FanPost

Are the Colts in a 1 year window to win the Super Bowl? My thoughts.


I know a lot of people love this team right now as it is built and for the future for how Ballard has drafted the last 4 years (now 5), but there are a lot of factors I have thought about that would make me think we are possibly on a short-term window. Let me explain.

1.) Cap space: We are going to have to re-sign our own coming up after this year. We already have Carson Wentz under a 4 year, $128 million dollar contract (Though the Eagles paid around $25 million of it). That is taking up much more than a rookie contract would. Wentz is getting paid as if he is a top ten QB (will address that later). The next factor is we are going to have to pay Braden, Leonard, and Nelson their new contracts and that will probably be around $50 million combined for the three of them.

2.) Free Agents for next year: We signed almost all of our FA's to one-year deals. That means once this year is over, we'll be back to the process of do we re-sign them or let them go to different teams. A bunch of these guys are replaceable, but there are quite a few guys like Hines, Hilton, Rhodes, Mack, Wilkins, Fisher, Carrie, Odum, Cox, and Franklin that will probably be re-signed and cost a decent amount of money.

3.) How many players will we lose: By my count, we have 49 out of 90 players that will be free agents next year. That's over half the team right now. You also have to include the fact that Wentz, Buckner, Kelly, Stewart, Braden, Leonard, and Nelson will all most likely be getting over $10 million next year at least each and probably in the $110-$120 million dollar range between those 7 players. That literally leaves around $80 million for the rest of the team, and that's if the salary cap goes up next year.

4.) The draft: Knowing all this, I'm sure you all know that the draft is a football teams (and Ballard's) bloodline to filling a team with good and cheap players for rookie contracts to build a team over time. Well, our 2017 first round pick is off the team, Nelson is getting paid, we didn't have a 2019 first round pick, our 2020 first round pick we traded for in Buckner already got paid, and our 2021 first round pick is Carson Wentz and he is paid unless he gets hurt or benched and we only lose a second for him. Did we hit on enough to be able to depend on our draft? We better, because next year we are in trouble come draft time more than this year.

5.) We are still only a wild-card team in the AFC: After getting 7 cornerstone players, and building decently well through the draft, we are still 7th in a loaded AFC Division. We wouldn't of made the playoffs if it wasn't for an extra wild-card spot. Now being more limited in cap space next year after having to pay our draft picks, do we really have a big window to be a super bowl team, or are we going to be dependant on 7 great players to carry us from now on along with a mediocre rest of the team? I don't even know how we are going to manage what we currently have cap-wise when we have to pay Braden, Leonard, and Nelson next year. We may have to cut a couple good players and it may come down to the point where we are fully depending on our drafts just to have proper depth and cheap players to replace the ones we can't afford to pay in FA.

6.) Finally, what will happen when Ed Dodds and Morocco Brown eventually get GM jobs: This may happen in a year as they have both gotten interviews now, or it may not happen for a few years. However, we know by now it will happen. Both guys are highly respected at what they do, and they are responsible for a lot of the good things that happen for us in our drafts since 2018. When one or both go, will it lower the quality of our drafts? Will it be the difference between having solid drafts every year and being mediocre? I don't know, but these are the 2nd and 3rd most important people out of all of our scouts, and it will certainly be a blow when we lose them.

So those are my thoughts on why the Colts might be in a one-year window to win the Super Bowl. Let me here your thoughts below. Do you agree or disagree?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.