Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Favorite Free Agency Fits for the Indianapolis Colts

Episode Date: March 11, 2021

On today's episode, Evan and Stampede Blue's Stephen Reed go over their favorite fits for the Indianapolis Colts in free agency. Who makes the cut? Not surprisingly, a couple of frequent names make an appearance, but also notice the trend. Pass rush and adding weapons for new quarterback Carson Wentz.Before we dive into all of this, though, we quickly go over more veteran cuts around the NFL. Who makes sense for Indy? After signing Xavier Rhodes and Justin Houston as former cuts, keep an eye on Indy doing this again for a third straight year.Evan believes stealing one or maybe two offensive weapons from division rival Tennessee makes so much sense. Jonnu Smith and Corey Davis are names to watch out for once the legal tampering period officially opens. Curtis Samuel is another underrated option if Indy decides to let T.Y. Hilton walk in free agency.Pass rush is crucial for Indy to take the next step in 2021. Who makes sense for them to pursue? Watch out Romeo Okwara and Carl Lawson, two of our favorite fits in the whole 2021 free agency class.All of this, plus so much more, in a jam-packed free agency preview episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome back to the latest episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's guest is Evan Cedric, joined by a frequent guest on the show, Stephen Reed of Stampede Blue. He was actually on yesterday's episode as well. A late call to the bullpen here as we had to reschedule a guest.

He'll be coming on, a special guest for tomorrow on our Friday episode. But in the meantime, we're going to go ahead and do a free agency preview, so to say. We already had a couple of those with Kevin Bowen and Jimimmy ello stevens also about the free agency a little bit but a little bit different today we're going to talk about the cuts around the nfl we all know chris bauer loves doing that signing veterans for a cut we've seen xavier rhodes last year just to houston the year before that so let's talk about that first off steven then we're going to close the show talk about me and you personally our favorite free agency fits for the colts in this draft or excuse in this free agency class.

Around $47 million of cash based to Colts out officially, with the number being $182.5 million. But Stephen, how you doing today, man? I'm doing well, Evan. Glad to be back on again, two nights in a row. I'm excited to talk about some potential free agents. Yeah, absolutely. Let's go ahead and do that, Stephen.

And then first off, let's go ahead and do that steven and then first off let's hit on the cut list here and we saw some intriguing names released over the last 24 or so hours malcolm butler of tennessee emmanuel sanders in new orleans a wide receiver john brown in buffalo quentin jefferson in buffalo as well riley reef in minnesota their left tackle there's a couple options out there we now know like i mentioned top the show, that Bauer loves to go ahead and do some veteran transactions as far as cuts and not count against the conflict for him, which we talked about in yesterday's episode as well,

Steven. I really believe, in my opinion, the Colts might get one of these guys. There's going to be more cuts happening over the next five or so days once free agency officially happens next week. But in the meantime, this list is really intriguing to me, and especially if a Zach Ertz in Philadelphia eventually gets cut, which seems like it's going to go that way.

I have to imagine that the Colts are going to maybe add one or two of these guys off of this list. And like I mentioned, going to be more of that list growing here in the next couple of days. Yeah, I think this list is where Chris Ballard might actually do the majority of his signings is the guys that are recently cut. Like you mentioned, Riley Reeve, Kyle Van Nooy, the linebacker press rusher from the Dolphins was cut as well.

Kevin Zietler, the guard from the Giants. There's a lot of guys that are going to get cut within the next few days leading up to the March 17th deadline at 4 p.m. for teams to have to be under the cap. Teams that I would look for to see if they're going to cut or potentially trade players for cheap are teams that are like way over the cap. For example, New Orleans, Philadelphia, both of those teams are just like, I think like 25 and like $30 million over the cap going into today. I don't know how much they've gotten down to30 million over the cap going into today.

