With the 2024 season now wrapped up for the Indianapolis Colts, let’s take a look ahead to the offseason at which of their players are set to be free agents.
Chris Ballard will be back for the 2025 season as general manager and we all know his propensity for re-signing his own players over bringing in outside additions. However, could that approach be something that changes this offseason?
From a salary cap perspective, the Colts currently have over $49 million in available cap space, which ranks around the middle of the pack compared to the rest of the NFL.
When it comes to free agency, players fall into one of three categories based on how many accrued years of NFL experience they have. Players can either be an unrestricted free agent, a restricted free agent, or an exclusive rights free agent.
With help from Over the Cap, here is a breakdown of each of those free agent categories and which Colts players fall into each one:
Unrestricted free agent (UFA)
This is the most common free agent and the ones we all speculate over during the offseason. This is a player with four-plus years of accrued NFL experience and he is able to negotiate freely with any team and can sign wherever he pleases.
C Ryan Kelly
TE Mo Alie-Cox
QB Joe Flacco
LB EJ Speed
S Julian Blackmon
WR Ashton Dulin
DT Taven Bryan
DE Dayo Odeyingbo
S Ronnie Harrison
C/G Danny Pinter
RB Trey Sermon
TE Kylen Granson
QB Sam Ehlinger
G Will Fries
LB Grant Stuard
WR Laquon Treadwell
G Mark Glowinski
CB David Long
WR Juwann Winfree
Restricted free agent (RFA)
This player has three years of accrued NFL experience. The current team with a RFA has the option of placing one of three tenders on that player, either a first round tender, a second round tender, or a right of first refusal tender. At that point, if a tender is placed, the RFA can the negotiate with other teams.
However, the caveat here is that if the RFA receives an offer from another organization, the current team has the right to match the offer. If the current team chooses not to, they then receive in return from the other organization whatever tender was placed on that player. So, for example, if another team is willing to sign away a player with a first round tender, the new team would have to give the original team a first round draft pick in return.
If the RFA receives a tender but no other team makes an offer, that player will then re-sign with his current team at a predetermined contract amount set by the NFLPA based on which tender was utilized.
If the player never receives a tender, they become an unrestricted free agent.
S Trevor Denbow
G Wesley French
Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA)
These players have fewer than three years of accrued NFL experience. While the name has the term ‘free agent’ in it, these players are not able to negotiate with other teams unless the current teams decides to not re-sign them.
LB Cameron McGrone
OL Ryan Coll