CR91 after tag free agency mock

[CR91]

Now that we have a better understanding of what players will be hitting the market and what their values might be, lets try this free agency mock again

 

Estimated cap is 60m

 

Release 

Jones saves 5.2m

 

Cap is 65.2m

 

Resign

Turbin 2 year 3m 1g

Swoope 2 year 2 mil

Thronton 1 year 1.5mil

Butler 2 year 8mil

 

Cap is 57.2m

 

Free Agents

Zach Brown ILB 4 year 28m 10g

Stephon Gilmore CB 4 year 40m 15g

Kevin Minter ILB 4 year 30m 12g

Kevin Zeitler G 5 year 60m 25g

Lorenzo Alexander OLB 4 year 48m 20g

 

Cap is 8.7M

 

Its not sexy, but it fills a lot of the holes we have. Ive added three new Lbers. minter and brown would make a really good combination inside, alexander had a really good season last year getting 12.5 sacks. I got us a new CB to play outside of vontae allowing robinson to move inside and butler to play safety. Zeitler allows us to get that much closer to fixing our oline and we can have clark and haeg battle for the RT spot. 

[Smonroe]

9 minutes ago, CR91 said:

Now that we have a better understanding of what players will be hitting the market and what their values might be, lets try this free agency mock again

 

Estimated cap is 60m

 

Release 

Jones saves 5.2m

 

Cap is 65.2m

 

Resign

Turbin 2 year 3m 1g

Swoope 2 year 2 mil

Thronton 1 year 1.5mil

Butler 2 year 8mil

 

Cap is 57.2m

 

Free Agents

Zach Brown ILB 4 year 28m 10g

Stephon Gilmore CB 4 year 40m 15g

Kevin Minter ILB 4 year 30m 12g

Kevin Zeitler G 5 year 60m 25g

Lorenzo Alexander OLB 4 year 48m 20g

 

Cap is 8.7M

 

Its not sexy, but it fills a lot of the holes we have. Ive added three new Lbers. minter and brown would make a really good combination inside, alexander had a really good season last year getting 12.5 sacks. I got us a new CB to play outside of vontae allowing robinson to move inside and butler to play safety. Zeitler allows us to get that much closer to fixing our oline and we can have clark and haeg battle for the RT spot. 

 

I don't know how valid your numbers are, but I'll be disappointed if we don't do this or something very similar. 

 

Also, I know they have to think about future contracts, so that comes into play.  

 

 

[Archer]

You wanna sign Lorenzo Alexander for 4 years?  Isn't he already well into his 30s?  Gilmore will have to be talked down to $10M/year.  Could happen - I think he'll have trouble finding teams to pay him like a Top - 5 CB....

[backshoulderfade]

No way we leave ourselves with just 8.7m in ca space before the draft even.

[CR91]

2 minutes ago, Archer said:

You wanna sign Lorenzo Alexander for 4 years?  Isn't he already well into his 30s?  Gilmore will have to be talked down to $10M/year.  Could happen - I think he'll have trouble finding teams to pay him like a Top - 5 CB....

 

Contract would mostly be back-ended so no harm to us. James harrison is still getting it done and hes 37

[Andrew Luck fan club]

We might sign 2 of those FA's. and Arthur Jones might be staying. 

[CR91]

Just now, backshoulderfade said:

No way we leave ourselves with just 8.7m in ca space before the draft even.

 

thats the norm

[backshoulderfade]

Just now, CR91 said:

 

thats the norm

Not before tbe draft it isn't.

[CR91]

1 minute ago, Majin Vegeta said:

We might sign 2 of those FA's. and Arthur Jones might be staying. 

 

its more realistic then signing hightower poe and perry

[CR91]

Just now, backshoulderfade said:

Not before tbe draft it isn't.

 

the top pick only gets like 4-5 mil the rest get scraps

[BProland85]

Zeitler is probably the only player I'd want to sign out of your list. And I want no part of paying Lorenzo Alexander that kind of money. Not hugely into Kevin Minter or Gilmore either. Would much rather have Bouye at CB.

