According to the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, the Indianapolis Colts are among the NFL teams that are expected to be ‘extremely competitive’ courting prized Houston Texans cornerback A.J. Bouye.
As the top cornerback on this year’s free agent market, Bouye will not lack his fair share of interested suitors however:
Among the teams expected to be extremely competitive for A.J. Bouye: Texans, Titans, Jaguars, Colts, 49ers, Browns
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 7, 2017
NFL sources predict extremely high chance A.J. Bouye remains in AFC South with either Texans, Titans, Jaguars or Colts
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 7, 2017
Originally signed by the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2013, Bouye had a breakout season in 2016 as arguably one of the league’s best cornerbacks.
The 25 year old appeared in 15 games (11 starts) for the Texans, recording 63 tackles, a sack, and an interception.
Per Pro Football Focus (subscription), Bouye was rated as their 3rd best cornerback overall with a +90.9 grade overall–just behind the Denver Broncos Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib respectively.
There is some ‘buyer beware’ here though, as Bouye has only had one elite season, having mostly made spot starts for the Texans secondary in previous seasons.
He also won’t come cheap either, as Bouye is expected to command at least $12 million annually on the open market and become one of the highest paid cornerbacks in all of football:
A few former undrafted FAs are going to make big $. Among them: CB AJ Bouye (⬆️$12m per), TE Jack Doyle (⬆️$6m per). Good for them.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 7, 2017
That being said, young elite cornerbacks rarely hit the open market, so if the Colts are convinced that Bouye is in fact the ‘real deal’, then it makes sense to seriously pursue his services and not just because Indianapolis would be significantly weakening a divisional rival.
While the Colts already have Vontae Davis at cornerback, who’s highly paid himself, the veteran is set to enter the last season of his current contract–meaning Bouye could soon take over the reins as Indianapolis’ top cornerback.
Even if Davis has a ‘bounceback’ season and is a serious candidate to be re-signed, the Colts can’t go wrong with having two elite cornerbacks because as the Denver Broncos defense has recently shown, a strong pass rush and cornerbacks can lead to a dominant defense in today’s pure passing league.
Having one of the two already wouldn’t necessarily be a bad recipe for success for the Colts ‘rebuilding’ defense going forward–especially since Patrick Robinson is coming off a disappointing injury-plagued debut season while veteran nickelback Darius Butler is a free agent.
Armed with roughly $55 million of cap space, the Colts have more than enough salary cap funds to make a ‘calculated’ strike or two, but Bouye could be a bigger prize than most fans initially envisioned entering the offseason.