2023 Colts and NFL free agency news, rumors, discussions

[throwing BBZ]

14 hours ago, richard pallo said:

No it doesn't for me.   Mahomes is 28 years old with six accrued years in the league counting 40 mil against the cap on a Super Bowl champion.  The Chiefs seemed to manage their roster and cap pretty well with that amount.  LaMar is 26 years old with five accrued years currently counting 32m against the cap due to the non exclusive tag. That leaves the Ravens with 7m in cap space.  The exclusive tag is 42m.  If they used that tag they would have had to make other moves.  The Ravens also offered LaMar a fully guaranteed three years of about 42m each year as part of a five year contract.  So they were not afraid to fully guarantee three years.  So why didn't he sign?  I expect he wanted more guaranteed money than the franchise tag which I think is realistic given the tag amount and the other issue is the remaining two years non guaranteed which in reality gives them five years of control.  So they already fully guaranteed him money for three years.  They weren't afraid to do that.  That leads me to believe they felt comfortable they could still manage their roster effectively as the Chiefs proved is possible with the best quarterback in the league.  For owners and players money is always the big part of a contract.  Owners love the longer contracts because of the control if offers them.  The tags give them added control.  The owners are going to fight the fully guaranteed contract for as long as they can.  Can't blame them it makes perfect business sense. But a precedent has already been set with a few fully guaranteed contracts.  Players are going to be pushing hard.  The star players will win out first I think.  What makes sense to me is the three year fully guaranteed contract. The player gets another shot at a new contract sooner and the owner has the franchise tags if he wants to use them.  I think if owners and players steer away from the five years contracts somehow they should be able to find a common middle ground when it comes to navigating fully guaranteed contracts.

 

 I can believe they understood his position well and offered him a big contract they believed he would turn down.

 They would love 2 first and move on from this high risk runner who is debateably not a top 5 AFC QB. 

[Yoshinator]

I'll make a prediction. Ballard signs Mack Hollins today, the former WR from the Vegas Raiders. He's the perfect underrated guy that we could use to bolster this WR core. Did really well when given the opportunity. I can see him being a Chris Ballard receiver.

[TomDiggs]

8 hours ago, TomDiggs said:

 

 

Will be curious to see if Pitt got him at a discount w it being later in the FA wave 

Looks like they got him at a decent discount. Probably about 75-80% or so of what was expected when free agency opened. Good deal for Pitt

 

 

[Yoshinator]

2 minutes ago, TomDiggs said:

Looks like they got him at a decent discount. Probably about 75-80% or so of what was expected when free agency opened. Good deal for Pitt

 

 

I would have paid this in a heartbeat for him. We could have afforded that tbh.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

This is actually pretty inexpensive.

 

 

[richard pallo]

4 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

This is actually pretty inexpensive.

 

 

It is.  All of the projections were much higher on an annual basis.  The devil is in the details.  Maybe he received a lot go guaranteed money?  I would think Risner should be affordable now.  I still think Kelly is gone and they will go with Pinter at center but Fries is in the drivers seat now for guard.  I think Fries starting makes us all nervous.

[NewColtsFan]

31 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

I'll make a prediction. Ballard signs Mack Hollins today, the former WR from the Vegas Raiders. He's the perfect underrated guy that we could use to bolster this WR core. Did really well when given the opportunity. I can see him being a Chris Ballard receiver.

I believe Ballard has almost always sat out the first weekend after the first week.   So I wouldn’t expect him to sign anyone today.  

 

Not saying he won’t, only dealing with the expectations game.   I’d think it was much more likely to sign someone tomorrow.   And I think it’s hard for all of us to know who Ballard will sign based on his past offensive signings.   Many of those I’d think were tied to Frank.   Ballard has a new HC now, and I don’t think it’s clear who Steichen might want in week 2 of free agency?      

Just sayin….
 

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

7 minutes ago, richard pallo said:

It is.  All of the projections were much higher on an annual basis.  The devil is in the details.  Maybe he received a lot go guaranteed money?  I would think Risner should be affordable now.  I still think Kelly is gone and they will go with Pinter at center but Fries is in the drivers seat now for guard.  I think Fries starting makes us all nervous.

Let’s just hope Steichen didn’t feel he was a scheme fit. Steichen k owe him well. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

What RG are left out there?

[NFLfan]

8 hours ago, VikingsFanInChennai said:

Fully guaranteed deals like that only could  apply to elite QBs who have played MVP level in recent years. 

 

Who do we have right now? Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Rodgers, Stafford, Hurts, Jackson who have all played at that level. among the list, Rodgers, Stafford and Jackson have been injured or going through lack of high level play in some years. 

