Keeping the defense together

[Valpo2004]

Problem with having a good defense is keeping them together with the cap the way it is.  

 

A lot of important defensive players are hitting contract years.  Who should we re-sign and who should we let walk?

 

Justin Houston 

Denico Autry

Xavier Rhodes

TJ Carrie

Anthony Walker 

Grover Stewart

 

Something to consider is besides Walker and Stewart all of the rest of the guys are either 31 or 32 years old now.  So no telling how much they have left in the tank.  

 

I am for the record not mention some other guys who are effectively backups or have been replaced which includes Malik Hooker, George Odum, and Tavon Wilson

 

My opinion is that we should probably bring back Stewart, Carrie, and Rhodes.  I could advocate for bringing back Walker if it wouldn't be too expensive.   Houston and Autry don't seem to be making the same amount of plays they once were and we should look to replace them with younger players.   

[Eharv1]

I think Carrie and Rhodes are the two we need to focus on.

[Lucky Colts Fan]

1 hour ago, Valpo2004 said:

A lot of important defensive players are hitting contract years.  Who should we re-sign and who should we let walk?

 

Justin Houston 

Denico Autry

Xavier Rhodes

TJ Carrie

Anthony Walker 

Grover Stewart

 

Re-sign:  Stewart, Autry, Rhodes

Let walk:  Walker, Carrie

 

Houston I would like to see back, but money and age would be big factors in whether or not he would be worth it.

[w87r]

1 hour ago, Valpo2004 said:

Houston and Autry don't seem to be making the same amount of plays they once were and we should look to replace them with younger players

Autry is leading the team in sacks.

 

 

Going to be tough to re-sign everyone though, even more so with the cap dropping.

 

 

Just got to hope it doesn't drop the max(down to $175m). Hopefully it can come in around $190m or something.

[Defjamz26]

Keep Stewart, Rhodes, and Carrie because this CB depth is shaky as hell.

Maybe keep Houston but the Colts should be drafting 2 edge rushers in the draft IMO. One in the 1st and then get one in the 2nd too. Edge is going to be really deep next year. Man if we could somehow get Patrick Jones and Carlos Basham that would be ideal. Or even Hutchinson should drop since he got injured.

[John Hammonds]

Difficult to say.  We have 24 free agents (according to sportrak) this offseason.  I'm good with re-signing 15 of them, but it may not be easy, given the big names that are gonna have to get paid next year (Nelson, Leonard, Hines, Glowinski).

 

But regarding your Defense-specific question:

Justin Houston, DE, age 32, 2020 AAV $10mm - He's not a young man anymore, and his measurable production is down.  However, nobody has been able to claim his starting job from him.  Very difficult question.  He may not take a reduced offer, either.

Denico Autry, DE, age 31, 2020 AAV $5.93mm - Deserves a contract.  But how much?  One year?  Two year?  He may have the most sacks on our team, but compared to the league?

Malik Hooker, S, age 25, 2020 AAV $3.15mm - Sorry, but he's been replaced.  Do not sign.

Xavier Rhodes, CB, age 31, 2020 AAV $3mm - Definitely came back from his poor 2019 performance.  But he's also not young anymore.  I'd offer him another 1 year deal, and cross my fingers that Marvell Tell challenges.

Tavon Wilson, S, age 31, 2020 AAV $1mm - Let him walk.  If I need to re-sign a free agent safety, it will be Odum.

Travis Carrie, CB, age 31, 2020 AAV $1mm - He's done some good things for us, but not worthy of a high offer.  Maybe late in the offseason, in case we need to plug some holes.

Taylor Stallworth, DT, age 26, 2020 AAV $750g - No need to sign.

Tremon Smith, CB, age 25, 2020 AAV $750g - No need to sign.

Grover Stewart, DT, age 27, 2020 AAV $705g - Give this boy a pay day.  4 year deal worth millions.  He earned it.

Anthony Walker, ILB, age 26, 2020 AAV $667g - He may not be the full package, but he's done everything we asked.  Give him a multi-year deal.

Al-Quadin Muhammad, DE, age 26, 2020 AAV $645g - He's not a starter, but he does provide quality snaps.  Give him a 2 year deal.

George Odum, S, age 27, 2020 AAV $574g - Best depth safety we have.  Give him a 2 year deal.

 

[Zoltan]

I'm resigning: Rhodes, Stewart, Muhammad and possibly Walker.

 

The rest I'm letting walk,

Carrie because the CB room will be getting crowded when we get Tell back and if we add another in the draft.

Autry I think is playing above his skill right now, so let him leave and get a big contract which will give us a comp pick.

