[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-age...napolis-colts/

We are only going to resign a handful and none are break-the-bank contracts.

This false narrative that we can't sign anyone because we have rookies coming off contracts needs to end. People have been saying it since Nelson's rookie year. Could have signed people and their contracts would have ended by now. And I am not saying go in debt but spend some of the money just sitting there doing nothing.

Are we a good team pushing the envelope or not? We just took the 2nd seed to the final seconds and they are a SB contender. If we are why not sign a little more talent to push us over. You guys know the pass rush, secondary, and receiving group needs it.

Which ones do you have the Colts resigning? How much do you think that's going to cost? Also, please see below.

Originally Posted by Dam8610

First, $100 million is an exaggeration by a lot. Counting the 2020 rollover, the Colts have $72 million in cap space against the projected 2021 cap. That seems like quite a bit until you look at the unrestricted free agent list:

QB Philip Rivers
QB Jacoby Brissett
WR T.Y. Hilton
DE Justin Houston
DE Denico Autry
S Malik Hooker
CB Xavier Rhodes
RT Le'Raven Clark
SS Tavon Wilson
CB T.J. Carrie
TE Trey Burton
OT Chaz Green
OC Joey Hunt
DT Taylor Stallworth
CB Tremon Smith
RB Marlon Mack
LB Anthony Walker Jr.
DE Al-Quadin Muhammad
P Ryan Allen
OT Jared Veldheer

That's nearly half of the DL rotation, all of the QBs but Eason, Hilton, Walker, and Rhodes that at the very least you have to consider retaining. I know I'd want Autry, Muhammad, Stallworth, Rhodes, and Hilton back at the very least. I think the team could withstand losing pretty much everyone else without missing a beat. How much will those 5 cost? Conservatively $30 million? If you want the three good backup OLs on that list as well, make it at least $35 million. Now let's look at RFAs, which is a short list:

WR Zach Pascal
S George Odum

Assuming an "original round" (see: only RoFR) tender for both, that's another $4.5 million, so let's call that $40 million.

That leaves $32 million with Jacob Eason as the only QB on the roster. Assuming a roughly $7 million rookie pool, that leaves $25 million. If Rivers resigns for $20 million, there's your $5 million of roster churn space. If you don't resign Hilton and Rhodes, maybe that's another $20 million, so who do you spend that on? You could get a different #1 WR for that money, maybe Kenny Golladay or JuJu Smith-Schuster, but that's going to cost $15 million per year at least, probably more. You could take a chance on Bud Dupree and his torn ACL or Von Miller who hasn't played this year from what I can tell, but either of them will cost $12+ million. Bottom line is there's not a lot of room for the Colts this year. Either they're going to let a lot of their team go or they're not going to have much room for outside free agents, and next year is when guys like Leonard, Braden Smith, etc. start coming due. Nelson is after 2022, so are Okereke and Willis. Then in 2023, Pittman, Taylor, Blackmon, and this year's first rounder if they're any good come due. There will likely be a $40 million jump from 2021 to 2022 cap, but the Colts don't have the monstrous amount of room they used to anymore.

After I wrote this, I started playing around with over the cap and realized that their 2021 numbers seem to at least partially account for rollover amounts, so the Colts may have even less than I thought when I wrote this post. Of course I also think their 2021 estimate is based on the negotiated cap floor of $175 million, and I've heard rumors that it will be closer to $190 million, so the numbers listed above may still be accurate.