Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -3/8- Colts Start Free Agency With Bang, Looking At Additional Important Free Agents

Episode Date: March 8, 2017

Bringing back Jack Doyle to a 3-year deal is exactly what fans and Andrew Luck wanted going forward. The #Colts started free agency strong, and are now looking to other free agents who can step in and improve the roster Day one. Who are they looking at, and who can they reasonably attain? #FreeAgency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. No, I'm not for sale. You are lockeded On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley, and thank you for joining me on this Wednesday, March 8th. And we've got a little bit of news today in the very first day of kind of that legal tampering window. The Colts did re-sign Jack Doyle yesterday, and that is as good as it gets. They ended up signing him to a three

year. I think it ended up being an average of right around 6.3, 6.5 mil per year. Got some incentives. It was over 19 million, the entire contract over the three-year span. There's nothing wrong with that. There's a lot of tight ends out there that are a heck of a lot worse than Doyle. Doyle is a guy who catches everything that comes his way. He's one of Luck's most trusted targets. And I think when Bauer goes through all these guys, is there anybody that's important that could create some sort of lull in the offense or defense? He doesn't want to get rid of those guys. I mean, he does want to turn over this roster, but he doesn't want to get rid of the guys who can benefit the team. Doyle's definitely one of those guys that

can benefit the team. In my opinion, this probably puts Dwayne Allen on not necessarily a chopping block, but it certainly puts him on notice that, hey, one and two, you better A, stay healthy, and B, you better have a killer season next year or we're going to let go of you. Because ultimately, not this year, but next year, he's a little bit cheaper to get rid of. He'll have about $2 million in dead cap, which isn't ideal by any means. Don't get me wrong. But after this season, he had the $11.5 million dead cap last year. Nobody's going to release a guy the year after they sign him.

So he gets $20.17 million under his belt. That would have been three off the cap or three in dead cap space. And then this next year, if he doesn't rise to the occasion, he'll get released. And ultimately what that would do for the 2018 season is save the Colts about four mil. That's, I mean, that's definitely worth it. And in the end, it would save him even more than that because his next year's price, his 2019 year after that, is even more expensive. Smaller dead cap, which ultimately would do something. So what are the options here for Dwayne Allen?

Like I said, he either needs to stay healthy and have a fantastic season. Do they approach him about maybe reworking his contract? Like, hey, look, we wanted to keep both you guys and develop Swoop. Is this something that you'd be interested in doing? If he doesn't, then he better bet on himself because he's not going to be around for the 2018 season if he doesn't impress. So interesting development there with Doyle. He definitely is a guy who's earned the trust of just about anybody and everybody in that Colts locker room for sure.

Teammates especially. The coaching staff loved him. And, I mean, who doesn't love a tight end that can block in both aspects of the game, run and pass, and catch everything that's thrown your way. And he's a good teammate too. Good locker room guy. So he's definitely a guy that the Colts are going to be wanting to keep around. And now they've got him locked up for the next three years and he'll be locked up until he's 30. And that's about perfect age to re-look at somebody at his position as well. So the Colts have their tight end group now kind of, I would say,

more than solidified. It's also, I mean, people didn't want to pay him that kind of money. Look, they've got to spend to the floor. We've talked about this in the past. They've got to get to the 90% of the cap floor. This isn't a big deal. They're not going to be huge spenders. They're going to try to get three, maybe, I would say three would

probably be the max key pieces of vast improvement. You know, edge players, John Simon, a lot of the guys, a lot of the talk right now is that they're heavy after Nick Perry and A.J. Bouye. Two guys that we talked about in the past that we thought would be reasonable targets for them. Bouye would be a phenomenal signing, but that guy's going to command $10 million a year. We're going to have two cornerbacks that are going to be close to total $20 million between the two of them. So that would be something. And not that it makes it to where Vontae's not as important, it makes him even more important because he has to do the same thing. These are definitely contracts.

If, let's say, the Colts signed Bouye, then that means that Vontae Davis is then put on notice. Like, hey, you better be the guy now to have a breakout season, especially at your age and the price that you're costing us. You need to show out because if not, we're going to replace you. And they may try to do that through the draft anyways. And I don't mean that they're going to cut him. I just mean they're going to try to find his replacement. And, you know, if he doesn't stay healthy next year and he doesn't play great or have a vast improvement from the 2016 season,

then he'll be gone the following year as well. And here's a little aside to it. I mean, obviously he's a free agent in 2018, but look, Vontae's 10.25 off the cap this year, 2017. He's only got 1.25 in dead money. That's cheap to get rid of him. If you think, if they draft a top flight corner in the first round this year, and he's everything that they think that they're going to get. I mean, look, they got that possibility just hanging out there. I don't think that they'd cut him. I mean, he's 28 years old.