Houston is declining

Malik Hooker needs a reboot with another team (Probably the jets)

[OhioColt]

By now most should realize the Colts prefer to retain their own as much as possible.  The defense is much improved with the signing in place but always room for improvement at key positions.  Below is my FA/resign list have already put together mid-season.

 

Colts FA ~58m:

QB Jacoby Brissett 21.3

WR T.Y. Hilton 14.5

TE Jack Doyle 8.5

RDE Denico Autry 5.7

ILB Anthony Walker 2.2

S Tavon Wilson 750k

DB Tremon Smith 750k (keeper?)

WR Marcus Johnson 582k (practice squad)

S Malik Hooker 4m

WR Ashton Dulin 542k

 

Resign ~ 90m

QB Philip Rivers 26.3m (probably will drop)

DE Justin Houston 11m (3-4 good years left like Mathis and Freeny)

DB Xavier Rhodes 8m

RG Mark Glowinski 6.9 (improved game this year)

RDT Grover Stewart 7.5m (most improved player on defense)

DE Al-Quadin Muhammad 3m

OL Le’Raven Clark 1.2m

DB T.J. Carrie 1.2m (special teamer)

TE Trey Burton 4.5m

S George Odum 1.25

TE Mo Alie-Cox (RFA) – 6.25m

DT Taylor Stallworth 1m (otc hit 4.8m in 1 game)

LT Chaz Green 850k (special teams)

WR Zach Pascal 7m

RB Marlon Mack 4m (when healthy proved to be lead back)

C Joey Hunt 300k

RG Jake Eldrenkamp 200k (special teamer)

Edge Cassius Marsh 250k (special teamer)

TE Farrod Green 200k (practice squad)

S Ibraheim Campbell 200k (special teamer)

[Shadow_Creek]

15 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

Keep Stewart, Rhodes, and Carrie because this CB depth is shaky as hell.

Maybe keep Houston but the Colts should be drafting 2 edge rushers in the draft IMO. One in the 1st and then get one in the 2nd too. Edge is going to be really deep next year. Man if we could somehow get Patrick Jones and Carlos Basham that would be ideal. Or even Hutchinson should drop since he got injured.

no ty's replacement needs to be brought in Asap well get Defense later in the draft

[Defjamz26]

3 hours ago, Shadow_Creek said:

no ty's replacement needs to be brought in Asap well get Defense later in the draft

You don’t get defense later in the draft. Especially edge rushers. You get that in the first 3 rounds. WRs you get later on.

[Valpo2004]

4 hours ago, OhioColt said:

By now most should realize the Colts prefer to retain their own as much as possible.  The defense is much improved with the signing in place but always room for improvement at key positions.  Below is my FA/resign list have already put together mid-season.

 

Colts FA ~58m:

QB Jacoby Brissett 21.3

WR T.Y. Hilton 14.5

TE Jack Doyle 8.5

RDE Denico Autry 5.7

ILB Anthony Walker 2.2

S Tavon Wilson 750k

DB Tremon Smith 750k (keeper?)

WR Marcus Johnson 582k (practice squad)

S Malik Hooker 4m

WR Ashton Dulin 542k

 

Resign ~ 90m

QB Philip Rivers 26.3m (probably will drop)

DE Justin Houston 11m (3-4 good years left like Mathis and Freeny)

DB Xavier Rhodes 8m

RG Mark Glowinski 6.9 (improved game this year)

RDT Grover Stewart 7.5m (most improved player on defense)

DE Al-Quadin Muhammad 3m

OL Le’Raven Clark 1.2m

DB T.J. Carrie 1.2m (special teamer)

TE Trey Burton 4.5m

S George Odum 1.25

TE Mo Alie-Cox (RFA) – 6.25m

DT Taylor Stallworth 1m (otc hit 4.8m in 1 game)

LT Chaz Green 850k (special teams)

WR Zach Pascal 7m

RB Marlon Mack 4m (when healthy proved to be lead back)

C Joey Hunt 300k

RG Jake Eldrenkamp 200k (special teamer)

Edge Cassius Marsh 250k (special teamer)

TE Farrod Green 200k (practice squad)

S Ibraheim Campbell 200k (special teamer)

 

I didn't do the math on your numbers here but you may want to re-think your list because overthecap says we have 75.9 million in cap space for next year and that's without re-signing anyone.  We can't afford to re-sign 90m worth of players, not without cutting some people and then who are you going to cut?  

 

Right now the players that you could cut and clear a significant amount of cap space are.

