Chris Ballard made it clear the front office wasn’t satisfied with the season, nor that Jacoby Brissett will be the starter for the Colts in 2020.
Leading up to this press conference – more so after – there have been many rumors of quarterbacks the Colts may pursue, but not much other than that. The Colts need more help than just a quarterback to be a contending team once again.
Rock Ya-Sin had growing pains, and the Colts secondary was tested due to their lack of depth besides Pierre Desir and Malik Hooker. Even though the defense built upon their success of last season and Bobby Okereke stood out as well as Anthony Walker and Darius Leonard having historic back to back seasons, they still struggled against the pass.
The offensive line held strong for the second straight year, but Anthony Castonzo will be a free agent once March 2020 comes along – I highly doubt the front office will allow him to test the market – but a deal should be done by the time the official league year opens.
The Colts also learned a hard lesson they learned last year: T.Y Hilton can’t carry this passing game and neither can Jacoby Brissett. There also have been rumors of the Colts looking to let Eric Ebron walk after the disappointing sophomore season he had for the Colts filled with drops and injury issues. Stating “we’ll probably move on,” Chris Ballard made it clear they wouldn’t pursue the tight end who scored 14 touchdowns in 2018.
I recently did an in-house free agent list who we should pursue to being back in 2020, but this article I will be focusing on the Colts getting into the free agency market with players who played on different teams in 2019.
Justin Simmons: Safety, Denver Broncos
Simmons is one of my favorite players who will most likely be a free agent this year. Watching tape on him before the Denver game, I pointed out that Simmons and Kareem Jackson were by far the best safety duo in the NFL.
Both have incredible tackle ability, both have natural football skills, and they both break on the ball with incredible accuracy. But what makes Simmons so interesting is his age. At just 26 he’s in the prime of his career and with carrying a big cap hit, the Broncos may allow him to walk.
There are, however, teams who need safeties more than the Colts, who do have Hooker. The Bengals, Dolphins, Raiders, and Texans come to mind with other teams such as the Colts, Jacksonville, and Saints who could look to upgrade at that position. However, of those teams, the Colts, Dolphins, and Broncos have the most cap room with an average of $150 million in spending money.
Simmons had a great season this year boasting a 2nd best opposing passer rating against him with a 32.1, only trailing Earl Thomas III at a 31.0. He also has the third-best safety rating in the league with a 90.8 rating, trailing only A.J Moore (94.7) and Sherrick McManis (93.8).
He was also durable, playing over 1,000 snaps with 639 in pass coverage and 411 in run defense. Simmons led the NFL in pass breakups with 11 and had 80 single tackles with 14 assists, and 4 interceptions. Most impressive to me, though, is the 9.6 yards per reception when targeting him and a 53% completion percentage and 239 yards given up. Simmons would be an excellent addition to the Colts secondary with young talent.
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Yannick Ngakoue: Defensive End, Jacksonville Jaguars
The Colts have lacked a pure pass-rushing defensive end since they (stupidly) switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 under Chuck Pagano. They switched back to the 4-3 after realizing they didn’t have the players to run such a scheme. They tried to fill that role with Justin Houston by signing him to a good deal for both the team and for Houston.
Jacksonville is in cap-space hell right now after signing Blake Bortles to a monster deal and then letting him walk out the door. They also have multiple players with large-cap hits such as Marcell Dareus at $22.5 million, Calais Campbell at $17.5 million, and A.J. Bouye at $15.5 million. Jacksonville is heading into the 2020 season nearly $1 million in negative cap space and will start to make tough decisions regarding said cap room.
Ngakoue signed his rookie deal in 2016 at only $3.96 million and about $850,000 in signing bonuses and incentives. However, after seasons of 8, 14, 10, and 8 sacks respectively, he’s going to want to get paid some serious cash and go to a team who wants to win, not on who’s letting their star players walk off the team.
Players in his statistical area are averaging $18.72 million a year, something the Jaguars won’t be willing to pay seemingly. This is where the Colts $150 million cap-room will come into handy. At only 24 years old, he’s in the prime of his career and the Colts could use another young pass-rusher to develop into something elite.
Byron Jones: Cornerback, Dallas Cowboys
The Colts need to add depth to their secondary, specifically at the cornerback position. If it’s one thing that’s true, the Colts secondary was lacking all season long. Rookie corner, Rock Ya-Sin, had a tough start against the Broncos as he came out and got a few bad pass interference calls against him giving the Broncos some much-needed help on offense. However, a young player on the Cowboys could help the Colts correct this situation.
Jones excels in single coverage and has had a nearly top 10 coverage rating (11th) over the past two seasons. One downside is he hasn’t intercepted a pass in the past three seasons. More important is he’s played safety for his first few years in the league and can help in dime packages if needed too.
