The Indianapolis Colts have been among the most active teams in free agency this season. The team is attempting to address all the holes across the roster, but the two biggest signings are on the offensive side of the ball.
The signings have split journalists on whether or not these are in fact good moves for the team. The Colts have signed flashy veteran players, but the criticism lies with the ages of said players.
There-in lies the problem of free agency. The truly good, young players are generally re-signed by the team that drafted them (which the Colts will do a lot of in 2016). Those who are not re-signed are picked up on exorbitant contracts that cripple teams going forward (see: Miami and Ndamukong Suh).
The Colts have been very hit or miss in free agency over the past few seasons. They’ve managed to hit on just 2-of-18 free agent signings. The good news is that rarely were any of those deals financially crippling and the Colts have managed to get out from under some of the bad deals.
This year, the Colts have signed proven commodities who likely have at least a year or two left in the tank. None of the new deals hurts the team financially and they can shed older players if they stop producing without it hurting the team’s cap space.
The big moves by the Colts have shifted their Super Bowl odds out in Las Vegas as well. The MGM has made the Colts the favorites with 5-1 odds to win a championship.
Pro Football Focus provides the grades while Football Outsiders is used for DVOA and DYAR.