Colts Free Agency: Should the Colts Re-Sign Colt Anderson?

We're taking a look at each of the Colts free agents and whether or not the team should re-sign them, but we might as well be doing a series on which free agent safeties the team should re-sign.  The past two safeties that we've looked at have both been pretty easy - of those who voted, 97% said the Colts should re-sign Mike Adams and 95% said the Colts should re-sign Sergio Brown.  For the most part, those decisions were easy.  The two combined to start 24 regular season games for the Colts last season and are valuable guys to have around at a position of need.

Colt Anderson, on the other hand, is a much tougher decision, but he too is a free agent this offseason.

Anderson played in 15 games for the Colts this season, recording 16 tackles.  He did see a bit of playing time on defense, but he was mainly a special teams player for the Colts in 2014.  In that role, however, Anderson excelled.  According to Pro Football Focus, Anderson recorded 11 special teams tackles and an assist, earning the second-highest overall grade of any Colts special teamer (behind only Pat McAfee).

The reason why this is a tough decision is because Anderson isn't a guy the Colts would sign to compete for the starting safety spot - or at least, if that happened, it would mean that Ryan Grigson had a pretty terrible offseason.  But this new regime has put an increased emphasis on special teams and it has paid off on the field, and re-signing Anderson would be a move that would help the special teams unit in 2015, plus provide depth at a position the Colts really don't have much depth at right now.

According to Spotrac, Colt Anderson played for the Colts in 2014 on a one-year, $795,000 deal with a cap hit of $635,000.  If they could get him on a similar deal this offseason, they should do so to try to keep the special teams playing well.  But Colt Anderson is not a player the Colts have to bring back, so they have flexibility to move on if they feel the price is too high or they would rather go a different direction.  This is a move that wouldn't have much impact on the defense but could on special teams, and the Colts have placed enough of an emphasis on special teams under Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano that I would expect the Colts to at least try to bring Anderson back on a similar deal as he played on in 2014, and if the safety accepts that deal, then Colt could be a Colt once again next season.