Will Colts’ GM Ballard use his cap space this year?

Chris Ballard had the third most cap space in the league last offseason, and didn’t open much of it. Will he spend it this year?

The Colts will have the most cap space in the NFL this offseason. That allows them enormous financial freedom to sign free agents and improve their team. But they had a bunch of space last year and didn’t use it. Are they going to this time?

Everything that GM Chris Ballard has said leaves me to believe that he won’t. He will only spend a little bit of it and build the rest of the team with the draft. Doing that could be very smart, but it also could be very foolish, especially with as much as they have available to spend.

The Colts will have around $124 million in space to work with this offseason. Spending all of that wouldn’t be smart, but they should spend most of it. There are some really good players available in free agency this year, and some are at position of need.

There are some quality pass rushers available this offseason that are going to command quite a bit of money. The problem is chemistry fit, which Ballard is very concerned about with whoever they bring in. But that shouldn’t outweigh the possible benefits of how good that player is.

If the Colts want to be big players in 2019, they should spend that money and get as many good players as possible. There’s no reason to let that money sit idle if Jim Irsay is willing to spend it. Only time will tell if that happens.