Insider: Colts have plenty of cap space, how will Chris Ballard spend it?

INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts find themselves in the NFL’s sweet spot for roster-building right now.

They have a rookie quarterback, Anthony Richardson, on a rookie deal for at least the next three seasons, potentially four, and they have a mountain of salary cap space.

How will Colts general manager Chris Ballard use it?

“We have more flexibility right now than we’ve had the last few years,” Ballard said. “A little bit of that is we’re not paying a quarterback big money anymore. We’re going to have some more flexibility. We’ll always be prudent, but we’ll be as aggressive as we need to be in free agency with players that we think can help us.”

Indianapolis is currently projected to have more than $72 million in salary cap space available in 2024, according to Spotrac.

A significant chunk of that number will likely go to locking up their own free agents — the Colts have more big names in line to hit free agency than usual — but there should still be plenty available to make a high-dollar move, the kind Ballard has traditionally reserved for quarterbacks.

“If a golden nugget sits in our face, of course we’re going to do it,” Ballard said. “If an opportunity presents itself to get a difference-maker, we’ll do it. Usually, those difference makers. … If you just look across the league, how many of them actually hit the market? … There’s a reason, usually, they’re hitting the market.”

Ballard was talking about the free agent market at the time, and to his point, the big-name stars rarely seem to reach unrestricted free agency.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t players of that caliber available. Four years ago, Ballard quietly built a deal with San Francisco general manager John Lynch at the Super Bowl for DeForest Buckner, a premier player the 49ers brass believed they could not sign to the type of long-term extension he’d earned.

Indianapolis happily made Buckner the second-highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL, a deal that has paid off handsomely. Buckner has anchored the defensive line for four seasons, averaging a tick over eight sacks despite facing a never-ending string of double teams during his career in Indianapolis.

The Colts entered that offseason with more than $80 million in cap space, similar to the situation Indianapolis is facing now.

“It’s the fit of the player into the locker room, and then whatever you’re paying that player, that he can earn and is worth the amount of money you’re paying him,” Ballard said. “It’s a fine line.”

Buckner has been worth it.

The other big-money signing the Colts made that offseason was Philip Rivers, the second in a long line of quarterbacks who got significant salaries from Indianapolis, albeit for only a season or two — Rivers, Jacoby Brissett, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan.

Richardson’s presence takes that kind of investment out of the equation.

“It opens the world up a little bit more financially, which is a good thing here going forward,” Ballard said.

New contracts for key Colts, most notably wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., loom in place of the quarterback investment. Pittman is coming off a 109-catch, 1,152-yard season and has averaged 98.7 catches over the past three years, and he enters a wide receiver market that’s exploding. Eight receivers earn more than an average of $23 million per year, and that number is likely going up this offseason.

Pittman knows it, and plans to find out the market’s appraisal of his services.

“I’ve loved my four years here, but I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t explore every option and find the best fit,” Pittman said at the end of the season. “I think we want to get a sense of what’s out there.”

If the Colts are going to retain Pittman — a move that seems like a must, given the need to surround Richardson with capable weapons — they are going to have to pay top dollar.

Ballard knows it.

When Indianapolis signed Quenton Nelson, Shaquille Leonard and Jonathan Taylor to extensions, they were paying at the top of the market, but those three play less-than-premium positions, reducing the impact of the cap hit.

Wide receiver is not that kind of position.

'We're going to work to get him back':Chris Ballard on Michael Pittman Jr.

“The market is what the market is,” Ballard said. “You have to have gas in your car, and if it’s $4 a gallon, it’s $4 a gallon. … You have to have wideouts.”

If the Colts cannot convince Pittman to sign a big-money extension before free agency, Indianapolis could place the franchise tag on him, a decision that would likely guarantee Pittman more than $23 million next season.

“I don’t want to use it, but it’s a tool,” Ballard said. “If we have to use it, we will.”

Nose tackle Grover Stewart and cornerback Kenny Moore II — who will likely be viewed by the NFL as a slot cornerback — might also be able to command significant contracts on the open market. Ballard loves both players and considers them pillars of the Colts locker room; he likely knows he’ll have to pay to keep both of them in Indianapolis.

“We’ll see how that plays out,” Ballard said. “There’s guys we no doubt want to bring back. To make a prediction right now would be negligent.”

Outside of Buckner, the quarterbacks and big-money extensions for his own players, Ballard has typically shopped in the middle shelves when he’s entered free agency during his seven-year tenure. A year ago, Ballard’s biggest additions were defensive end Samson Ebukam, who outplayed his three-year, $9 million deal by recording a career-high 9.5 sacks, and kicker Matt Gay, whose contract was the second-biggest a kicker has ever gotten in the NFL but barely makes a dent in a salary cap that’s expected to be more than $240 million.

The other “big” names Ballard has signed, players like defensive end Justin Houston and cornerback Stephon Gilmore, ended up somewhere lower than the top of the mountain.

A lot of those free agents have exceeded expectations, and even if the Colts don’t take a Buckner-sized swing this offseason, there may be opportunities to add veteran stars to a young team that surprised just about everybody this year.

“We’re not going to be reckless; I think you can look around the league and see reckless,” Ballard said. “We’re going to be smart.”

Ballard has plenty of money available to make smart investments this offseason.

How he uses it might be the difference the Colts need to put them over the top.