Colts fans should be alarmed by reports about Indy’s free agency behavior
According to some recent reports, the Indianapolis Colts have made some mind-boggling decisions in free agency.
Every offseason, the Indianapolis Colts usually enter with a lot of money but they’re not usually big spenders. There’s always a disconnect between what fans want the team to do and what actually happens.
This offseason has been no different. Indianapolis has made a couple of big trades to acquire players but the team has been relatively quiet as far as signing free agents.
Now, reports are coming out about some of the things going on behind the scenes and the information is kind of baffling.
Zak Keefer from The Athletic said in a tweet that Indy never tried to re-sign George Odum and Stephen Holder, also from The Athletic, tweeted that several agents have told him that the Colts are being incredibly stingy.
I will say this: There are a growing number of agents out there who have told me the Colts are being way too stingy on spending. I can't speak to why that is, though some have theories. But regardless of the why, it is what it is at this point.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) April 6, 2022
Why are Colts being so stingy in free agency?
Indianapolis not being interested in re-signing Odum is especially mind-boggling. Odum was an All-Pro special teams player and rotated in at safety. He played a pretty key role for the special teams the last few years.
Holder provided some context to that decision by going back to last offseason when George Odum was a restricted free agent. Apparently, he asked for a contract that the Colts had no interest in paying and that may have been the beginning of the split.
However, it still doesn’t make sense that Indy wouldn’t at least try to negotiate a deal to see if Odum would consider staying.
As far as the agents’ claims that Indianapolis is being really stingy in its spending, that’s pretty easy to believe. The Colts don’t have a history of spending big to acquire free agents.
Ballard has always preached patience and been against splurging early in free agency but argues that Indy spends money by extending players already on the roster.
For the most part, that has worked as the Colts have been successful in building a solid roster. However, there are still a few holes that could’ve easily been filled with a couple of big contracts.
If that’s not the way Ballard and Indianapolis want to do things then the Colts will have to dominate the draft and hit on all of their picks.
The reality is that the NFL is moving in a new direction and players are being paid a lot of money. If teams want to remain competitive, they’ll likely have to submit to the trend.
If teams like the Colts continue to be stubborn in their spending they may get left behind. Teams are trying their best to buy championships now but Ballard and Indianapolis believe that there are still other ways. We’ll see how these other ways work once the season starts.