 

So, we're talking about around 5 or 6 QBs at a time, that too all these QBs are not demanding fully guaranteed contracts. Mahomes has got 10 year deal for 450 million or so, that allows the team to move cap hit around. Rodgers, Stafford and Allen have traditional contracts. Allen though will have a minimum of 45 million cap hit and maximum of 57 million cap hit, starting next year and after that a year of 41 million cap number. 40+ million is little less than 20% of cap space, 50+ million is more than 25% of cap space. Does that look any better than fully guaranteed deal? It's justifiable for an elite QB coming out of rookie contract, earning for the first time a huge deal, with a minimal chance of seeing similar deal again in his life. 

 

So, whatever way you do, you are looking at 40+ million cap number and all you can do is keep extending the player if he continues to play at high level and if the QB falls off from that level, you take the hit for few more years and see if he regains form or if the setback is only temporary in which case you'd be tied up with him in similar cap hit for 5 more years. 

 

I think you're worrying too much about the cap hit, I think Jackson situation has been highlighted now because Ravens didn't give similar number in their negotiations to what Mahomes and Allen got. Only recently Ravens have upped their side of bargain to around 44 million fully guaranteed deal, for only 3 years. Ravens understandably is an organization who can do with or without Jackson, so they'll try all the ways to get him to the middle ground. Jackson will try his way either with Ravens or with another team in a later year. If it had been another lesser team other than Steelers, they'd have given a 10 year contract to Jackson as Mahomes got and he'd have got to a common ground earlier, with him getting more than what Ravens would. If he doesn't win SB or doesn't take them deep in playoffs, or gets injured for most of the years, team would've to take their loss. It can happen to anyone, Stafford wins a SB, is injured all of next year. If he had not won, that trade would've been a failure for all the multiple first round draft picks given, but that's the risk in it. 

 

To sum up, QB contracts have gone up. Elite QBs in particular will entail 45+ million cap. It's very rare you get a QB who can win games on his own, and there are about 10 such QBs at any time if we're being generous. when a team gets such an elite QB, they've gotta give. 

 

I don't like that QB contracts have gone up over 40+ million average, but when we look at other position groups Elite Guards, Tackles, EDGE rushers, RBs and CBs demand closer to 20 million cap hit. 

 

I think salary cap should go little higher as well, the rate at which cap increases doesn't match the price for contracts than they'd been few years ago, I think the reason is that contract prices have  exploded recently. It looks a lot more lopsided for many position groups and especially QBs, all top positions could cost less too but elite QBs are very few in my opinion. That may also be because of a flurry of young QBs who have panned out better than expected recently in quick succession - Prescott, Mahomes, Watson, Allen, Burrow, Hurts. If Herbert and Lawrence take their play to same level as those guys, it will only keep it higher. 

 

There's a limit to how much QB contracts could go higher, and I think it will level out soon around the current price tag. 

 

It is not just the cap hit. I would not want to give up two first round picks. 

 

I also would not put Jackson on the level of Mahomes. The only other QB who seems to be on the level of Mahomes is Aaron Rodgers. Even Rodgers may not be on that level anymore. 

[NewColtsFan]

7 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

What RG are left out there?

In free agency?    The most notable one is Risner who played pretty good for Denver.   
 

But if we keep Kelly, then it’s possible we’d address RG in the draft with one of the Day 2 picks the Colts have.   35 or 79? 
 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

5 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

In free agency?    The most notable one is Risner who played pretty good for Denver.   
 

But if we keep Kelly, then it’s possible we’d address RG in the draft with one of the Day 2 picks the Colts have.   35 or 79? 
 

Not sure  it will matter if we keep Kelly because we probably already have his replacement with Pinter. I expect them to address Oline in the draft. It just would be nice to have a vet at RG. Fries was ok but not great.  We need a CB and WR Early in the draft.

[NFLfan]

9 hours ago, Aaron86 said:

I would have released him. Before I ever signed him. I think it was a gamble they took. But they should have just let him go. I wonder how all this may effect a them as a team if their leader is not all in.

 

The Ravens like to get compensation for their players. They were not going to cut him but I believe they could have allowed him to leave in free agency. 

 

I don't know what is going on there. They have always seemed like a respected team with good head coaches and a top rated front office. I'm not sure why he would not want some continuity with a team and players he is already familiar with. 

[NewColtsFan]

55 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

I would have paid this in a heartbeat for him. We could have afforded that tbh.

Maybe the fact that he wasn’t healthy in 4 of his 6 seasons played a part in the decision making? 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Colts might be planning on getting a RG pretty high in the draft which would mean they will start so didn’t want to do a multi year deal on a vet. We will see what happens in the draft. I expect them to move down from 35 to get some extra picks.

[NewColtsFan]

10 hours ago, Aaron86 said:

I would have released him. Before I ever signed him. I think it was a gamble they took. But they should have just let him go. I wonder how all this may effect a them as a team if their leader is not all in.

Trading him is one thing.   But releasing him?   A young quarterback in his prime and you want to release him?!?    
 

Who does that? 

