Who are the Best Players in Free Agency at the Colts' Positions of Need?

The offseason is underway, and the 32 NFL teams are all looking at ways to improve their squad in an effort to win a title next season.  For the Colts, they came close this year, winning their division and two playoff games before losing in the AFC Championship game, but at the same time they have a lot of work still to be done this offseason.

They have a lot of needs, and the major ones that we have looked at a lot recently are running back, wide receiver, offensive line, defensive line, pass rush, inside linebacker, and safety.

Recently, Rotoworld's Evan Silva released a great list of the top free agents at each position, and the article itself is one that should be bookmarked as free agency inches closer.  He notes that there are certainly a number of players who will be re-signed for franchise tagged by their team, but the list at least gives you an idea of which players have expiring contracts this spring.  We've been looking a lot recently at the Colts' positions of need, and so we're going to now look at those positions of need and Silva's free agent rankings at each position.  The format is nearly identical to an article we did last week looking at the top draft prospects at the Colts' positions of need, as by clicking on the header for the positions of need you can read more about why those are areas of need, and then you can see the current state of the position for the Colts before getting into Silva's top free agents at the position.

Running Back

Players currently on the roster (not including upcoming free agents): Vick Ballard, Jeff Demps, Michael Hill, Trent Richardson, Zurlon Tipton

Upcoming free agents for Colts: Ahmad Bradshaw, Dan Herron (RFA)

Silva's list of top free agents at the position:

1. DeMarco Murray
2. C.J. Spiller
3. Ryan Mathews
4. Mark Ingram
5. Justin Forsett
6. Frank Gore
7. Shane Vereen
8. Stevan Ridley
9. Roy Helu
10. Ahmad Bradshaw
11. Darren McFadden
12. Knowshon Moreno
13. Ray Rice
14. Ben Tate

15. Chris Johnson

16. Antone Smith
17. Daniel Thomas
18. Jacquizz Rodgers
19. Bilal Powell
20. Cedric Peerman

Wide Receiver

Players currently on the roster (not including upcoming free agents):Kadron Boone, Duron Carter, T.Y. Hilton, Ryan Lankford, Josh Lenz, Donte Moncrief, Griff Whalen, Josh Cribbs

Upcoming free agents for Colts: Reggie Wayne, Hakeem Nicks

Silva's list of top free agents at the position:

1. Dez Bryant
2. Demaryius Thomas
3. Randall Cobb
4. Jeremy Maclin
5. Torrey Smith
6. Michael Crabtree
7. Kenny Britt
8. Cecil Shorts
9. Eddie Royal
10. Nate Washington
11. Wes Welker
12. Hakeem Nicks
13. Reggie Wayne
14. Denarius Moore
15. Leonard Hankerson
16. Dwayne Harris
17. Vincent Brown
18. Miles Austin
19. Jerrel Jernigan
20. Brandon Lloyd
21. Brad Smith
22. Santana Moss
23. Jason Avant
24. Marcus Easley
25. Derek Hagan
26. Robert Meachem
27. Greg Salas
28. Dane Sanzenbacher
29. Kevin Ogletree
30. Darrius Heyward-Bey

Offensive Line

Players currently on the roster (not including upcoming free agents):Jonotthan Harrison, Khaled Holmes, David Arkin, Ben Heenan, Lance Louis, Jack Mewhort, Donald Thomas, Hugh Thornton, Anthony Castonzo, Gosder Cherilus, Matt Hall, Tyler Hoover, Ulrick John

Upcoming free agents for Colts: Joe Reitz, A.Q. Shipley (RFA)

Silva's list of top free agents at the position:

Offensive Tackles

1. Bryan Bulaga
2. Michael Roos
3. Doug Free
4. Derek Newton
5. King Dunlap
6. Joe Barksdale
7. Byron Bell
8. Jason Fox
9. Jermey Parnell
10. Ryan Harris
11. Joe Reitz
12. Eric Winston
13. Tyler Polumbus
14. Corey Hilliard
15. Marshall Newhouse

16. Michael Oher
17. Erik Pears
18. Byron Stingily
19. Garry Williams
20. Ben Ijalana

Guards/Centers

1. Mike Iupati
2. Orlando Franklin
3. Rodney Hudson
4. Stefen Wisniewski
5. Clint Boling

6. James Carpenter

7. Brian De La Puente
8. Rob Sims

9. Will Montgomery
10. Dominic Raiola
11. Jonathan Goodwin
12. Willie Colon
13. Joe Berger
14. Dan Connolly
15. Samson Satele
16. Daryn Colledge
17. Paul Fanaika
18. Gabe Carimi
19. John Jerry
20. Adam Snyder
21. Davin Joseph
22. James Brewer
23. Vlad Ducasse
24. Mike McGlynn
25. Doug Legursky

