Since taking over the front office in 2017, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard made it clear their process to construct a roster won’t rely heavily on adding players through free agency.
While Ballard has never signed a player to a deal longer than three years and the most money he’s signed a free agent to doesn’t exceed over $25 million, there is a chance he may be forced to spend a little more this offseason as the CBA comes to its final year.
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There is a rule in the CBA that states teams must spend at least 89% of the salary cap over a four year period. That current period began in 2017 and is in its final year.
Because the Colts are under the number required by the CBA, Ballard may be forced to spend some money in free agency as Over The Cap pointed out.
Colts, $43M under– The Colts have pretty much avoided spending in free agency the last few years even with a huge surplus of cap space. Last year when the unexpected retirement of Andrew Luck came down and the team surprisingly did not ask him to repay millions in bonuses paid just months before the retirement and then followed it up by a seemingly crazy decision to agree to a one year, $28 million extension for Jacoby Brissett I surmised that the team was going to be so far under the spending limit that both decisions were in part driven by this. Seeing how far under they are now I think backs that up. Indianapolis will likely make up half of their shortage in the draft but they will most likely have to finally go out and spend at least a bit in free agency this year especially if they do not keep tackle Anthony Castonzo. The Colts may not want to get tied down to anyone for too long so this may wind up being the landing spot for “rehab” projects that take a one year deal in the hope of improving their stock.
Surprisingly, the Colts don’t have the highest number on this list. Regardless, they could be forced into spending at least a little bit more this offseason. Whether that comes in the form of outside free agents being signed or Ballard loading up on some contract extensions remains to be seen.
There is another slight issue now that the CBA is going into its final year. Because it is unknown what the next CBA will hold in terms of rules and regulations for contracts, teams may be reluctant to hand out contract extensions because they will want to know ahead of time how the deal needs to be structured.
We know Ballard prefers not to spend in free agency but his calculated process leaves them with needing to spend more cash than usual this offseason.
This may change if a new CBA is agreed upon before free agency, but the Colts are currently under that threshold for the 89%, which means Ballard may have to dig in his pockets a little bit.
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