[CR91]

5 minutes ago, BProland85 said:

Zeitler is probably the only player I'd want to sign out of your list. And I want no part of paying Lorenzo Alexander that kind of money. Not hugely into Kevin Minter or Gilmore either. Would much rather have Bouye at CB.

 

unfornately alexander might be the best pass rusher left that wont cost us north of 15 mil. I overpaid yea, but as I mentioned its mostly gonna be back-ended. minter is actually very talented along with brown can really re-vamp our inside lber corp. bouye is gonna want north of 12 and hes only had one good year

[backshoulderfade]

Just now, CR91 said:

 

the top pick only gets like 4-5 mil the rest get scraps

14th pick in 2016 had a cap hit of around 2.5 million. 47th pick was 930k, 79th pick was 640k. Thats already 4 mill. 5 more picks after that. Last pick's number was 132k. You have to account for UDFAs, you have to account for in-season signings.

[CR91]

1 minute ago, backshoulderfade said:

14th pick in 2016 had a cap hit of around 2.5 million. 47th pick was 930k, 79th pick was 640k. Thats already 4 mill. 5 more picks after that. Last pick's number was 132k. You have to account for UDFAs, you have to account for in-season signings.

 

last 5 picks might get to 2 mil udfas are not guaranteed contracts and in-season signings are not that costly

[backshoulderfade]

Just now, CR91 said:

 

last 5 picks might get to 2 mil udfas are not guaranteed contracts and in-season signings are not that costly

First let me also add that the salaries I stated before were for 2016, so you can expect those numbers to go up around 8 percent. Secondly, you still have to pay the UDFAs that you keep. That will cost you 450k of salary cap.

 

The vet minimum for a player with 1 year of experience is 525k. That goes up for every year of experience they have in the league.

 

Sure, in the grand scheme these guys might not be "that costly" but when you are leaving 8.7 million of cap space after free agency, well that's a recipe for disaster.

[will426]

I Love FA mocks but they just don't take in account for Other team willing to Overpay for the same guys you put up there.,plus would they play for less to be a contender (hope we will be) or are they just trying to get paid

[CR91]

3 minutes ago, backshoulderfade said:

First let me also add that the salaries I stated before were for 2016, so you can expect those numbers to go up around 8 percent. Secondly, you still have to pay the UDFAs that you keep. That will cost you 450k of salary cap.

 

The vet minimum for a player with 1 year of experience is 525k. That goes up for every year of experience they have in the league.

 

Sure, in the grand scheme these guys might not be "that costly" but when you are leaving 8.7 million of cap space after free agency, well that's a recipe for disaster.

 

well contracts can always be reconstructed to create cap space. these numbers are not always exact especially with how much a player gets each year differs 

[backshoulderfade]

Just now, CR91 said:

 

well contracts can always be reconstructed to create cap space. these numbers are not always exact especially with how much a player gets each year differs 

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer. But I can see people raging on here when we have 15 mil in cap space going in to the draft. Happens every year on here.

[CR91]

1 minute ago, backshoulderfade said:

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer. But I can see people raging on here when we have 15 mil in cap space going in to the draft. Happens every year on here.

 

 I know what you mean

[tvturner]

Unrealistic FA, also overpaying a LB who had 1 good year and is 33

[CR91]

7 hours ago, Boomstick1 said:

Unrealistic FA, also overpaying a LB who had 1 good year and is 33

 

How is that unrealistic compared to others with Poe hightower and perry

[Defjamz26]

That's overkill. No way Ballard goes on that type of spending spree year 1. Especially when he emphasized that you can't buy a team and building a team takes time. This FA is more Grigson than anything. I think we'll get 2 FAs. But they'll be cheap.

[CR91]

15 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

That's overkill. No way Ballard goes on that type of spending spree year 1. Especially when he emphasized that you can't buy a team and building a team takes time. This FA is more Grigson than anything. I think we'll get 2 FAs. But they'll be cheap.

