Colts to Sign Eric Fisher 1 yr / $9.4M

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Chaka

At $9.4M, Fisher is being paid roughly $6.5 million less than Castonzo was scheduled to be paid. Fisher is also a few years younger than Castonzo, but obviously coming off a major injury. So the discount on a formerly solid LT is pretty steep, suggesting that the team/player are acknowledging a significant amount of risk regarding recovery and/or timing.

On the other hand, we apparently chose Fisher over Leno, who is healthy, apparently favored the Colts, and also has strong ties to the Colts organization. So unless Leno was making exorbitant contract demands, this suggests to me a fair amount of confidence that Fisher will return close to his former self.

I’ll add that when the final contract details come out, it would be nice if there’s a team option for a year or two attached, but its probably unlikely.

I doubt he would do that. There is always a demand for LTs. He will want to go into next offseason a FA. Fisher was tied for 16th best OT in the league last year. That is similar to what Castonzo was before Nelson. I expect that to rise some with Nelson next to him. Maybe say 12th. That’s serviceable with this line.

[Oldcolt]

So Ballard stays true to his draft board and hopefully fixes our defensive line in the draft. Then because he doesn’t overspend in free agency, pissing off a ton of freaks, he has plenty of money to address our last major issue LT. I appears that there is enough to extend Leonard/Smith. On top of that word is that we were Leno’s preferred team, a tribute to the whole organization and Ballards development is the locker room that anyone with a choice of NFL cities wants to live in Indianapolis. Now I’m hoping Tevi plays so well Fisher ends up being the best backup in football.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

So Ballard stays true to his draft board and hopefully fixes our defensive line in the draft. Then because he doesn’t overspend in free agency, pissing off a ton of freaks, he has plenty of money to address our last major issue LT. I appears that there is enough to extend Leonard/Smith. On top of that word is that we were Leno’s preferred team, a tribute to the whole organization and Ballards development is the locker room that anyone with a choice of NFL cities wants to live in Indianapolis. Now I’m hoping Tevi plays so well Fisher ends up being the best backup in football.

Our dline is fixed? That was fast.

If Ballard stayed true to his draft board then he would have known a month ago he wasn’t going to take a tackle that would compete for the starting position. Therefore he could have had his choice at the beginning of free agency. Assuming he wasn’t going to sign Trent Williams, all other options would have been cheaper per year than Fisher and they would be healthy at the beginning of the year.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/left-tackle/

What I bet really happened, Ballard wanted to see how the draft panned out. All the tackles went between our first and second round. We are then forced to go to free agency. We overspend a little for a partial season from an injured player. I suspect Fisher was the cheaper option between he and Leno. But when completely healthy I think Fisher is slightly the better player.

Signing a LT was never going to threaten the upcoming contracts, we will have 100 million again next year.

And please find me the Colt fans who want him to overspend in free agency, I’ll wait.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Our dline is fixed? That was fast.

If Ballard stayed true to his draft board then he would have known a month ago he wasn’t going to take a tackle that would compete for the starting position. Therefore he could have had his choice at the beginning of free agency. Assuming he wasn’t going to sign Trent Williams, all other options would have been cheaper per year than Fisher and they would be healthy at the beginning of the year.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/left-tackle/

What I bet really happened, Ballard wanted to see how the draft panned out. All the tackles went between our first and second round. We are then forced to go to free agency. We overspend a little for a partial season from an injured player. I suspect Fisher was the cheaper option between he and Leno. But when completely healthy I think Fisher is slightly the better player.

Signing a LT was never going to threaten the upcoming contracts, we will have 100 million again next year.

And please find me the Colt fans who want him to overspend in free agency, I’ll wait.

Well put. Glad LT was addressed and if Fisher comes back healthy he obviously answers the bell. Seems like he gave us a part year discount as well.

Of course if he's unable to come back at high level then we're SOL, and if we don't re-sign him then we're back to the same problem again next offseason.

[rcubed]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

Well put. Glad LT was addressed and if Fisher comes back healthy he obviously answers the bell. Seems like he gave us a part year discount as well.

Of course if he's unable to come back at high level then we're SOL, and if we don't re-sign him then we're back to the same problem again next offseason.

isnt KC paying 3M on top of what we are paying?

[Oldcolt]

Dam you are full of shit. Kiper wasn’t right. The best player, by far, left on the board was Bryant Young, We know you are full of it because the people who actually put their money where their mouth is never ever hire these so called draft experts like Kiper to run their draft.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

Dam you are full of shit. Kiper wasn’t right. The best player, by far, left on the board was Bryant Young, We know you are full of it because the people who actually put their money where their mouth is never ever hire these so called draft experts like Kiper to run their draft.

Mike Mayock

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

I doubt he would do that. There is always a demand for LTs. He will want to go into next offseason a FA. Fisher was tied for 16th best OT in the league last year. That is similar to what Castonzo was before Nelson. I expect that to rise some with Nelson next to him. Maybe say 12th. That’s serviceable with this line.

Agreed, probably unlikely. I guess it also depends on the exercise price of the option - an option at $15M or even 18M for 2022 would be easier to extract than a $9.4M option obviously. And its a good point that if he's healthy, Fisher is likely to look better merely due to the fact that he's playing on the Colts OL.

[Dam8610]

I'm good with this. Former #1 overall pick, multiple time Pro Bowler, only 30 years old, and able to get him well under market because he suffered an injury last January that he should be back from near the start of the season. Plus this gives the Colts franchise rights at the end of 2021 should he perform well. I like everything about this, and although I still wish the Colts had Jenkins for the future, I'm now happy with the offseason overall.

[Brylok]

Well, that weight has been lifted and I'm now happy with the draft and everything else so far. A one year deal seems weird for a LT contract, but like everyone else has said, it's because of the injury and I just hope he's ready to go. Push that LT need to next year, maybe re-sign him (who knows), and just focus on winning the division this year. I feel relieved.