 

1. Anthony Castonzo (16M)

2. Kenny Moore (5.65M)

3. Mark Glowinski (5.25M)

4. Ryan Kelly (4.65M)

5. Jack Doyle (4.35M)

6. Rigoberto Sanchez  (2M)

 

From that list I could honestly make a case for cutting Doyle if cap space is tight.  But unless you've grabbed a LT in the draft and you are all in on starting him week 1. . . you can't really cut Castonzo.  Moore is still a big part of the defense.  Glow very important on the OL, Kelly even more important on the OL and you arn't likely to find a player of Sanchez's ability for the price we have him for. 

 

That said you included Mark Glowinski in your list but he is under contract for next year and there is no need to re-sign him.  

[RollerColt]

Gotta agree with most on here: we need to look at an edge. Sadly we'll need to start figuring out AC's replacement as well. 

 

With a dominant pass rush, this defense would be unreal. 

[Shadow_Creek]

9 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

You don’t get defense later in the draft. Especially edge rushers. You get that in the first 3 rounds. WRs you get later on.

i disagree we have put off fixing the WR's class for too long and after this season who knows if CB wants to bring TY back so the WR's should be addressed first

[NewColtsFan]

On 11/23/2020 at 8:47 AM, Valpo2004 said:

Problem with having a good defense is keeping them together with the cap the way it is.  

 

A lot of important defensive players are hitting contract years.  Who should we re-sign and who should we let walk?

 

Justin Houston 

Denico Autry

Xavier Rhodes

TJ Carrie

Anthony Walker 

Grover Stewart

 

Something to consider is besides Walker and Stewart all of the rest of the guys are either 31 or 32 years old now.  So no telling how much they have left in the tank.  

 

I am for the record not mention some other guys who are effectively backups or have been replaced which includes Malik Hooker, George Odum, and Tavon Wilson

 

My opinion is that we should probably bring back Stewart, Carrie, and Rhodes.  I could advocate for bringing back Walker if it wouldn't be too expensive.   Houston and Autry don't seem to be making the same amount of plays they once were and we should look to replace them with younger players.   

Thus is a good problem to have.   It’s always better to have too much talent than not enough.   Ballard says he and his staff talk money every day.    Every day.  
 

So they are not unaware. 
 

I have complete confidence that Ballard will know who to keep and who to let test the waters.   Maybe someone goes out, tests the market, and finds it’s not as hot as he hoped and comes back in a reasonable deal?   No way to know?

 

But these things have a way of working themselves out.   

[OhioColt]

12 hours ago, Valpo2004 said:

 

I didn't do the math on your numbers here but you may want to re-think your list because overthecap says we have 75.9 million in cap space for next year and that's without re-signing anyone.  We can't afford to re-sign 90m worth of players, not without cutting some people and then who are you going to cut?  

 

Right now the players that you could cut and clear a significant amount of cap space are.

 

1. Anthony Castonzo (16M)

2. Kenny Moore (5.65M)

3. Mark Glowinski (5.25M)

4. Ryan Kelly (4.65M)

5. Jack Doyle (4.35M)

6. Rigoberto Sanchez  (2M)

 

From that list I could honestly make a case for cutting Doyle if cap space is tight.  But unless you've grabbed a LT in the draft and you are all in on starting him week 1. . . you can't really cut Castonzo.  Moore is still a big part of the defense.  Glow very important on the OL, Kelly even more important on the OL and you arn't likely to find a player of Sanchez's ability for the price we have him for. 

 

That said you included Mark Glowinski in your list but he is under contract for next year and there is no need to re-sign him.  

No offense but strongly suggest you do more research.  Colts are projected to have same money as everyone else roughly 180 mil.  Going to take approximately 90 mil to resign players leaving us about 70 mil in cap space.

Thanks for the update on Glowinski missed that one.  As for Doyle age based and injuries have slowed him down making him expendable imo.  I think we can go forward with Mo and Trey and think about drafting in around 2 Iowa States TE Charlie Kolar.

 

Agree we need to secure a LT.  As mention in another thread one option is to go after 49ers Williams who has a no tag clause while taking a lower price on a lower price deal.  Other scenario can see the Colts draft up take a LT in around 1.

 

On defense agree Moore is key play and don’t see him leaving any time soon.  Rhodes is playing well in our zone heavy defense but is obviously slowing down and we will need a future replacement.

 

As for wide receivers think with Pittman and Pascal we have two key pieces.  In FA am hoping for our missing piece with either Juju or better yet Lions Golladay and we should be set if we can get that boy from OSU health and back on the field.

 

 

 

[Valpo2004]

11 hours ago, OhioColt said:

No offense but strongly suggest you do more research.  Colts are projected to have same money as everyone else roughly 180 mil.  Going to take approximately 90 mil to resign players leaving us about 70 mil in cap space.

Thanks for the update on Glowinski missed that one.  As for Doyle age based and injuries have slowed him down making him expendable imo.  I think we can go forward with Mo and Trey and think about drafting in around 2 Iowa States TE Charlie Kolar.

