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Indianapolis Colts v Jacksonville Jaguars

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The Colts will have quite the different roster when they take the field in September.  A new quarterback, some free agents they’ve signed, their eventual draft class selections but as of right now, have the Colts actually gotten any better from last season?  At the moment it appears they’ve only gotten worse.

So far they’ve waved goodbye to QB Matt Ryan, CB Stephon Gilmore, WR Parris Campbell, LB Bobby Okereke, K Chase McLaughlin, CB Brandon Facyson and DT Byron Cowart.  They’ve added QB Gardner Minshew, DE Samson Ebukam, K Matt Gay, DT Taven Bryan and WR Isiah McKenzie.

Call me crazy but most of the off-season moves seem like lateral moves at best outside of Minshew and Gay.  Minshew should be an upgrade over Matt Ryan, which isn’t saying much, while Gay offers stability and distance for the kicking game, which hasn’t been seen since Vinatieri.  Outside of that, do you see any “win because of” guys that have been added to the roster?  I sure don’t.

The wide receiving group, which was already bad has gotten worse with the departure of Campbell.  The offensive line hasn’t been upgraded at all, the loss of Gilmore in the secondary will likely hurt a lot more than it helps.  For a team that has salary cap space and plenty of needs to address the Colts have been content to sit on their checkbooks.  Which I get to an extent.  There is no quick fix for this team.  This isn’t a one off-season rebuild.  This is going to take time, smart decisions and hitting on draft picks.  But you can’t just hope you hit on every draft pick year in and year out.  You need to eventually start hitting in free agency and watching big names go off the board year after year and waiting for the second, third and fourth wave free agents before making moves is going to keep you a second, third and fourth-place team.

There’s still plenty of off-season left but it sure seems like the Colts are basically done with free agency outside of a couple minor signings. Obviously, the big question is at quarterback which will get solved at the draft.  But wouldn’t you want your future QB to have some weapons to throw to or not be running for his life behind a porous offensive line?  I sure would but maybe that’s just me.

-Marc Dykton

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