Colts Free Agency: Should the Colts Re-Sign Fili Moala?

We are taking a look each day at a different Colts player whose contract will expire later this offseason (on March 10 at 4:00 p.m. ET), and we continue today by looking at another defensive lineman.

Fili Moala is an unrestricted free agent for the Colts this year, and the question is whether or not the team should re-sign him - and this one isn't an easy one to answer.  In each of the past two offseasons the Colts have re-signed Moala to a one-year contract, and now we look at whether they should to the same thing for the third straight season.

Unfortunately, Moala missed the entire 2014 season after tearing his ACL in offseason workouts a year ago.  In the five seasons before that (all with the Colts), Moala has played in 64 games and started 45 of them, recording 88 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and three passes defensed.  In 2013 he played in all 16 games (starting six) and in 2012 he started all eight games he played in - before tearing his ACL and missing the remainder of the season.

The thing that makes this a difficult decision is that Moala is a 29-year old defensive lineman who is coming off of his second torn ACL in three years and is just an average player.  On the one hand, he would surely provide good depth for the defensive line and would be a nice addition to have around if healthy, but on the other hand, the Colts might want to look for an upgrade over Moala.

One of the few remaining players from the old Colts' regime, the team has shown that they value Moala by re-signing him in each of the last two offseasons, and if he is healthy then signing him to a low money, one-year deal once again this year to fill a backup role along a weak defensive line wouldn't be a bad idea at all for the Colts.