The Indianapolis Colts laid relatively low through the first couple of weeks of this offseason. After splurging on big name free agents last year like Trent Cole, Andre Johnson and Frank Gore, the new-look Colts - led by the exact same group of men who led the franchise last year - are taking a different tact. Instead of nabbing aging vets who could put a good team over the top, Colts owner Jim Irsay, GM Ryan Grigson and head coach Chuck Pagano seem to be shooting for value this time around, realizing that limited vets who can't produce on the field ultimately offer little in the way of impact.
Gone are Johnson, Cole, Todd Herremans, Coby Fleener and first-round draft bust Bjoern Werner. In are talented, but moderately productive players like Jordan Todamn, Robert Turbin and Scott Tolzien. With most of the free agent heavy lifting over with, teams are turning their attention to the 2016 NFL Draft.
Only the Colts still have one more piece of important business to attend to this offseason before they give themselves over entirely to draft hysteria - an Andrew Luck contract extension. And while there's no certainty yet when a deal will get done, it sure sounds like Irsay has a date pegged by which he'd like to have Luck's name signed to the dotted line.
July Fourth, the celebration of our nation's independence, is the new target date for a Luck extension. Considering it's late March, that leaves only a couple of months for Irsay and the Colts to hammer out a new megadeal for Luck.
And make no mistake - the "mega" will be perfectly apt, because Luck is going to put pen to paper on a deal that will surely make him the highest-paid signal-caller in the NFL. Irsay said as much himself in February, back when he told reporters that it would be only a "matter of time" before Luck signed his extension.
"It's going to be a big number," Irsay said then. "It's going to be a shocking number, nine figures and probably a 20 (million) starting point per year, but again we will find the right number to get to."
It's unlikely Luck will force the Colts to pay him a deal that tops Drew Brees' 2016 cap hit of $30 million - a number that's likely to go down if Brees and the Saints can agree to an extension - but it's likely Luck will slot in somewhere amongst the other top earners like Eli Manning ($24.2 million), Ben Roethlisberger ($23.95 million) and Matt Ryan ($23.75 million).
Luck, 26, took a statistical step back last year, completing a career-low 162 passes for 1,881 yards, 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. All told and thanks mostly to a bevy of injuries Luck appeared in just seven games for a Colts team that never seemed quite right.
Getting Luck back healthy and locking him up will be the Colts' best bet for returning to contender status next season.
