Colts still have enough salary cap flexibility to make a move, but will they?

INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts still have plenty of salary cap flexibility after spending most of their hard-earned money this offseason on bringing back their own players.

Indianapolis has 76 players under contract and $14,651,331 available in cap space, according to NFL Players Association, after the $3.89 million cap hit of strong safety Julian Blackmon’s one-year deal was processed this week.

The $14.651 million the Colts have available ranks Indianapolis 18th in the NFL in cap space currently available, at least according to the NFLPA’s current figures, but they could free up additional money by employing a low-risk version of salary-cap moves that are regularly used across the NFL.

Indianapolis has enough room to make another outside signing or two if the Colts wanted to dip their toes back into the free agent pool, say, for a veteran defensive back.

But the mere availability of cap space does not mean the Colts will make another significant move in free agency.

All it means is the option remains available.

There are still a few chunks of that $14.651 million that haven’t come out of the coffers yet. At least two are easy to see. Indianapolis needs a money for April’s draft picks, a number that might grow if general manager Chris Ballard once again finds a way to turn the seven picks he currently holds into a larger draft class. According to Over the Cap, the Indianapolis draft class will cost an estimated $4.2 million in cap space.

Then there’s the money all teams try to keep on hand for the moves they make during the season, a figure that isn’t always easy to predict.

Signings, re-signings and players lost: Colts free agency tracker

Err on the side of caution with those two figures, and it can seem like Indianapolis only has $5 million or so left for another signing.

Not a lot.

At least on first glance.

Take a closer look, though, and there still remains flexibility. For example, outside of a few high-profile players headed by former Broncos safety Justin Simmons, the players remaining likely will not command an enormous salary in terms of cap hit. For example, Blackmon’s deal can increase considerably if he hits incentives in the deal, but his cap hit, $3.89 million, is highly manageable.

And then there are all the ways the Colts can create a bit more space if they want to make a move, even if Indianapolis prefers to stay away from the simplest path, a straight release of a veteran on a large contract.

The other obvious path to more space is an extension; Indianapolis could sign a player like defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to a contract extension, allowing the Colts to structure the deal in a way that reduces Buckner’s cap hit this season and gives Indianapolis more room to play.

A cut or an extension still represents a big decision.

There are smaller opportunities available, moves Colts director of football administration Mike Bluem does not employ as often as other teams, but still has in his bag of tricks.

A simple restructure is an easy way to clear space. All Indianapolis has to do is convert a portion of a highly-paid veteran’s base salary into signing bonus, allowing the Colts to spread the hit over the life of the contract.

While other teams are known for using this move in big, sweeping ways that cause cap problems down the road, Indianapolis has typically used it in reduced fashion. The Colts converted $5 million of Buckner’s base salary into signing bonus last April, freeing up an extra $2.5 million in cap space; Indianapolis converted $4.6 million of T.Y. Hilton’s $8 million base salary into signing bonus in 2021, creating an extra $2.3 million by adding a voided year to Hilton’s deal.

Voidable years create cap space without adding any years to the length of a deal. If a contract has a voidable year, there is a clause in the contract that automatically voids the deal before the final year of the contract is completed. For NFL salary cap purposes, though, that year counts as a place to spread out the cap hit of a signing bonus until the void hits, when it accelerates onto the cap as dead money.

Other teams use voided years for enormous sums of money.

The Colts typically only use it to free up a little. Former left tackle Eric Fisher signed a one-year deal with a voidable year when Indianapolis got close to the cap in 2021,  allowing the Colts to defer $2 million of cap space.

Even a couple million dollars here or there could free up enough space for another outside signing.

Indianapolis has all of those options available.

That doesn’t mean the Colts will use any of them. When Ballard met with reporters at the NFL’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., at the end of March, the Indianapolis general manager emphasized the team’s focus on spending its money on its own free agents and suggested that many of the outside free agents who interested the Colts had signed elsewhere.

Under Ballard and Irsay, the team has almost always focused on signing its own and finding difference-makers in the draft, and the way the 2024 offseason has gone so far indicates Indianapolis is sticking to that script more than ever heading into Shane Steichen’s second year.

But there is enough space available to still make a move in free agency if Ballard sees fit.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts have salary cap flexibility to make a move, but will they?