 

We don't know his tactics. He's a first time GM. Two FAs aren't going to fix this team

[DougDew]

Can't see us paying 12 mil a year for a G.  I'd rather draft one in the 2nd or 3rd round and get him for a cheap rookie contract for 3 to 4 years.

[CR91]

2 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Can't see us paying 12 mil a year for a G.  I'd rather draft one in the 2nd or 3rd round and get him for a cheap rookie contract for 3 to 4 years.

 

Why? We already do with haeg and good. Zeitler fills out one less position on the oline

[DougDew]

Just now, CR91 said:

 

Why? We already do with haeg and good. Zeitler fills out one less position on the oline

Ok then.  I'd rather not pay a G 12 mil a year and just roll with who we have.  That's probably what will happen anyway

[CR91]

6 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Ok then.  I'd rather not pay a G 12 mil a year and just roll with who we have.  That's probably what will happen anyway

 

So you rather luck get hurt again

[loudnproudcolt]

Lineman coming out of college now are generally not ready to start due to the offenses in college. I thought Haeg did well last year and I think Clark made progress and will continue. He had the longest way to go since he played at Texas Tech. Are OL is close, but we need a good RG, but there are great options besides Zeitler who will be cheaper, Lang, Warford, etc. If we do go Zeitler, I am fine with it though. We need that spot sewed up. Osemile go 11M last year, and I expect Zeitler to get the same money.

 

I don't want Alexander for 12M yr. at 33 even if you backend the contract. He may hit a wall at anytime. We have done the experiment with older players, and it was a train wreck. If I am going to pay, I want youth.

 

As far as CB, I think Ballard can find us a good one in the draft. This draft is the deepest in CB's in a long time, and I hope he can find us someone in the first or second depending on who falls.

 

I want two things in FA. A RG and a NT. Ballard wants the trenches to be better, then go get Williams and Zeitler, Lang or Warford. Poe scares me because of the back, but Ballard would know about that, so if he goes that way, i would have to assume he feels comfortable about his medical. Still back injuries scare me.

 

If we came out of FA with Brown, Williams and a good RG, I would be ecstatic, and we would still have over 30M in cap space! This is not a good FA year, and we are not going to rebuild a non existent defense in one year, especially through FA!

[Defjamz26]

49 minutes ago, CR91 said:

 

We don't know his tactics. He's a first time GM. Two FAs aren't going to fix this team

Their not supposed to. Neither is this 1 draft. The Colts should get better, not fixed in one offseason. He's said multiple times that building a team takes time.

[CR91]

38 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

Their not supposed to. Neither is this 1 draft. The Colts should get better, not fixed in one offseason. He's said multiple times that building a team takes time.

 

And this is a way to speed up the process a little bit. You can't just sit on 60 mil and not make moves and it's not like I went and projected the top free agents to us

[Defjamz26]

2 minutes ago, CR91 said:

 

And this is a way to speed up the process a little bit. You can't just sit on 60 mil and not make moves and it's not like I went and projected the top free agents to us

Grigson tried that approach and all it brought was short term success and long term holes. It's not wise to speed up the process. Let the process run its natural course. There is no substitute for building a team piece by piece.

 

We can use the cap space to make 2 splashes but that's it. A CB and an OG. 

[DaColts85]

Please no!  I wouldn't mind signing Brown and I think 7m/year is a good number.  Other than that I do not want anything to do with that.  Gilmore will get more money and I am not sure what CB will be willing to spend.  I highly doubt he goes into FA and signs a guard to that contract as well.  And Alexander at that contract.....you are joking right?  He is already 33 and even though players like Freeney and Harrison are still playing they are not making anything close to that.  Why? Because of the age and teams are not that stupid!

[WarGhost21]

Just give me Z. Brown, B. Williams, and a decent CB and I'll be happy.

[BCoop]

I don't know that bringing on 3 defenders from the Bills really jives with what Ballard has been saying about buying a locker room. Aren't those guys coming from one of the more toxic environments in football?

[jskinnz]

2 hours ago, CR91 said:

 

How is that unrealistic compared to others with Poe hightower and perry

 

Well they are both unrealistic so does it really matter which is the more outrageous of the two?

