The Indianapolis Colts made one of the first moves at the start of unofficial free agency. The team re-signed wide receiver Alec Pierce to a four-year deal worth as much as $116 million. Indy also brought back quarterback Daniel Jones.
After that, however, what general manager Chris Ballard has done in free agency might equate to the sound of a thud. The team is likely the same offensively, even though Ballard traded wide receiver Michael Pittman, but the defense might be worse than in 2025.
That includes the fact that maybe cornerbacks Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward stay healthier than they did at the end of last season. Indianapolis still needs a good inside linebacker and edge rusher, but that likely won't happen. The following three signings shouldn't have happened, either.
Three free agent signings the Indianapolis Colts shouldn't have done in Phase 1
Edge rusher Arden Key
The Colts knew they needed an edge rusher even before the team lost Kwity Paye in free agency. Except for Laiatu Latu, no Indy edge player was very good or very consistent this past season. Even if all the edge rushers stayed the same into 2026, that wasn't going to change.
The issue is that Key doesn't move the needle, either. His career-high in sacks is 6.5, and he only had four in 2025. He's a decent run defender, but misses far too many tackles. Last season, he whiffed on 22.2 percent of his attempts. For him to help Indianapolis, that needs to change.
Adding Key while Paye walked in free agency to the Las Vegas Raiders would have been fine had Indianapolis added other good pass rushers, but so far, it hasn't. The answer might need to come in the 2026 NFL draft, but the Colts don't have a first-round selection, so the talent pool might be diminished by the time Indy chooses.
Defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi
One has to wonder what Chris Ballard sees in Nnadi. Maybe the general manager only looked at all the starts the defensive tackle has had and thought, "He must be pretty good." The issue is that Nnadi isn't.
He's going to offer extremely little in terms of pass rush and has a total of just 22 pressures in the last four seasons combined. He is also terrible against the run with only 13 run stuffs in the last two seasons.
Nandi is basically taking up space in the middle of the defensive line while not accomplishing much other than racking up his missed tackles. He missed 14.3 percent of his attempts in 2025, a horrible number for an interior defender. If he is good in Indy, it will be a miracle.
Edge rusher Michael Clemons
Maybe Ballard's plan this offseason was to challenge himself to acquire the worst amount of players possible for the Colts' defensive front seven. The general manager said he wanted the team to get younger and more athletic, but he didn't necessarily state "better," so he fooled us all.
Clemons struck out on 26.9 percent of his tackle attempts this past season, a wretched number for any player. He is poor against the run and collected just one sack and five quarterback hits in 2025. The Indianapolis Colts and their fans deserved better than Clemons being signed to replace literally anyone.