The Indianapolis Colts are coming off a 9-8 season. Sure, the year ended on a sour note with the team losing a win-and-in game to the Houston Texans, but overall, the outlook of the team is extremely bright. Despite the promise surrounding Indianapolis, the offseason is still shaping up to be a challenging one for the franchise. The Colts won’t be spending the offseason looking for a head coach and quarterback like they were a year ago, so why will things be so challenging?
Well, a lot of key veterans on the team are about to become free agents and the Colts need to figure out how to re-sign nearly all of them. Anyone familiar with NFL free agency knows that will be a challenging task.
Colts have several veterans they need to re-sign in free agency
Indianapolis signed Jonathan Taylor to an extension at the beginning of the season, so that’s one less worry. Still, there’s a lot of work to be done. Of the guys set to be unrestricted free agents in March, wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. is the biggest name. Pittman has already expressed his desire to see what his market is around the league.
Along with Pittman, guys like Grover Stewart, Kenny Moore II, Julian Blackmon, Gardner Minshew, Zack Moss, and Rigoberto Sanchez will all be free agents. As you can see, these are guys with big roles on the team. Removing them from the equation would make Indianapolis an entirely different team.
Projected 2024 #NFL Cap Space
— Spotrac (@spotrac) January 8, 2024
(based on Top 51, $242.5M cap)
1. WAS, $85M
2. TEN, $79M
3. HOU, $74M
4. IND, $72M
5. NE, $72M
6. CIN, $70M
7. CHI, $62M
8. DET, $61M
9. LV, $52M
10. ARI, $51M
...
30. BUF, -$41M
31. MIA, -$43M
32. NO, -$76Mhttps://t.co/yMbvYSKT1K
The good news is that the Colts are projected to have $72 million in cap space this offseason, fourth-most in the NFL. That will certainly help the team’s attempt to retain these players. Additionally, there’s the franchise tag: something Chris Ballard has never used as a general manager and something Indy hasn’t used since 2014. However, the Colts haven’t faced the challenge of re-signing this many key players during that span.
Chris Ballard and the front office have their work cut out for them. We’ll see if Indy is able to retain all of its key guys, or if some will be kept and others will be replaced.