The Indianapolis Colts made a big move Sunday in signing left tackle Anthony Castonzo to a two-year extension, which had an impact on the salary cap space for Indy entering free agency.
As the salary cap officially sits at $198.2 million for each team in the NFL, the Colts were among the top teams. Castonzo’s contract extension carries a $17 million cap hit for the 2020 season, which took a big hit out of the salary cap space. Still, they are among the top-six teams in salary cap space as the legal tampering period opens Monday.
With Castonzo’s contract now in play and the salary cap now officially set, the Colts are looking at $64.9 million in cap space, per Over The Cap. That’s still the sixth most in the NFL.
This was to be expected with Castonzo coming back. Left tackles are paid handsomely and even though the team got a solid deal in return, it was expected that Castonzo’s contract would take a pretty big chunk out of their salary cap space.
Keep in mind, the Colts like to keep roughly $7 million for rookie picks so their mindset on how much they actually will use will be different than the media and the fans.
The Colts won’t be a team that splurges in free agency, but they still have plenty of salary cap space to make any move they want. How that comes to fruition is why we watch out for free agency, but the Colts are still sitting with plenty of cash.