The Indianapolis Colts will enter the 2024 season with one of the most expensive offenses in the NFL in terms of salary cap hit.
Warren Sharp of Sharp Football posted how much in cap resources each team is investing into the offensive side of the football. For the Colts, that figure is $149.322 million, which is the seventh-most in football.
The Cleveland Browns at $191.0 million are spending the most, the Kansas City Chiefs are third at $170.7 million, and the Atlanta Falcons are fifth at $151.5 million.
A relatively large portion of the Colts’ cap space on offense is devoted to the offensive line, with three of their four largest cap hits this season going towards Quenton Nelson ($25.2 million), Braden Smith ($16.6 million), and Ryan Kelly ($14.6 million). In fact, just those three players account for roughly 37 percent of the Colts’ total cap hit on the offensive side of the ball.
This is a position group that GM Chris Ballard has invested heavily into and it’s paying off. This was a unit last season that ranked top 10 in both yards per carry on the ground and pressure rate allowed.
This season, the Colts will be returning all five starters along the offensive line, putting what should be a top tier unit in front of Anthony Richardson.
“One, when you’ve got a young quarterback, you’ve got to protect him,” said GM Chris Ballard earlier this offseason. “That’s one which I think we did a pretty good job last year, and we’ll continue to do well. Tony (Sparano Jr.) has done well with that group. We’ve got a talented group of O-linemen. You want to continue to add playmakers around him.”
Also contributing to the Colts being a top 10 spender on offense this season are the recent deals they’ve signed Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman to.
Last October, Taylor signed a three-year, $42 million extension, and has the fifth-largest cap hit on the team. Pittman, meanwhile, would sign a three-year $68 million extension back in March, and he has the second-largest cap hit on the team.
Among their respective position groups, Taylor is currently the third-highest paid running back in football on a per year basis and Pittman ranks 12th among receivers.
When it comes to other key members of the Colts offense, such as Anthony Richardson, AD Mitchell, Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, Bernhard Raimann, Will Fries, Jelani Woods, and Kylen Granson, they are all still playing on relatively inexpensive rookie contracts.