I don't know how much they've gotten down to get closer to the cap number, but every team has to be at whatever their adjusted salary cap is on March 17th at 4 PM. So you're going to see this list of players that are cut grow. Like you mentioned earlier, the big thing with Chris Ballard and taking these guys is they don't count against the compensatory pick formula. Compensatory pick formula only counts unrestricted free agents that have completed their contracts with their now former team. If a player is cut, they don't

count. And so that's why you've seen, for example, Xavier Rhodes. Last year, he was cut by Minnesota. You saw Justin Houston two years ago. He was cut by Kansas City. That's where Chris Ballard really likes to focus in free agency because you can get guys for usually a little bit cheaper going that route, and they don't count against you in the compensatory pick formula this year, especially with having potentially four guys, four or five guys that could really get decent contracts in unrestricted free agency from the Colts. Chris Ballard's looking at potentially getting at least four compensatory picks next year in that round four, round five range,

which for him has been a pretty successful group of picks in there. He's very good at his scouting. He can get guys early in day three that can be contributors. So I look at this and I say, all right, you've got guys like Riley Reif make a ton of sense for the Colts because obviously you need a left tackle. If you want to get a guy, we talked about this yesterday when I mentioned Deontay Smith as a potential East Carolina

potential left tackle prospect. He's very raw. So having a guy like Riley Reif there for a year who plays next to Quentin Nelson, he's going to have a good year, gives Deontay Smith or a draft pick somebody time to develop. You have that speedster, that vertical speedster like John Brown from Buffalo who has been pushed out. You've got a lot of different options,

even in the secondary Malcolm Butler from Tennessee makes a lot of sense. You're going to have a lot of options there, at least from this cut list, that I think you're going to see Chris Ballard possibly delve into more than he goes into unrestricted free agency. You have to think, Stephen, too, like the Riley Reif thing. Let's hit on him just for a second because he was cut today by the Minnesota Vikings. He's I would say underperformed on his contract inside Minnesota it sounds like a former Viking Xavier Rhodes as well who did very well for

himself his one year in Indy it sounds like according to Stephen Holder he's gonna be going elsewhere this year Holder mentioned today in his report that Rhodes' camp and the Colts haven't even talked at all really over this whole process that sounds like Rhodes after a huge year in Indy is gonna be on his way out and get a big payday and the Colts could maybe reap the benefits with a comp pick at 2022. But it seems to me like Riley Reif could be Xavier Rhodes 2.0 where he maybe underperformed on his contract, the big contract he signed in Minnesota, but on a one-year deal, a proven deal in Indy,

like let's say $7 million, $8 million, you draft a left tackle in the second or third or fourth round and you can reap the benefits and have Riley Reif be sort of your new Xavier Rhodes where if he does perform very well whether it be a rookie or a veteran Steven I have to imagine whoever's playing left tackle next year is going to have a career best year with Quentin Nelson next to him at left guard and Ryan Kelly at center so that to me seems like a very very shrewd move by Chris Ballard where it's not going to be right in his real wheelhouse there yeah and playing in an offensive line like the Colts have,

we've talked about it before, it's from left guard to right tackle, they're set. And so you bring in a left tackle, it's almost identical to the Xavier Rhodes situation in that he's going to go to a system that is kind of built for him to succeed. And Xavier Rhodes came from Minnesota, came to Indianapolis, got put in a system where it was very easy for him to succeed if he just did what he was supposed to do. That's going to be the same situation with a guy like Riley Reeves.

He comes in and just plays adequate to above average, then it's going to be just a huge success for him as a signing. And he's 32 years old, so he's probably only got one or two contracts left or one or two years left before he looks to hang them up. So this might be his last shot to try to go win a ring. And with the offense that the Colts could potentially have and the defense they could have, it's a pretty good shot there in Indianapolis. So I wouldn't be shocked to see him come to the Colts

and be that stopgap at the left tackle position. It would be a pretty good option there. Another name here on this list, Stephen, if T.Y. Hilton were to go on the way out, you could maybe get a cheaper option. Emmanuel Sanders in New Orleans had a very good year last year with all the issues with that quarterback there. Drew Brees was injured a little bit last year with his ribs.