 

Agree we need to secure a LT.  As mention in another thread one option is to go after 49ers Williams who has a no tag clause while taking a lower price on a lower price deal.  Other scenario can see the Colts draft up take a LT in around 1.

 

On defense agree Moore is key play and don’t see him leaving any time soon.  Rhodes is playing well in our zone heavy defense but is obviously slowing down and we will need a future replacement.

 

As for wide receivers think with Pittman and Pascal we have two key pieces.  In FA am hoping for our missing piece with either Juju or better yet Lions Golladay and we should be set if we can get that boy from OSU health and back on the field.

 

 

 

 

No the 70 million comes before we re-sign anyone.  180 mil is the total cap space for all players under contract.  Of which we are currently on the hook for 110 M for players who are under contract for the 2021 season.  

 

 

[shasta519]

Teams really don't make a habit of bringing back age 30+ FAs. In Houston's case...I think you make an exception. He's a leader on the defense...and the Colts don't really have much in the way of edge rushers ready to take over.

 

Stewart comes back as well...on a multi-year 1 Tech contract. He's going to want DJ Reader's contract...but I am not sure Ballard will go that high.

 

Mack will be an interesting choice. I think Ballard will offer a cheap one-year deal for him to re-establish value...but Mack might want to go elsewhere for a better chance at touches. Either way...his cap hit will be minimal.

 

Rhodes could come back on another 1-2 year deal.

 

The rest of the "bigger" FAs...I don't see returning.

[Colts1324]

Stewart, Rhodes, Walker, and Glowinski all return IMO.

 

Carrie, Houston, TY, and Doyle will all be gone if I were a betting man.

[crazycolt1]

52 minutes ago, Colts1324 said:

Stewart, Rhodes, Walker, and Glowinski all return IMO.

 

Carrie, Houston, TY, and Doyle will all be gone if I were a betting man.

Doyle is signed thru 2022. He will be on the roster.

[w87r]

5 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

Doyle is signed thru 2022. He will be on the roster.

I don't think it's a for gone conclusion he will be back.

 

If he was released or traded, it would save us $4.35-$5.1m in a year where money is expected to be tight, with cap drop.

[NewColtsFan]

10 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

Doyle is signed thru 2022. He will be on the roster.

For what little it may be worth...   if memory serves me correctly...   we let Desir go one year into a 3-year deal.   I don’t know that we planned to let him go,  but that’s what happened.   I suppose the same could happen to Doyle.   I think what we do with MAC, Burton and the draft will tell us.  

[Lucky Colts Fan]

On 11/24/2020 at 6:35 PM, NewColtsFan said:

Thus is a good problem to have.   It’s always better to have too much talent than not enough. Ballard says he and his staff talk money every day.    Every day.  
 

So they are not unaware. 

 

^This^

 

Another way to look at it is this:  considering the production that Ballard is getting out of his draft picks while they're still on their rookie contracts... why over-spend on re-signing anybody?

 

If Ballard can continue hitting on draft picks the way he has, then it's almost better to just keep accumulating draft picks, draft well, and let the young guys go out and make plays.

 

Let other teams over-spend on proven talent while Indy keeps providing an opportunity for young hungry players to prove their talent.

 

Save the money for slam-dunk moves like Buckner.

[Dark Superman]

I'm hoping they bring Autry, Rhodes, Stewart, and possibly Carrie back.

[funktacious2]

Excluding the smaller names I think we should lock down Rhodes for 3 years, re-sign Mack for 3 years and possibly Houston for 3. Let the other bigger names walk. We let Pinter possibly replace Glowinski and we'll have to address OG and OT in the draft and FA.

[DaColts85]

We awarded Stewart so he is off this list now.  A good 3T and 1T combo for the future.

[Defjamz26]

3 hours ago, funktacious2 said:

Excluding the smaller names I think we should lock down Rhodes for 3 years, re-sign Mack for 3 years and possibly Houston for 3. Let the other bigger names walk. We let Pinter possibly replace Glowinski and we'll have to address OG and OT in the draft and FA.

Agree with Rhodes and Houston but disagree on Mack. You have Jonathan Taylor. If the line can run block better and Reich can call better plays, he can give you the same production. Mack is coming off an Achilles tear which is hard for RBs to come back from.

[DaColts85]

24 minutes ago, Defjamz26 said:

Agree with Rhodes and Houston but disagree on Mack. You have Jonathan Taylor. If the line can run block better and Reich can call better plays, he can give you the same production. Mack is coming off an Achilles tear which is hard for RBs to come back from.

To add to your comment, add Nehiem Hines and his play this year and you have a solid backfield assuming better line play.