Should the Colts Have Used More of its Cap Space?

The Colts were relatively quiet in free agency despite having a very large amount of cap space. That isn’t Chris Ballard’s style, but was it smart to do?

The Colts had a large amount of cap space this off-season. In fact, they had the third largest amount of cap space available in the league. Despite that, Indianapolis decided to not to spend a lot this off-season. They have signed a small amount of players, and they are on small contracts.

It is widely known that GM Chris Ballard wants to build a team through the draft instead of through free agency. He wants to have a young core that can grow together. But with so much cap space available, was that really the smart thing to do?

If you look at the free agency class this year, it wasn’t super deep in terms of talent. It didn’t have a lot of big time names either. The biggest name remaining on the market is Dez Bryant. And most of the other big names were quarterbacks, which the Colts don’t need.

This is why what Ballard did was smart. He knows there’s not a ton of value on the market this season, so he is saving his money. He can have most of that cap space roll over to next year when the cast of free agents is projected to be better.

That does not absolve him of everything, however. The roster still has depth issues at many key spots. They probably should have tried harder to re-sign Rashaan Melvin as well, knowing they had the money to do so. It will be hard to replace the best player in the secondary.

Next: A Deeper Look into the Colts' 2018 Schedule

Ballard has preached building from within, and he is sticking to that plan. It will be interesting to see if the Colts have the same approach next season too.