Taysom Hill proved to not be the quarterback of the future in New Orleans the way he played in a couple games. We saw him more so like a Tim Tebow than anything else, in my opinion. But with him, you have to wonder, maybe Emmanuel Sanders could be an option. If T.Y. Hilton cashes out somewhere else, John Brown in Buffalo is a really intriguing option to me, where he could kind of be T.Y. Hilton 2.0, a discount price.

They really are the same position, run the same routes, same speed. I think Brown still has more legs in arm at this point than T.Y. Hilton does first pre-separ separation. I think those are teams to watch for, Stephen. If they were to let T.Y. walk, that could replace him. Yeah, if T.Y. goes elsewhere, Emmanuel Sanders or John Brown makes a lot of sense. You know, Emmanuel Sanders is just he's just a different, like he's 32. He had a good year last year i'm not sure how much

of an upgrade or even how much of a even keel that's going to be because remember emmanuel sanders you know he's in an offense where the saints offense was weird last year um with drew breeze for part of the season you know mich, Michael Thomas being out a lot, he was thrown to, I think he had like 90, almost 100 targets last year, caught 66. And so it's just an odd offense there for New Orleans last year specifically. So I don't know where really how much Emmanuelers would fit in

what the colts do john brown is interesting because we've talked about it before that the colts look for that vertical threat with carson wentz because he really likes to throw deep and john brown is a guy that can fly so he's had injury issues so that's the big concern with john brown is can he still stay healthy um but yeah if ty ty goes elsewhere either of those guys you know would be at least uh an equal move uh from equal maybe a slight downgrade i think with emmanuel sanders um john brown gives you a little bit more upside just because he's younger, he's faster. He's still got a lot to learn.

So that would be the tough part. I'd be really interested to see what other wide receivers become available over the next five days. Any more names, Steve, on this list of veteran cuts before we dive into our favorite reads, if that's something you stand out to as far as a fit in Indigos? The one that I would look at, just, you know, I like Kyle Vann, as a guard prospect, uh, to, to push either push Glowinski or to have him as, you know, veteran presence there as that six, that,

that inside guy that can, that can play in a pinch. Um, those are the guys that I really kind of like. There was talks of Kyle Long making a comeback. I'm not quite as sure about that. Carlos Dunlap is an interesting name. He was a defensive end, was released by the Seahawks. He's had some issues recently in terms of his play, but when he was with Cincinnati, he played really well, He's had some issues recently in terms of his play, but when he was with Cincinnati, he played really well, got a big contract from Tampa Bay, got cut.

And then I don't know whether he went back to Cincinnati or he ended up going out to Seattle right after Tampa Bay, but he had some inconsistent play once he got paid. In terms of the positions I'd look for, I'd look for a pass rusher and then offensive line help. In the next handful of days, we'll see what

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Steven, to our favorite free agency fits. We're going to probably see that list of cuts grow more over the next week. Plus, and we'll obviously dive into that on the podcast as that happens, but favorite free agency fits in this class, actually tweet us out. We're recording us here on Wednesday evening.

This will be going on here on Thursday. But watching more of Johnnie Smith in the last couple of hours, and I've watched him really for the last couple of days, very underutilized in Tennessee. I mean, you have A.J. Brown there. You have Corey Davis. You have to wonder what Corey Davis' future there could be. I think they're going to prioritize him over bringing back Johnnie Smith

with the way they are. And in the running game, of course, with Derrick Henry, one of the best running backs in the NFL. Very play-action heavy there. I really do love John New Smith's fit in Indianapolis. I know it's right down the road a division rival in Tennessee. I think stealing him from the Titans would be a very sweet thing to do if you're in the cold position because he fits so well within Frank Reich's offense. I see a guy at age 25 turns 26

here in August. So he's just entering the prime of his career where he could be a consistent like eight to 900 yards per year, 10 to 12 touchdowns per year guy in Frank Reich's offense as the Eric Ebron 2.0, an upgraded version of Eric Ebron. He's a faster athlete, very much more reliable hands than Eric Ebron, a willing blocker. Ebron was just a terrible excuse for a blocker in Annapolis for a couple of years. Barely ever tried as far as blocking goes. More versatile as far as they can do it. I mean, you do some screens with him, do a couple more routes

