is the salary cap. On the one hand Rock Ya-Sin Jersey , it seems straight forward. You have a salary cap that all teams must fit under. Simple, right?It gets more complicated in a hurry. After all, teams with very little cap space frequently sign marquee players to high dollar contracts. This is accomplished through bonuses, incentive-laden contract clauses, and back-loading a deal where the bulk of the contract’s value is paid in later years, where the team projects to have more cap space.This salary cap planning and “manipulation” is what NFL salary capologists like Mike Bluem spend their time considering every day. How can we plan for the future in a way that allows Chris Ballard and Jim Irsay to field a team with the most talent in the NFL for the longest period of time? We can’t simply spend all the way up to the salary cap every year, leaving no space available, and hope to keep the nucleus together. Major contracts for our own players will consistently require work as the old ones expire and new deals need to be made.Keeping in mind the needs for our own players, how much salary cap space do we have to work with to sign free agents and bring in outside talent? How do we work all of this together to make sure we stay above the NFL’s mandated 89 percent rule?This week, we’ll take a look at these questions and do our best to shed light on the NFL salary cap, 89 percent rule, and what fans might be able to expect Chris Ballard and Mike Bluem to do in 2019 and beyond.2019 Salary Cap and How the Colts FitOn December 11, 2018 the NFL announced that the 2019 salary cap is projected to be in the range of $187 - $191.1 million. For the purposes of this story, we’ll assume a salary cap of $189 million, which is an $11.8 million increase over 2018’s cap of $177.2 million — or 6.66%.In terms of the 89% minimum cash spend rule, utilizing the 2019 projection, the Colts have a four-year running salary cap total of $688,470,000. In order to meet the 89% expectation, the Colts must spend a total of $612,738,300. The team has currently spent $553,242,521. Therefore, Jim Irsay and Chris Ballard must spend at least $59,495,779 to stay on track to the 89% target from 2017-2020. They could spend this amount and still be under the 2019 projected salary cap, excluding carryover. In short, the team will have no issue maintaining a number well above 89% as a four-year running total compared to salary cap.In terms of projected salary cap space T.Y. Hilton Jersey , the Colts currently lead the NFL with $115,413,981 in projected cap space per Spotrac. This is $19 million above the New York Jets, who have the second highest available salary cap space and $35 million over the Buffalo Bills who have the third. It is $54 million above the Houston Texans, who have the sixth highest cap available for 2019 and nearly $67 million above the Dallas Cowboys who have the tenth. There is not a team in the NFL who comes anywhere close to the Colts in terms of salary cap and cash available to make major moves in free agency. The Jets, Bills, and Raiders are not in the same league as the Colts in terms of how attractive the situation is with those franchises. The Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Seattle Seahawks, and Dallas Cowboys are the most attractive teams outside of the Colts in the top 10 of this list. The teams who played in conference championships? The Kansas City Chiefs have $36,443,381, which is the 13th highest projected space in the NFL. The Los Angeles Rams have $36,267,550, which is 14th. The New England Patriots have $20,896,191, which is 22nd. The New Orleans Saints have $11,901,194, which is 26th. Collectively, those four teams have $10 million less cap space than the Colts have on their own in 2019.All of this adds up to what should be a very desirable situation for Chris Ballard, Mike Bluem and the Indianapolis Colts. It could even be argued that, with 9 projected draft picks and $115 million, no team in the NFL should take a more aggressive trajectory over the short- and long-term than Indianapolis. It is up to Chris Ballard to keep working the same magic he has over his first two seasons as an NFL General Manager.ANALYSISThere is very little Chris Ballard could want that he doesn’t have the capital to acquire. The biggest names in free agency? Ballard is at the top of their and their agents’ call lists. Not every marquee free agent will want to play in Indianapolis but their agents will want to visit to set the market.Outside of location, the work Ballard has done over the last two seasons has made the Colts a very desirable place to play. They have an incredibly stable locker room with players who clearly respect one another and who care about playing for eachother. They have a player’s coach who is well respected, loved, and who played the game at a high level himself. They have a top tier quarterback who is only a couple of years into his prime Darius Leonard Color Rush Jersey , a player-friendly defense that allows players to focus on maximizing their own athletic gifts, and they just went from a 4 win season to a visit to a Divisional Round playoff game. They also have a coaching staff and culture that has helped numerous veteran players have career best season performances. Ask Eric Ebron, Pierre Desir, Margus Hunt, Mark Glowinski, Jabaal Sheard, and Denico Autry how they feel about their decision to sign in Indianapolis. Ask Kenny Moore II how happy he is to go from getting waived by the Patriots to being the best cornerback in Indianapolis. The Colts should be a magnet for the type of players Ballard covets. It should attract superstars who are looking to get out of unstable situations and get a fresh start. It is more likely that Ballard can be picky about who he wants to add to his locker room than it is that he will struggle to find players who are interested in playing in