 

I think we will all be very surprised with how much people are going to get paid.  I think you are way low and contract #'s and I think you are way high on the # of players brought in.  

 

I keep hearing Ballard talk and his 'you can't buy a locker room" comment resonates.  While I think they will sign players, I don't think there will be near the #'s that people want on here.  And I think that is OK.  Andrew Brandt was on Ross Tucker's NFL Radio show yesterday and he was talking about how truly a mixed bag Free Agency really is.  He pointed out the high volume of players getting released just a couple years into their free agency signing.  I think this is careful what you wish for kind of thing.

[CR91]

30 minutes ago, jskinnz said:

 

Well they are both unrealistic so does it really matter which is the more outrageous of the two?

 

I think we will all be very surprised with how much people are going to get paid.  I think you are way low and contract #'s and I think you are way high on the # of players brought in.  

 

I keep hearing Ballard talk and his 'you can't buy a locker room" comment resonates.  While I think they will sign players, I don't think there will be near the #'s that people want on here.  And I think that is OK.  Andrew Brandt was on Ross Tucker's NFL Radio show yesterday and he was talking about how truly a mixed bag Free Agency really is.  He pointed out the high volume of players getting released just a couple years into their free agency signing.  I think this is careful what you wish for kind of thing.

 

I can respect that, but I would rather not just base my opinion on what is said to the media

[COLTS449]

Everyone is saying unrealistic. How? How could we not afford to sign some good players with 60 mill to spend. And 8.7 left? So? LOL. I would just hire some math kid and say "Hey kid. I want this guy, this guy, and this guy." "Show me how to manipulate the cap and make it work" That's the thing. You can manipulate the freaking cap!!!! Give Perry and Bouye 60 million and make it work. I don't know how to explain it I just know it can be done. The cap continues to rise, just draft good and we'll be fine. But somebody tell me if I'm wrong about manipulating the cap???? So it cant be done? You cant sign at least Perry and Bouye  with 60 million to spend? It could be made work.

 

But signing Alexander for anything more than 2/16 is dumb bro. He may have put it all together but he's 33 and might have 1 more, maybe 2 good years left.

 

And even if Nick Perry is our ONLY signing we gotta make it happen.

[PrincetonTiger]

Not sure I could handle this

[BCoop]

Just now, COLTS449 said:

Everyone is saying unrealistic. How? How could we not afford to sign some good players with 60 mill to spend. And 8.7 left? So? LOL. I would just hire some math kid and say "Hey kid. I want this guy, this guy, and this guy." "Show me how to manipulate the cap and make it work" That's the thing. You can manipulate the freaking cap!!!! Give Perry and Bouye 60 million and make it work. I don't know how to explain it I just know it can be done. The cap continues to rise, just draft good and we'll be fine. But somebody tell me if I'm wrong about manipulating the cap???? So it cant be done? You cant sign at least Perry and Bouye  with 60 million to spend? It could be made work.

 

But signing Alexander for anything more than 2/16 is dumb bro. He may have put it all together but he's 33 and might have 1 more, maybe 2 good years left.

 

And even if Nick Perry is our ONLY signing we gotta make it happen.

 

Hire some math kid?

 

It's unrealistic because this isn't Madden.

 

Players have to WANT to sign with you. Some guys will want money, some will want a specific location/market, and some a chance for a championship. Right now, the Colts can only offer money. That's not going to sell everyone.

[Smonroe]

Just now, BCoop said:

 

Hire some math kid?

 

It's unrealistic because this isn't Madden.

 

Players have to WANT to sign with you. Some guys will want money, some will want a specific location/market, and some a chance for a championship. Right now, the Colts can only offer money. That's not going to sell everyone.

 

I disagree.  Depending on the position, playing indoors can be a plus.  And no matter what some people like to think, the Colts are contenders.  Also, we have a player friendly coach and an owner who tries to do what he can to improve the team.

 

How many times have you heard "...the chance to play with Andrew Luck..."?  Having a franchise QB is a huge advantage.

 

Lots more than just money, IMO.