that Ebron really never could run in Indy. And I think personally, it feels like to me, Johnny Smith is a guy who's just ready to explode in the right situation. And I feel like Indy's that place for him. He's my number one guy as far as favorite fits go. For the offense to boost it up with Carson Wentz as their quarterback now. You add Jonu Smith in the mix with whether it be T.Y. Houghton, another veteran receiver, with Paris Campbell if he's healthy, Michael Pittman Jr. and Jonathan Taylor. That's a very

intriguing fit. Jonu Smith at only age 25 really could be a long-term piece to their core as well. I love the idea of bringing in Jon Johnny Smith out of Tennessee. He really is a perfect fit for this offense and what Frank Reich does. Like you mentioned, he's a willing blocker. He's very good at every aspect of the game that the Colts like to focus on. I feel like that would be a perfect pick. I focus my free agency asked my free

agency is mainly focused on the defense specifically with the address er I thought it was interesting this year for maybe the first time in first time in recent memory there weren't any defensive ends or edge rushers tagged. So this edge rusher market is going to be flush with talent. So you're probably going to be able to get a guy for a little bit cheaper than what you would in normal years. Cause normally you've got, you know, a couple, a couple of your top guys are tagged last year, but pre was tagged. I can't remember who else got the tag last year but i know every year you don't you just don't have a group of edge rushers where none of them are tagged and so like this year

you've got you know shaq barrett jadevan clown yannick and gogway carl lawson bud jude pre leonard floyd hassan reddick trey hendrickson mat Matthew Judon, Romeo Acquara, and I'm not even bringing up Danico Autry, Justin Houston, or Al-Qaedin Mohamed. You also have Tyus Bowser from Baltimore. You've got probably 10 solid edge rushers. And when you look at this class and you say, okay, you've got a lot of edge rushers, but what does the cap space look like across the nfo i think you've got like 10 to 13 teams that are struggling to get under the cap right now so they're they're not probably going to be signing these big name contracts majority of teams i think are probably within like 10 to 15 million dollars of the cap you've got to recognize you have to allocate eight million

dollars for you resigning your dropbacks right around there um so you're gonna have an opportunity to get some of these addressers for cheap so my my guy that i've talked about ad nausea on on this podcast on on my own podcast of pod afternoon pancakes with Jared over on Stampede Blue, is Romeo Aquara. I just think that he's a perfect fit for this defense and what the Colts are looking to do. I think he's an ascending talent. I think you can get him for fairly cheap.

I think you can get him for a three-year deal, probably right around $30 million. And I'd feel very confident about that in getting just an ascending edge rushing talent from a team like Detroit. And you're going to be able to just have him grow in this defense. And he's a great character guy hard worker he's developed

he was the only pass rusher they had last year in detroit and yet he was still putting up numbers so that's the that's the guy that i think would be my my one target if i had to just pick one right off the top now i know we get to pick a bunch right now, but Romeo Acquara would be my number one target for the Colts. I love Acquara. I think he's the most realistic edge target when you just look at the price, the age. He's only, I believe, in his mid-25s. Yeah, 25, 26. He's right in the range of a guy who could really start to explode here in the part of his career in the prime, where next to DeForest Buckner you also add in Grover Stewart Darius Leonard and Bobby Okereke at the linebacker spot he's a guy to

me that could average 10 plus sacks per year in Indy he's at 10 to 12 million dollars I think that's probably what his range is going to be I prefer Aguara over like Shaq Barrett at 20 million I prefer him over even like a Carl Lawson at 14 to 15 like I don't think there's much difference between the both of those guys. I feel like Acquara really was the whole Lions defense last year. Go back and watch a Lions game. It really is Acquara getting a lot of pressure and everything else around him is just really, really bad.