That's a lot of money, though, to be spending on your cornerbacks, $20 million and a first-round pick. But I think that, you know, it's more than possible if that all goes the way that, you way that if they do sign Bouye, that's a guy that they want for the future. He's not old. He's a guy who can play. He's definitely not a guy who's got a ton of experience either.

But even in the years previous to last, when he wasn't getting 14, 15 games in, he was still very productive, interceptions, batted balls, everything. So this presents, you know, and this is what a new GM who wants to come in and make this team better does. Comes in, here's your competition right here, younger version of you, and maybe even a younger and better version of you, you better keep up or you'll be gone. You know, 2018, he's, Vontae's already gone as it is, but like I said, 1.25 in dead cap, he could, I mean, man, it would not, don't be surprised if that ends up turning out to be the case. You know, the Colts secondary was struggling last year and Vontae was, you know, a large part of it when he was on the field.

He didn't play great. He wasn't terrible, like his numbers and some of the metrics would suggest, but he was not good. He was definitely nowhere near top 15, top 20 corner in the league. That's what ultimately the Colts are looking for if they're going to maintain their 3-4 heavy press man coverage scheme. That's just something that they just don't have a choice in. They need guys who can do that and do it well and that have ball skills and that can pick the ball off. We'll see. I don't think that they'll cut him, but I have this weird feeling in the back of my head that would not surprise me with a dead cap like that.

And to save $9 million, maybe. It just depends. If they get into a position where they want to sign another free agent and they've got $9 million hanging out there that they can probably cut into, don't be surprised, guys. Like George was telling us the other night, none of these guys are Ballard's guys. These are Gr't be surprised guys. Uh, he's, he likes, uh, like George was telling us the other night, none of these guys are Ballard's guys. These are Grigson's guys. These are a very few of them are, are Pullian's guys, but you know, these, these are, this is what new GMs do. They

come in and, uh, find the weeks, uh, spots in the pain and they will split it and put their guys in there and strengthen it. So this is, I mean, it's just going to get wicked right now. You know, this is where we get excited about the offseason. Also, like I mentioned a little bit earlier, they're looking at Nick Perry, apparently. Good solid year this past year. He's a better version of Walden, obviously, as far as in the pass rush, but similar to that, to where he's a good run stopper. And I'm not trying to make Walden out to be a great edge guy. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying he is him with better pass rushing skills

and better everything, but a similar player, not a speedster or anything like that, brings the mean. You guys know that that's the one thing about Walton that I did like, is that he brought the mean all the time. And that's what, Perry does that as well. And he's a good option. I mean, the guy played how many games last year with a big old cast on his arm. I mean, the dude's tough, right? But one of the guys that I'm looking at, I mean, Chris doesn't listen to me, but I really hope that they go after John Simon. I'm really interested in him. That guy has been overshadowed by Merciless, Watt, and Clowney the past couple years, and the dude is as solid as it gets. Great against the run.

He's a guy who can line up in multiple areas on the front. And you get that kind of guy in there that just brings all sorts of diversity along that line. And that's what you want, especially when you're a team who is rebuilding around a franchise quarterback. You want guys who can move around that can disguise fronts and stuff like that. I don't know if they're looking at him or not. I've not seen any reports about Simon, but that, you know, if they get, if they get Perry and they get Bouye, you could probably just forget about Simon. Although I think Simon would be a cheaper version of Perry. And I dare to say that I think Simon would actually be better than Perry in the end. I think he fits it better.

I think he fits more of what they want better. I think he's the best run defender out of all of them. And I also think that he's as good when he's given the opportunity to rush the passer. The dude had like four sacks last year, nothing to write home about. But I mean, he was not the primary pass rusher. I don't even know if he was a secondary. I mean, like I said, when you got all those guys on there, he got a little bit of action because Watt was injured, but that was it. I mean, it was mainly, they were rushing their linebackers. They were rushing merciless. They were trying to set stuff up for clowning outside of a five tech, you know, to where they could get him some action in the backfield. And, you know, Simon was one of the guys who just come in. And when he came in, he was fantastic. Pro Football Focus did a thing where they basically did like

a percentage of pressure or sacks or something of the sort like that. You guys would have to go read it. But Simon was number two on that list. And that, you know, that's one of those metrics that actually means something. It's not just a grade because nobody knows how the grade is figured. This is something that actually shows you how efficient he was when he was in the game, and that's something that's important as well, kind of a football outsider's version of individual play. Another couple of guys who have gotten some interest from the Colts,