One of the best all-around athletes in the NFL right now, Jones will command a big contract as him and Stephon Gilmore were the top coverage corners this year. Jones ranks in the top 10 free agents on Pro Football Focus’ free-agent list.
Another downside is he’s been in a Cover-1/Cover-3 scheme his whole career and transitioning to a Cover-2 may be hard for him, but a Cover-2 cornerback isn’t asked to do as much as the previous scheme. Not to mention, he’s tall, lengthy, has long arms, and can press even the best wide receivers.
Being that the cornerback market is slim in 2020, Jones will require a large contract. Being, also, he’s 27, he’s willing to sign a long term deal but Chris Ballard likes to build through the draft and take chances on those he sees have athletic ability.
Jones is a perfect fit for athletic ability, but it comes with a price tag. Corners of his ability usually make around $14-$17 million a year and sign 3-5 year deals with roughly $8-$10 million in guaranteed money. However, a 27-year-old corner in his prime with pure athletic ability north of 6’0″, how can you pass that up?
Tom Brady: Quarterback, New England Patriots
For the first time in a decade and a half, Tom Brady will – maybe- be playing in a place other than New England. Brady is one of those players you love to hate: if he’s on your team, he’s the best; if he’s not on your team you hate him. It is undeniable, though, that Brady will go down as the best to ever play the game, maybe even in sports history.
The Colts are basically a quarterback away from being a Super Bowl contending team again, and finding the “Ryan Tannehill” of 2020 will involve a lot more than just singing a guy off the Miami Dolphins. I’ve done a lot of thinking and I’ve heard both arguments as to why the Colts should or shouldn’t take him.
Those arguing against it have only said “but it’s Tom Brady. He’s been the Colts kryptonite for the last 15 years,” to which I say if you don’t want Brady on your team because he’s got about two, maybe three years left, then that’s one thing, but if you don’t want him on your team because he’s Tom Brady then you’re a fool.
Brady makes any team he goes to a contender instantly, the same way Peyton Manning did. The Patriots aren’t exercising his option to force him to stay, which is a nice thing to do, but they’re still somewhat allowing him to walk away from the team if he chooses to do so.
Being one of the best players still playing at a high level, he’s going to want at least $25-$35 million a year with a two-year deal and 75% of guaranteed money to leave New England. However, the flip side is I see the argument of allocating that money to other positions but would Chris Ballard be willing to “pay” for a Super Bowl win? I think so.
Amari Cooper: Wide Receiver, Dallas Cowboys
The Colts now know they can’t move on ahead with their list of wide receivers, and being that Ballard doesn’t seem to be interested in bringing back Eric Ebron, the team needs another big body on the outside other than Devin Funchess – who may or may not be back this season after missing the whole year to a clavicle injury.
Cooper could help the Colts stretch the field and do something they haven’t done for a while – throw it long. The only deep threat the Colts have right now is T.Y. Hilton and it showed when he’s off the field how hard it is to move the ball down the field in big chunks. The Colts need another receiver who commands attention and Amari Cooper could be the person.
Cooper is the person Funchess could never be. He’s north of 6′ and runs a 4.2-4.4 forty-yard dash. He also had over 500 yards of deep yardage with a catching percentage of 70%. He also caught 1,189 yards on 79 catches for a 15.1 yard per catch average.
Also, he had 24 targets and 15 catches of 20 yards or more with 5 touchdowns, and only 2 drops cementing his 62% deep catching average as the top in the NFL for 2019. Not to mention his nearly 120 passer rating when he was targeted.
If the Colts are looking to expand their offense, Cooper is the guy to target for this team if he doesn’t stay with the Cowboys. But, the Cowboys will only have enough money to keep Dak Prescott or Amari Cooper and I say they keep Prescott and let Cooper walk to the market.
The wide receiver market is very limited in 2020 and the draft is full of wide receiver talent. So to say the Colts may aggressively target him is a stretch in and of itself. Chris Ballard is a smart GM who has consistently stated if he’s signing a free agent it has to be at a team and player-friendly deal that makes sense for both entities – none of that Miami Dolphins and Suh $100 million bull-crap.
However, with the draft market so saturated with WR talent, that should help bring down the free-agent market a little bit. That being said, he’s still going to need some money. With his talent, he’s going to want about $18-$24 million a year with $10-$12 million guaranteed.
He’s also 25 and in the prime of his career and will likely be on the last large contract of his career. So he’s going to want a 4-6 year contract with a large guaranteed amount. This is all about dollars and cents for the Colts, but it’s worth looking into to make this team better.