And I have to imagine with an elite defense going from a poor one to an elite one, Acquara would fit right in an Indy. Off the field as well. He just checks so many boxes that Chris probably looks for in the locker room. I really love what you mentioned there, Steven, about Romeo Acquara. I think he's right up there for me. 1A, 1B, as far as a best free agency pick goes for the Colts. And if I had to bet right now, I think Acquara is going to be one of the earliest signs by the Colts in free agency at a discount rate around like $10 to $12 million on a two or three-year deal. I won't be shocked

by that. I think he has a chance to really be a high-impact free agent signing by the Colts or someone else if he were to get that type of money. But my guy on the list here, thinking over the options we talked about on the podcast the last couple weeks with some other guests as well, Steven, not intentional. That's another guy in a division here, but another one from Tennessee as well. I mean, if T.Y. Hilton were to walk, I feel like the one guy I feel comfortable paying some big good money to, like around $10 million to $12 million per year. If it gets more than that, I have to imagine I'd walk away from it. But if he wants to come to a contender on a discount,

Corey Davis is one that really intrigues me because Jim Iloa, the Indy star he brought to me, that's like his dream scenario for the Colts if T.Y. were to walk is getting Corey Davis on board. You see what he does in Tennessee with a bigger wideout across from him than A.J. Brown. I know Michael Piment Jr. is definitely not the level of AJ Brown yet, but having both those guys for size and then Harris Campbell as the speedster

in the middle, even still at six foot, that gives Wentz three taller targets. Also Corey Davis is six foot four. MPJ is six foot four. I feel like both those guys is on the opposite ends of each other. Go, go in 50, 50 jump balls. They're both really good as far as inside out runners go in this, in the slants and even the digs and the fade routes. I do really love the fit of Corey Davis aesthetically in Indy,

where if you don't get a Johnnie Smith and let T.Y. Hilton walk, maybe you get Corey Davis and you pay a little bit more than you would for T.Y. Hilton to get a player who once again, a former top five pick is ascending into, I think the primest career at age 25, 26 years old. Yeah, if I were going to target a wide receiver in free agency,

I think that probably is the guy I would go after because he's not going to be commanding that Juju Smith, Schuster, Kenny Galladay number of upwards of $16 million, $17 million a year, you're going to be able to save a little bit of money. And yet he's still incredibly talented and I think was underutilized there in Tennessee. And I like the shade of grabbing two of Tennessee's players in Johnny Smith and Corey Davis and having them excel

in the Colts offense just to add a little fuel to that to that divisional rivalry there so yeah and yeah I just I really like it I just that's just the type of person I am apparently. So when I look at this list, a guy that I'm going to bring up a guy that we haven't really talked about that I think could be – I know we've talked about – I'm going wide receiver here. I know we've talked about Nelson Aguilar before, but a guy that I think could be an interesting fit for the Colts is a guy like Curtis Samuel from Carolina. I don't know if any of your other guests have brought him up yet, but he's got a lot of talent.

He has had a spotty quarterback play in Carolina. Once Christian McCaffrey went down, it pretty much got rid of the play action game that they'd be able to use. Curtis Singleton has got a ton of ability and I think he'd come relatively cheap. He'd come in that same range as like a Corey Davis. I think, I don't think he's going to get that top tier money. And so that's kind of where I would think that the Colts would go next if I was going to take a bet and they didn't double up at edge rusher because if we're going to double up position, I've got another guy that I want to talk about.

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Subscribe to LockedOnNFL wherever you get your podcasts. I'm not trying to maybe spurn some Colts fans here with saying this but i think it's a fair assessment to make especially for antsy coming up here in the next couple days and the colts really need to add some juice here offensively with some explosion on offense with cory davis and curtis samuel i think those are the two most realistic guys they were to go on the outside maybe pay a little bit more than what for ty hilton to add that to their offense moving forward here in the long term because i feel like either sam or Corey Davis would be a long-term piece for them, like four, five, six years.

