Key players in their contract year

[albany ed]

There are 3 players I hope are here next year.

Nick Cross
Alec Pierce
Daniel Jones

They could all be free agents at year's end.

[sherck]

Originally Posted by albany ed

There are 3 players I hope are here next year.

Nick Cross
Alec Pierce
Daniel Jones

They could all be free agents at year's end.

There are a couple more that need addressed:

2026 Unrestricted Free Agents - Folks who start or give quality minutes - listed by length of NFL service:

TE Mo Allie-Cox - 9 years
RT Braden Smith - 8 years
CB Xavien Howard - 8 years
DE Samson Ebukam - 8 years
QB Daniel Jones - 6 years
OC Danny Pinter - 6 years
DE Kwity Paye - 5 years
WR Alec Pierce - 4 years
FS Rodney Thomas - 4 years
FS Nick Cross - 4 years

Others:

LB Jacob Phillips
LB Joe Bachie
RB Salvon Ahmed
DT Neville Gallimore
TE Andrew Ogletree
DL Eric Johnson
LB Cameron McGrone
LB Chad Muma

We currently have about $75m in free cap space for 2026 and would save an additional $10.8m if Anthony Richardson is not on the 2026 roster.

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by sherck

There are a couple more that need addressed:

2026 Unrestricted Free Agents - Folks who start or give quality minutes - listed by length of NFL service:

TE Mo Allie-Cox - 9 years
RT Braden Smith - 8 years
CB Xavien Howard - 8 years
DE Samson Ebukam - 8 years
QB Daniel Jones - 6 years
OC Danny Pinter - 6 years
DE Kwity Paye - 5 years
WR Alec Pierce - 4 years
FS Rodney Thomas - 4 years
FS Nick Cross - 4 years

Others:

LB Jacob Phillips
LB Joe Bachie
RB Salvon Ahmed
DT Neville Gallimore
TE Andrew Ogletree
DL Eric Johnson
LB Cameron McGrone
LB Chad Muma

We currently have about $75m in free cap space for 2026 and would save an additional $10.8m if Anthony Richardson is not on the 2026 roster.

I think they move on from both Smith and Paye after this season. I realize Paye was under contract for this season but I’d rather have kept Dayo and released Paye.

[Discflinger]

Originally Posted by albany ed

There are 3 players I hope are here next year.

Nick Cross
Alec Pierce
Daniel Jones

They could all be free agents at year's end.

Would be ecstatic to see all three extended immediately.

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

I think they move on from both Smith and Paye after this season. I realize Paye was under contract for this season but I’d rather have kept Dayo and released Paye.

I liked Dayo as a rotational piece, but I think the Colts made the right decision not to match the contract offer from the Bears.

$16M AAV for 3 years...Dayo currently has the 18th highest AAV contract for Edge Rushers.

The Bears are trying to up his usage rate to see if his stats follow higher...so far, he has 1 sack and 3 QB hits through 3 games.

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

Originally Posted by albany ed

There are 3 players I hope are here next year.

Nick Cross
Alec Pierce
Daniel Jones

They could all be free agents at year's end.

What kind of numbers are you talking about?

For Daniel Jones...if he continues to play well...I guess they could look at Sam Darnold's Seattle contract as a blue print.

Darnold's contract looks like:

Sam Darnold signed a 3 year, $100,500,000 contract with the Seattle Seahawks, including $32,000,000 signing bonus, $55,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $33,500,000. In 2025, Darnold will earn a base salary of $5,300,000, a signing bonus of $32,000,000 and a workout bonus of $200,000, while carrying a cap hit of $13,400,000 and a dead cap value of $37,700,000.

Potential Out after 2 years: spending $65,000,000; with $19,200,000 DEAD CAP hit

$37.5M guaranteed at signing (signing bonus + 2025 salary/bonus)
2026 Roster Bonus: $15M (guarantees the 5th waiver period day of 2026)
$2.5M of of 2026 salary guarantees the 5th waiver period day of 2026
2027 Roster Bonus: $10M (5th league day of 2027)
2028-29 years automatically void 23 days before the 2028 league year

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_...98/sam-darnold

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSunnyinIndy

I liked Dayo as a rotational piece, but I think the Colts made the right decision not to match the contract offer from the Bears.

$16M AAV for 3 years...Dayo currently has the 18th highest AAV contract for Edge Rushers.

The Bears are trying to up his usage rate to see if his stats follow higher...so far, he has 1 sack and 3 QB hits through 3 games.

I don’t care about the contract numbers, especially if it’s not quarterback money. I think people get way too caught up in worrying about the salary cap.

I care about keeping good players. The cap can be worked around.

And I think Dayo would have been one of our best pass rushers this season.

[Colts And Orioles]

o


If Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts continue having a very successful season in 2025, then I suspect that Jones will do everything that he can to remain with the team in 2026 and beyond ....... he caught a lot of shit when he was playing for the New York Giants in the first 7 seasons of his career, and I think that he's smart enough to know that his legacy is more important than a few million dollars one way or the other ...... he made $76 Million while playing for the Giants between 2019 and 2024, and he's getting another $14 Million this season playing for the Colts ...... Jones is a brainiac who originally committed to Princeton and wound up going to Duke, so he presumably has enough wisdom to know that remaining in a situation that is leaps and bounds superior to the one that he was mired in for 7 seasons in New York is more important than a few extra million dollars on the free-agent market.

So in my rat's of an opinion, Jones will be staying with the Colts in 2026 (again, presuming that the Colts remain on the successful track that they are currently on for the remainder of the 2025 season.)

o