The Indianapolis Colts scarcely made any noise in free agency this year, and earned an average grade for their offseason so far from ESPN’s experts.
C+. That’s the grade the ESPN Insiders give the Colts for free agency. That’s average, not good or bad and will get you a degree. The Colts didn’t have the money to be big players this year and have a mixed history with their signings as well.
The ESPN experts included Bill Polian, Louis Riddick (a former NFL scout and safety), Field Yates and Mark Dominik (former Bucs GM). The group offered up their thoughts on all 32 teams moves in free agency.
The moves they focused on were keeping tight end Dwayne Allen over Coby Fleener and the Colts shifting away from building in free agency.
"“Losing Fleener is interesting because that is the quarterback’s No. 1 guy,” Polian said. “You re-sign Dwayne Allen, who is essentially the complete tight end, the blocker. Fleener is not a blocker. He is really a big slot. But where do you replace his production in the passing game?”"
Polian makes a good point here considering Fleener’s long time connection with Andrew Luck. But at the same time, Fleener is the poster child for not giving full effort. The Colts could use some size at receiver as Donte Moncrief and Allen are the only receiving options over 5-10.
This means the Colts could still look for A) another tight end, or B) a taller wide receiver in the draft (or what remains of free agency). The Colts also might look at Erik Swoope to fill the void left by Fleener. Swoope, a basketball player turned tight end, has managed to stick with the team for some time but hasn’t been on the active roster. This could be the opportunity for him to shine and earn that TE 2 spot.
"“Allen has ended the season on IR twice, so I am skeptical of that move,” Riddick said. “I commend them for getting rid of Bjoern Werner, Jerrell Freeman and Andre Johnson, but free agency is just not their gig. They have struggled with this aspect of their team building. You’d better be in harmony within your building. They do not seem to have a plan in place.”"
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This is the risk with Allen, who struggles to stay healthy. It is undeniable that he is the more talented tight end, but he’s got to stay on the field. Allen mentioned working on injury prevention this off season and hopefully it pays off.
Riddick mentions getting rid of a few players and it is unclear why Freeman made that cut. Last year, Polian saw Freeman as a marginal talent in free agency and it would have been understandable. Losing Freeman hurts the defense as it leaves them with more question marks and holes to fill on that side of the ball.
As for the Colts not seeming to have a plan, completely agree. They are clearly holding their cards close to the chest, but there is nothing about the past four years that suggests GM Ryan Grigson knows how to build a team. He clearly hasn’t been on the same as his head coach and the Colts have no identity to hang their hat on since he took over.
"“It’s a breath of fresh air strategy-wise,” Yates said. “It’s nice to see the Colts not spin the wheel on some big-name free agent who was a bigger name three years ago. In the past, they spent for Ricky Jean-Francois and all these guys whose names were familiar, but the price points were exorbitant. I have no issue with any of the players retained or re-signed by the Colts this year. The only move that bothers me is if Matt Hasselbeck wanted to play another year, I’m not sure how you could possibly not want him back for one more season.”"
The Colts were basically forced onto this path by financial circumstance, but that’s probably for the best. Most of their free agency moves haven’t panned out, especially when they went after those bigger names. The positive with all those bad deals was that Grigson managed to structure them so it really didn’t hurt the team to cut a player after a year or two.
As for Hasselbeck, the Colts would have had to give him at least $1 million per the league veteran minimum. He had a cap hit of $3 million last season. Hasselbeck helped with Luck’s development and played admirably this season when Luck was out, but he really doesn’t have much to offer a team. We like to look at Hasselbeck’s play through rose colored glasses but it really doesn’t warrant bringing him back for another season.
Next: Colts have six picks in 2016 NFL Draft
The Colts still have work left to improve the roster for the 2016 season. They’ve had success with late off-season signings in the past, and there are sure to be a few of them in the near future. For now, the focus starts to shift even more heavily to the draft in 29 days.