I think either one of those guys would thrive in Indy and have a very long career here. In my opinion, Stephen, let's say you want to pay T.Y. $8 million to $9 million per year or Corey Davis or Curtis Samuel $10 million to $12 million or even for a guy like Davis maybe $12 million to $14 million per year. I would prefer both Davis and Samuel at those price tags compared to T.Y. holding even at $8 million to $9 million per year. I would prefer both Davis and Samuel at those price tags compared to T.Y. Hilton even at $8 to $9 million per year. I'm just valuing the age. I'm valuing the explosive element, the offense they'd add,

especially with Carson Wentz on board now. You have to kind of go for it. Yeah. The only thing that I have a question about is if you're getting T.Y. Hilton for $4 million less than say we can getting T.Y. Hilton for $4 million less, then say we can get T.Y. for $8 million a year, and then the cheapest you can get Curtis Samuel or Corey Davis is $12. The one reason why I would possibly consider going with T.Y. in that scenario is the way that colleges are developing wide receivers. They're spitting out

wide receivers that are pro-ready or can be immediate contributors within the first couple of years at a pretty good pace, especially in the past three years. The wide receiver position itself has been really, really deep. So that's my only concern with going out and paying Kenny Galladay or Juju Smith or any of these guys that big, big contract. Same thing with paying Corey Davis $14 million a year. That's my big concern with them is, is the wide receiver position becoming the running back position where you can get guys that can come in and they've been coached well in college, they can come in and contribute immediately or within the first year, first two years? He ended up starting to really take coverage. Defense is focused on Michael Pittman Jr. versus going and playing off T.Y. That's why you saw T.Y. explode in the month of the latter part of the season in November or December.

So that'd be my only concern on it. But if I had to, if I couldn't take the draft fix into account, I'm probably looking at Corey Davis over Curtis Samuel and T.Y. Hilton in that situation. The last guy here I want to bring up, Stephen, and I'll throw back your way for one more as well, and maybe we can close things out,

talking about just the overall class of free-ins and what the Colts could do here. I think the last guy on my list is an edge rusher. hit on one that I think it's the most realistic option at Romeo Arquara but I think one that to me I know he doesn't fit the the arm length thing arm length be damned to me Steven because I feel like at this point he's a guy with so much juice behind him he's very explosive very twitchy he I think he's, 5th, or 90th percentile for 40-yard dash for edge rushers. He has 31.5-inch arms.

He doesn't have to hit the 33-inch arm length mark that we see with Kamoko Ture, Ben Bandigo, and others. And Chris Bowden obviously has valued that tree over the years when scouting pass rushers. But, man, Carl Lawson next to DeForest Buckner would be so much fun. I mean, I would pay him – I know I mentioned I'd probably pay out $10 million to $12 million over like a $14 million, $15 million for Carl Lawson. But let's say the Colts were interested at that price for Carl Lawson.

I'm all aboard it. I'm not saying I wouldn't be opposed to it because I think him, on his second contract, wherever he goes, it's going to be obviously outside Cincinnati after they franchise tag him. He's going to, I think, do very good things wherever he lands. And especially if he were to land an Indy, man, that's a really fun fit there. That's my guy. That's my other guy that I was going to bring up is Carl Lawson at the edge position. My stance since January has been Colts need to sign Carl Lawson and Romero Acquire it and just fix the edge position in this one draft. It's similar

to what Green Bay did with Zedaria Smith and Preston Smith in the same free agent class. They just brought them both in, fixed the edge position, and kind of ran with it. Putting Carl Lawson and Romero Acquara on opposite sides and then having Grover Stewart and a first-team all-pro DeForest Buckner there at defensive tackle I am not being shy when I say this that is literally the best defensive line in the NFL at that point because I believe so much in Carl Lawson and Romeo Aquara being just such great pass rushers together and then having DeForest Buckner there to pull the blocking assignment away from those edge rushers together and then having DeForest Buckner there to pull the blocking assignment away from those edge rushers, they can just absolutely feast against opposing offenses.

And I love the Carl Lawson pick. Yes, I know that he doesn't meet all the necessary trait requirements that Chris Ballard normally looks for. Chris Ballard in the past has gone outside of his blueprint for guys that are special. Kenny Moore, for example, is a perfect fit for that. Guys that don't quite fit what he's looking for, but they're just really, really good football players and do one thing very, very well. Carl Lawson checks that box. He is a very, very good football player that rushes the passer very well. I want to say during the year, during the end of the year, Carl Lawson came out and said that the Bengals

intentionally told him not to use all his pass rushing moves. And I remember Robert Mathis responding to that and saying, who tells a pass rusher to hold back? That's ridiculous. The Colts aren't going to tell Carl Lawson to hold back. They're going to tell him, pin his ears back and go get it. I think he's a perfect fit in this defense and pairing him up with a Romero acquired free agency.

