Where is the Colts’ cap money best spent?

The Colts have a boatload of cap space for the second offseason in a row. How would that money be best spent?

Once again, the Colts have a ton of cap space. Chris Ballard has done a good job building this team comprised of young talent. They haven’t used a lot of that cap space while Ballard has been GM. This year though, they have almost $86.1 million to spend.

This team clearly has a bunch of needs based off of their 7-9 record. They need players on both sides of the ball. Based on the amount that they have at their disposal, they can use some of it and still keep some around for their young players that they want to re-sign.

2021 is a year in which the team has bunch of pending free agents. Players such as T.Y. Hilton, Malik Hooker, Ryan Kelly, and Anthony Walker. Kelly and Walker will command sizable raises, especially if they play well in 2020. The Colts need to keep some money around for that.

Kelly will likely get a bump to about $15-17 million a year. Walker could be in line for a $8-10 million a year raise. If Hooker plays well and stays healthy, he can command at least $12-14 million. Hilton won’t get quite as much because of his age. Hilton will probably make about $10 million a year.

That sucks up about $51 million a year on the high-end. That leaves about $35 million a year they can spend. That is also a cap problem for next year. It’s a problem that will keep them from spending a lot this offseason. My guess is they will do something similar to last year where they only sign a couple of guys.

It remains to be seen what type of guys they will be. It could be a receiver or a defensive tackle. Both are big areas of needs for this team. Don’t expect the Colts to spend a lot of money on free agents.