2026 Off-Season Thread

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by sherck

Using middle ground....

$303.450m = 2026 NFL Salary Cap
$001.940m = Colts 2025 Cap Rollover
$000.100m = Minus adjustment on AD Mitchell LTBE 2025 performance bonus
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$305.290m = 2026 Colts Salary Cap


$270.338m = Top 51 off season contracts
$001.770m = Spots 52 and 53 on 2026 season roster (at league minimum)
$006.303m = Average of full season 17-man practice squad salary
$001.889m = 2026 Draft Class (projected cap hit minus league minimum per spot)
$002.093m = 2026 Colts Dead Money
$003.000m = In Season "Churn" Space
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$282.393m = Colts 2026 Cap Obligations

$22.897m real free cap space to sign "new" free agents to the team.

So, Colts are going to need some more cap space to if they intend to sign both DJ and AP.

Only 12 players on the Colts right now have a 2026 cap hit over $5m.

Of those, five do not deliver a cap relief if traded/cut due to their contracts either being newer and still in the mostly guaranteed money phase or on a big rookie deal:

Charvarius Ward
Bernhard Raimann
Camrym Bynum
Sauce Gardner
Anthony Richardson

The Other Seven Contracts:

Michael Pittman Jr (2026 is last season of contract)= $24.000m if traded/cut before the 5th day of the season with roster bonus unpaid or $22.000m if traded/cut after the 5th day of the season with roster bonus paid.

Quenton Nelson (2026 is the last season of contract) = $18.000m if traded/cut before the 5th day of the season with roster bonus unpaid or $16.000m if traded/cut after the 5th day of the season with roster bonus paid.

Jonathan Taylor (2026 is the last season of contract) = $13.000m if traded/cut before the 1st game of season reduced by $0.060m per game if on the Colts active roster.

Grover Stewart (2026 is the last season of contract) = $12.250m if traded/cut before the 1st game of the season reduced by $0.030m per game if on the Colts active roster.

Kenny Moore (2026 is the last season of contract) = $7.060m if traded/cut before the 1st game of the season reduced by $0.023m per game if on the Colts active roster.

DeForest Buckner (2026 is last season of contract) = $5.800m

Zaire Franklin (2027 is the last season of contract) = $5.725m if traded/cut before the 1st game of the season reduced by $0.045m per game if on the Cotls active roster.

The next highest cap relief would be less than $4.000m for any other player on the roster so I am going to stop there. The rest just do not add up fast enough and are making almost JAG levels of salary (Just Another Guy).

A. All 7 of the folks we could restructure / cut / trade to add 2026 cap space are starters with most of them being quality starters (Franklin is my boardline guy on being quality).

B. 6 of 7 (all but Franklin) are in the last season of their current contract. While 2027 Colts free agency sees the Colts have a lot of cap space (currently around $175m), they then also have A LOT of holes to fill.

C. I think the Colts could get both DJ and AP signed for about $35-40m in 2026 cap space. Sure, you could structure something that their combined cap hit this season is $1m but Ballard has not done that in the past and I don't see him doing so now. Realistically, we need at least $35m in free cap space to sign both of them, IMO.

D. Of the 7 players who could deliver relief, I think that Pittman has to be the target. He is a good WR but currently has the 7th highest WR cap hit for 2026 and would still drop to the 14th highest cap hit for 2026 if traded to another team and the Colts have to eat his pro-rated signing bonus. He is not one of the 14th best WRs in the league. While it will hurt, he is expendable at that cap hit, IMO.

E. Of the rest of the list, I think Franklin is the most replaceable with a less expensive player. His is our 12th highest cap hit but I don't feel that his play is 12th best on the team.

F. Next would be Stewart. Our run defense is measurable better with him on the field but, again, while the Colts suck at drafting D-Line, I feel his production could be replaced with cheaper talent.


Trading or cutting those three guys would open up around $42m in free cap space for 2026 to add to our current $23m and allow us to sign DJ and AP while also going after a, hopefully, top tier Defensive End sack master.

One man's opinion.

Trade Pittman and Richardson, restructure Buckner, Raimann, and Bynum, and cut Franklin and you're at $100m of cap space. More than enough to do anything the team needs to do this offseason.