pay for him. That’s exactly what they did. They gave him a four year contract worth $39 million.

It’s great to see the new faces and to see who’s sticking around, but free agency is also about saying good bye.

The Colts let the most reliable running back they had last season go to another team. Donald Brown accepted three year deal with the San Diego Chargers worth $10.5 million.

The most shocking of all is the deal that was offered to Antoine Bethea. The San Francisco 49ers offered him $26 million over four years. There’s absolutely no way he was going ot get that with the Colts. They can’t afford to invest that much in him for four years when he may not last that long in the NFL.

Free Agency Keeps on going. Expect the Colts to make more deals. Keep an eye here. I will update this each day to add to the summary of events for the Indianapolis Colts.

48 Hour Update

It has now been almost 48 hours of free agency. The Indianapolis Colts have not made a move… yet. It has been reported that there is interest in Browns Center Alex Mack. The Colts would likely need to dish out some big money for him.

Another likely singing that might be on it’s way is a wide receiver. The two options at this point look like Hakeem Nicks and James Jones. Hakeem Nicks is reportedly going to be in Indianapolis tomorrow. That makes it very probable that the Colts have every intention of signing him.

March 14th

Colts sign Hakeem Nicks to a one year deal

March 18th

Colts sign placekicker Carson Wiggs.