Defensive Line

Players currently on the roster (not including upcoming free agents): Gannon Conway, Montori Hughes, Ricky Jean Francois, Arthur Jones, Kelcy Quarles, Josh Chapman, Zach Kerr

Upcoming free agents for Colts: Cory Redding, Fili Moala, Jeris Pendleton (RFA)

Silva's list of top free agents at the position:

Interior Defensive Linemen

1. Ndamukong Suh
2. Nick Fairley
3. Terrance Knighton
4. Dan Williams
5. Jared Odrick
6. Stephen Paea
7. C.J. Mosley
8. Henry Melton
9. Cory Redding
10. Letroy Guion
11. Corey Peters
12. B.J. Raji
13. Kevin Williams
14. Kenrick Ellis
15. Ahtyba Rubin
16. Tom Johnson
17. Jarvis Jenkins
18. Alan Branch
19. Alex Carrington
20. Dwan Edwards
21. Pat Sims
22. Tommy Kelly
23. Mike Patterson
24. Leger Douzable
25. Karl Klug
26. Colin Cole
27. Kevin Vickerson
28. Tyson Alualu
29. Demarcus Dobbs
30. Brandon Deaderick
31. Andre Fluellen
32. Fili Moala
33. D'Anthony Smith
34. Nick Hayden
35. Jarius Wynn
36. Chris Neild
37. Ricardo Mathews
38. Mitch Unrein
39. Terrence Cody
40. C.J. Wilson

Pass Rusher

Players currently on the roster (not including upcoming free agents): Robert Mathis, Jonathan Newsome, Shaun Phillips, Bjoern Werner, Erik Walden

Upcoming free agents for Colts: N/A

Silva's list of top free agents at the position:

Edge Defenders

1. Justin Houston
2. Jerry Hughes
3. Jason Pierre-Paul
4. Greg Hardy
5. Brian Orakpo
6. Pernell McPhee
7. Jabaal Sheard
8. Jason Worilds
9. Brandon Graham
10. Derrick Morgan
11. Adrian Clayborn
12. Akeem Ayers
13. Brooks Reed
14. John Abraham
15. George Selvie
16. George Johnson
17. O'Brien Schofield
18. James Harrison
19. Dwight Freeney
20. Sam Acho
21. Corey Wootton
22. Anthony Spencer
23. Osi Umenyiora
24. Kroy Biermann
25. Da'Quan Bowers
26. Shaun Phillips
27. Parys Haralson (Re-signed 1-year deal with NO)
28. Arthur Moats
29. Larry English
30. Marcus Benard

Inside Linebacker

Players currently on the roster (not including upcoming free agents): D'Qwell Jackson, Shawn Loiseau, Henoc Muamba

Upcoming free agents for Colts: Jerrell Freeman (RFA), Josh McNary (ERFA)

Silva's list of top free agents at the position:

1. Brandon Spikes
2. David Harris
3. Mason Foster
4. Rolando McClain
5. Rey Maualuga
6. Jamari Lattimore
7. Larry Foote
8. Nate Irving
9. Colin McCarthy
10. Dane Fletcher
11. Moise Fokou
12. Darryl Sharpton
13. Kelvin Sheppard
14. Desmond Bishop
15. Mark Herzlich
16. Andrew Gachkar
17. Josh Mauga
18. D.J. Williams
19. Jasper Brinkley
20. Josh Bynes

Safety

Players currently on the roster (not including upcoming free agents): Winston Guy, Dewey McDonald

Upcoming free agents for Colts: Mike Adams, Sergio Brown, Colt Anderson, Delano Howell (RFA)

Silva's list of top free agents at the position:

1. Devin McCourty
2. Rahim Moore
3. Antrel Rolle
4. Louis Delmas
5. Marcus Gilchrist
6. Stevie Brown
7. Dawan Landry
8. Nate Allen
9. Da'Norris Searcy
10. Mike Adams

11. LaRon Landry
12. Darian Stewart
13. Ron Parker
14. Danieal Manning
15. Jeron Johnson
16. George Wilson
17. Dwight Lowery
18. Major Wright
19. Brandon Meriweather
20. Kendrick Lewis
21. Kurt Coleman
22. Chris Conte
23. Jeromy Miles
24. C.J. Spillman
25. Quintin Demps
26. Sergio Brown
27. Jarrett Bush
28. Quinton Carter
29. Taylor Mays
30. Chris Clemons

Which of these players would you (realistically) like to see the Colts go after in free agency?