apparently, you know, via reports, um, Washington Redskins defensive end, Chris Baker and defensive end Jack Crawford out of Dallas. Now I don't know much about those guys at all, but you know, those are, I mean, this is what the Colts want to do, right? They want to rebuild that front seven and they need another corner and then they're going to draft around it. That is pretty much textbook way of building your team. That's a lot of free agency for Chris Ballard saying that he wasn't really going to go crazy in free agency. But look, he's looking at a defensive end. He's looking at edge guy and he's looking at corner in free agency. If he can get one at all three of those positions, regardless if it's any of the names that we've already talked about,

then he's doing his job, right? He's making it to where when he goes into the draft, he doesn't have to draft the entire defense. He can draft these guys to line up opposite the people that he's brought in in free agency that he believes in, or he can bring them in as depth for the following year or just whatever. He's doing it the right way. I have a lot of trust in him. And you really, I mean, scour the internet and try to go find something where somebody says something negative about Ballard. I don't care if it's somebody

that's coached against him in the AFC West, for that matter, the NFC North when he was in Chicago. Everybody just loved the guy. It was almost like he was the GM everywhere he's been, even when he was just a scout or something like that. I mean, the guy draws rave reviews. It's nothing but excitement right now. So that's kind of where we're at right now. The Colts are doing their due diligence. Ballard's kicking the tires on some guys that he thinks can come in and make a difference. Poe is still out there. They're saying that he wants around $10 million. Now, I know that a lot of people want him because he's a big name, but I've also heard a lot of people make really solid arguments

that there's a lot of guys out there that are better than Poe. His tape's better and may not have quite the statistic factor or just whatever. But a guy like Hankins out of the Giants, a lot of people are high on him. I mentioned him in a podcast months ago, but didn't kind of have forgotten about him since. But he's a fantastic, fantastic run stopper. So, I mean, any of these guys, like I said, anything along the line, any kind of a linebacker, whether it's inside or outside at least, and an edge and, you know, a corner, somebody in the secondary, whether they can land a guy like Tony Jefferson, we don't know, but he's going to require a lot of money too.

They're talking about him getting $7 million to $8 million as well. So, I mean, think about that. That's going to add up quick. If you were to get any of those guys, Bouye, Jefferson, those two together would be probably right at around $17 million a year combined. Obviously, Nick Perry, another $6 million or $8 million. If they're talking about getting a free agent guard, you just don't know. They're going all around.

They're kicking the tires. And they're going to probably sit down and say, these are the guys that are interested, and here's who we should get. I mean, let's take the best of the best of these guys and move on. Whether they leave a position out. I mean, they're not going to sign seven guys in free agency. I mean, not the big-time guys because, A, they don not going to sign seven guys in free agency. I mean, not the big-time guys because, A, they don't have the money,

and, B, that's just not an intelligent move. But if you're getting quality free agents at 25, 26 years old, I don't understand the negativity towards it. You can say you want to build through the draft all you want, but let me tell you, these guys are free agents because they can't be paid by their teams. Not because they're not good. There's a huge difference. A huge difference. A lot of these guys that come out, I mean, a lot of the free agents in the past, Leron Landry, he wasn't even supposed to require a big payday and he was garbage. Nobody wanted him, but the Colts did because he was a big name,

and he looked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in a 6'2 body. That's just the way it was. Grigson was all about the high name, high dollar. Walden ended up being the best out of all of them. I have to give Grigson some credit, though. Early, first couple years, he did focus on the offensive line. Just none of them worked. It just was bad luck and injuries, and it just didn't work out. I have full trust in Chris Ballard, and I think you guys do, too. Let's

just look forward to it. This is only one day of free agency, and it's kind of just the illegal tampering period, or the legal tampering period, I guess I should say. And so now the Colts are maybe going to resign one or two of their other guys. We just don't really know. I don't think a lot of them are going to require a lot of money. Like you guys heard George talk about last night, if they feel Walden is pricing himself out of Indianapolis, they're going to let him go. He's not somebody they need to tug on the back of the shirt and say, please come back. He's not that good. But he would be a solid signing at about what he was already making. So if he wanted to do that, I think that would be a good signing by Ballard

if he thinks that Walden fits what he wants to do going forward. Well, thank you guys for joining me again. A bit of a quick hitter, although we're closing in on about 19, 20 minutes here. But thank you guys for joining me. Make sure you guys get out and subscribe to the podcast. Hit me up with a review on iTunes. I would really appreciate that. Thank you guys for all the kind words.

Really appreciate all you guys are all the kind words. Really appreciate all you guys are doing out there. Let's make this Locked on Colts podcast grow. There's a lot of competition right now popping up with Colts podcast. So I've heard, and I want to be the best Colts podcast that you guys have your ears plugged into every day. So go out there and do that. Make it happen. And I'll talk to you guys all tomorrow, right here on Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. We'll see you next time.