[PeterBowman]

This appears to be a pretty deep interior ol draft so maybe that's why.

[Yoshinator]

22 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Maybe the fact that he wasn’t healthy in 4 of his 6 seasons played a part in the decision making? 

Maybe, but who do you trust more, the Colts FO or the Steelers FO? 

[NewColtsFan]

Just now, Jared Cisneros said:

Maybe, but who do you trust more, the Colts FO or the Steelers FO? 

Decisions based on health are never easy.   
 

It’s also entirely possible the Colts plan to address RG in the draft. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Busy day today. 

 

[Patrick Miller]

Well if feels like the colts are done with the first tier of free agency. I’m guessing there won’t be anymore signings until after the draft.

[richard pallo]

3 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Busy day today. 

 

Some teams works on Sunday.

[Colts1324]

34 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Decisions based on health are never easy.   
 

It’s also entirely possible the Colts plan to address RG in the draft. 

Ballard has to have a few signings/trades up his sleeve. 
 

We can’t draft a CB, WR, RG, & QB all within the first 2-3 picks. Expecting a 3rd rounder to start day 1 is a lot to ask for too. 
 

I think Ballard signs a veteran offensive lineman + CB this week. 
 

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

I

 

[Aaron86]

1 hour ago, NewColtsFan said:

Trading him is one thing.   But releasing him?   A young quarterback in his prime and you want to release him?!?    
 

Who does that? 

Why pay someone who doesn't want to be there. And the mess it's created the team. 

Now all they have is a disgruntled player. They are one of the few teams that can win without a elite QB. 

[colts52761]

Still like them to sign Mecole Hardman and Dj Chark. Then we don't have to draft a wr.

[Aaron86]

1 hour ago, NFLfan said:

 

The Ravens like to get compensation for their players. They were not going to cut him but I believe they could have allowed him to leave in free agency. 

 

I don't know what is going on there. They have always seemed like a respected team with good head coaches and a top rated front office. I'm not sure why he would not want some continuity with a team and players he is already familiar with. 

Honestly I think its the HC. I have nothing to back that but I feel like he is running out of time in Baltimore.

 

Also since Ozzie left it feels like they have been on a slight decline since. 

[dw49]

1 hour ago, NewColtsFan said:

Maybe the fact that he wasn’t healthy in 4 of his 6 seasons played a part in the decision making? 

 

Also is going to be 30 and entering his 8th year in the league. Not really IMO a "good fit" considering the money we have invested in our O line as we speak. 

[stitches]

I don't think signing Seumalo to that contract would have been great use of resources for us. While it's fair contract, we are already spending tons of money on our line and especially the interior. I think we should be able to complete the line for much cheaper. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Colds have now tweeted about 3 of the 4 QB. Will probably do Levis tomorrow. I think it’s safe to say they are taking one of the four.

Just now, stitches said:

I don't think signing Seumalo to that contract would have been great use of resources for us. While it's fair contract, we are already spending tons of money on our line and especially the interior. I think we should be able to complete the line for much cheaper. 

Yeah I have changed my mind. We can get a starter in the second round. That player should be able to start right away.

[richard pallo]

1 hour ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Busy day today. 

 

50/75 fully guaranteed.  60/75 totally guaranteed.  Quickly approaching fully guaranteed.  He’s a star tackle not a star quarterback.  It shouldn’t take a long time before we start seeing a few more fully guaranteed contracts.  

[IndyEric07]

So is there a certain time we would have to trade/release Kelly by today? Need to do it already! 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

 

[Solid84]

1 hour ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Busy day today. 

 

Makes Tunsil the highest paid Olineman I believe.

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 hour ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

Busy day today. 

 

I heard Tunsil is on record eating a case of White Castle's, 24 of those bad boys 

[throwing BBZ]

1 hour ago, Colts1324 said:

Ballard has to have a few signings/trades up his sleeve. 
 

We can’t draft a CB, WR, RG, & QB all within the first 2-3 picks. Expecting a 3rd rounder to start day 1 is a lot to ask for too. 
 

I think Ballard signs a veteran offensive lineman + CB this week. 
 

 

 

Expect us to have Chicago's pick 53 and more. CB will look to trade back some at 35 and still get who he wants. I would expect that to be one of several nice RT prospects, yes Smith moves over. Pick 53 gets us a CB.

 Pick 79 fills more needs. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Tunsil was smart to only do a 3 year deal. Will be up for another one by 30.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

18 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

 

Makes sense. Money is better spend on OL, CB or WR help anyway…

[NewColtsFan]

3 hours ago, Aaron86 said:

Honestly I think its the HC. I have nothing to back that but I feel like he is running out of time in Baltimore.

 

Also since Ozzie left it feels like they have been on a slight decline since. 

The slight decline is due to Lamar getting injured and missing large chunks of the last two seasons.    Tough to lose your starting QB and not have some kind of falloff.