Paul Kuharsky Pat Yasinskas at ESPN provides us with some cap information for 2011.
Before we get into details, right now there is no salary cap set for 2011. There is no guarantee there will be one ever again. I think we all hope there will be a cap (along with revenue sharing), but the reality is we just don't know.
That said, Kuharsky Yasinskas does provide some good numbers that can give us a sense of where the Colts are in terms of finances should the cap return:
As you all know, there’s a lot of uncertainty about the labor situation for 2011. These numbers don’t include what restricted free agents, exclusive-rights free agents or franchise players would count toward the cap because we don’t know that -- and won’t until there is a labor agreement in place. And, although we know there will be a 2011 draft no matter what, these numbers don’t include rookie salaries. The numbers below are only for players currently under contract for the 2011 season.
Also, we won’t know what the 2011 salary cap for all teams will be until there’s a deal in place. For reference, the salary cap in 2009, the last capped year was right about $130 million.
For the Colts, they are sitting at roughly $115.5 Million. With the likely mega-contract Peyton Manning will sign, that number will certainly go up. If the cap in 2011 is somewhere between $135-$140 million, it means the Colts do not have space to sign any high-priced veteran free agents.
If they wanted to do that, they would need to seriously consider cutting or restructuring contracts for Bob Sanders, Ryan Diem, and Kelvin Hayden.
Oh, and folks like Reggie Wayne and Robert Mathis can forget about any kind of high-priced extension. These numbers do not suggest to me that Indy would want to invest more in a WR and a DE over 30 years of age.