While this year’s free agency period was disappointing for Colts fans, general manager Chris Ballard may have a plan for the future.
The Colts came into this offseason with approximately $80 million in cap room, but they’ve spent under $20 million of that cap space in free agency.
Eric Ebron and Denico Autry were their biggest signings this offseason as they reportedly missed out on potential free agent targets Andrew Norwell and Dion Lewis. While it’s possible that this free agency period was simply a failure, the front office may be planning to roll over some of their cap space to next season.
The NFL rules regarding rolling over unused cap space from year to year are a bit unclear to those who aren’t cap experts, but it’s possible that the Colts could use their 2018 cap dollars next year along with the $60 million in cap space they plan to have in 2019.
They could use 2018 as a transition year to get Andrew Luck back into the offense and be extremely aggressive with a massive amount of cap space in 2019.
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Odell Beckham Jr., Le’Veon Bell, Aaron Donald, Khalil Mack, and Earl Thomas could all be free agents next offseason if they are unable to reach contract extensions with their current teams. If the Colts are able to roll over their cap space to next offseason, they could outbid nearly every team in the NFL for one or two of those big-name free agents and add some help along the offensive line as well.
I’m sure most Colts fans would’ve wanted the team to be more aggressive this offseason, but Chris Ballard may be looking forward to 2019 to make a splash in free agency.