I would, I know people say, oh, that's a pipe dream. They're not going to go and address two. They're not going to sign two big-name free agents at the defensive end position. I don't know. I could see Chris Ballard being very, very aggressive this year with the defensive end position and then kind of picking out from the cup players,

filling out the rest of the roster so then he has a pretty open slate going into the draft and he can do whatever he wants. So I would love it if they were able to go ahead and grab Carlos and I think he'd be a great fit in this defense. Yeah, for those wondering, just a couple of options to go with what Green Bay did with Preston Smith and Zedaria Smith. Zedaria Smith was $16.5 million annually. Preston Smith was $13 million annually. So a total of $29.5 million per year for both those guys over a long-term contract.

It seemed like Preston Smith might be cut. So that's something to watch here because the Colts were in a bidding war. Not really a bidding war because the Colts backed out of it. But Green Bay and the Colts were the last two teams for Preston Smith. So maybe he's one of those guys we talked about at the beginning of the show. If he's cut, you can watch out for it on a proven contract at Indy. But I think with the COVID-19 depletion as far as the salary cap goes, you can probably get Acquara and Lawson too, Stephen, for less than $30 million annually combined each year for both those guys.

And it could be maybe closer to $25 million per year. Maybe you can get Acquara for $10 million or $11 million, get Lawson for around $13 million, $14 million. Like that's $25 million per year for two guys. That really does make a lot of sense to me, and that could really solve a lot of problems, make that a top five, top three defense in the NFL in pretty short order. But we went over our top three favorite guys on each list, and we really share some of the same ones there as well

that we didn't touch on personally. Really, all six of those guys you mentioned are our top six fits. But anyone else out there, Stephen, that wasn't a veteran cut over the last couple days? Just what you've seen over on the free-in to market over the last couple weeks that really stands out to you as far as a fit with the Colts? We've mentioned before Keller Witherspoon. I've seen Francisco as a guy I think would be a pretty good fit.

Gerald Everett would be another one. A guy that could be an interesting fit for the Colts is somebody that we haven't really talked about is Titus Bowser from Baltimore. If we're looking at the wide receiver position, a guy like Keelan Cole would be interesting or a D.D. Westbrook. Both of them were Jacksonville receivers, so there's some familiarity within the division. There's a lot of different options there in unrestricted free agency this year. When we talk about making these signings, yes, the Colts have about $43 million worth of cap space after the Carson Wentz trade comes through.

Just because we're saying, okay, they're going to use an average of $25 million for, say, for example, these two pass rushers in Romeo Carr, Carl Lawson, and our hypothetical, doesn't mean that they're necessarily going to count $25 million against this year's cap. Based on how they structure the contracts, they could count for $10 million on this year's cap, and then they just stretch that contract out to be placed in years where you know that revenue is going to go up. Now, the Colts have been good about spending their cap the same year that they spend their cash. So they've been pretty good at making sure it all lines up. So then they've got a lot of cap space in the future.

But if there was a year that they were going to try to limit their cap number on potential free agent signings, this would likely be that year. It's going to be a fun free agency, Stephen. And then we're closing in and this might be the last time I have you on before the first wave opens up officially at the legal temporary period. And then we'll see signings after that. But once the legal temporary period opens on Monday, we're probably gonna see some signings come in as far as the first wave goes. And we'll be able to officially react to that earlier in the week, Stephen,

but really appreciate coming on today to go over our free agency fits, go over as quickly as well. Some cut options for the Colts that won't count against the conflict formula. We know it's kind of the Chris Bauer special there. So if you have not already go and follow Steven on Twitter over at nice read Steve. And like he mentioned earlier, go read list to his work as always over on stampede blue.com. Steven, appreciate the time, man.

Thanks Evan.