Indianapolis. This week I get to write my absolute favorite winners and losers column. I absolutely love having to reach to find a loser. That is exactly what I’ve got to do in this column, because the Colts looked pretty darned good across the board from start to finish. They put a hurt on a Titans team that entered the game first in the league in points allowed. Anyway, there are a lot of winners to talk about so let’s get to them.WinnersAndrew LuckIf Drew Brees and Patrick Mahomes weren’t playing absolutely out of their minds, it would be a foregone conclusion that Luck would be deep in the MVP discussion. Just halfway through his first season back after what many thought might be the end for the quarterback, he is out there moving in the pocket, avoiding pressure, and torching a very good secondary as easily as if he were doing the week’s crossword, which you can be sure he does. But for a few misfires Luck has been incredibly accurate, and his tendency to continue looking downfield while he extends the play with his feet has been a change that has only made him more effective. It certainly doesn’t hurt that he has now gone 5 games without taking a sack, which speaks both to his success as a passer and the improvement on the offensive line.If the Colts keep winning games, it is going to be tough to keep Luck out of the MVP discussion, however well the other guys are doing.Darius LeonardPhoto by Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesGuess who’s back? Our old buddy the “Maniac” made yet another bid for his place as the deserving Defensive Rookie of the Year, turning in a 7 tackle, 1 QB hit, 1 sack, 1 interception, 1 pass defended, 1 forced fumble performance in a must win game against a division rival. It seems like asking him to do any more than that borders on ridiculous.The guy is just in on every play, making critical ones all over the place. He didn’t have to “save” this game like he has a few others, but he certainly helped put several nails in the coffin. Let’s quit playing and give this guy DROY already.T.Y. HiltonAfter having a relatively quiet last few games, T.Y. Hilton might have mistakenly become an afterthought as the year of Ebron had clearly taken over. He had said earlier in the week that he wasn’t too worried about it and that his time would come. Turns out he was right.It started early on, but the Luck to Hilton connection was on full display as the Titans schemed to take away Ebron and the Colts’ tight ends and instead found themselves getting eaten alive by “The Ghost.” The Colts picked on Adoree Jackson, who was matched up with Hilton and prior to today had allowed a 37.2 passer rating on targets of 10 or more yards. Hilton averaged 17.2 yards and was 9 for 9 https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Denzelle-Good-Jersey , amassing 155 yards and 2 touchdowns, one of which was the beautiful 68-yard bomb from Luck you can see above. If the Colts can get Hilton heating up, it will make a really tough out for defenses trying to decide who they should try to eliminate in the passing game. Jabaal SheardTrevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY SportsSheard had himself a game, notching 1.5 sacks, 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 2 QB hits. He was disruptive and instrumental in terrorizing Marcus Mariota and then Blaine Gabbert. His contributions are sometimes underappreciated because he isn’t always the flashiest player, but his pressure and the need to account for him from opposing offensive lines is certainly creating opportunities elsewhere on the defensive line. Kemoko TuraySpeaking of elsewhere on the defensive line, Kemoko Turay had a pretty impressive day himself. He had a tackle, a sack, a tackle for loss, and 2 QB hits to his credit today. His get off and speed are beginning to sharpen as he gets experience, and I found myself continually having my eyes drawn to him on screen on defensive snaps. Turay is not perfect, and I don’t know if he is the long-term answer at the edge rusher spot, but he certainly is developing nicely and had a good game coming back from injury. Quincy WilsonPhoto by Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesQuincy hasn’t gotten a lot of credit this season, and he’s been knocked quite a bit, but he made a huge impact play today that essentially crushed any possibility of the Titans building some momentum. His interception early in the 2nd quarter only resulted in a field goal to take the Colts to a 10-0 lead, but it marked a change in the morale on the field and really helped to prove that everything was rolling in favor of the Colts. It has never been all that in doubt that Wilson has the ability to be a very good cornerback. However, he has to prove he can do it consistently. Hopefully we see more of what we saw today out of him on the back half of this season. LosersNyheim HinesWhile there are admittedly few losers, Hines is definitely one of them today. He dropped another easy catch this week that hit his hands. This is just a lack of focus and a result of him turning up field to make a play before he has secured the possession of the ball. You can’t do that, because it can kill drives. If he wants to keep getting those reps as a pass catcher he needs to improve there. Additionally, Hines fumbled the ball in the third quarter and was fortunate that it made it out of bounds before Tennessee was able to recover it. These are rookie mistakes and you expect it to a degree. It will be on RB Coach Tom Rathman to clean up some of those kinds of issues going forward so Hines can be a more effective weapon.Ryan KellyThis one isn’t because Kelly did anything wrong. However, you never want to hear that your starting center, the guy who has been the key cog in what has been a stellar offensive line performance this season, is having an MRI on his knee. Regardless of what we find out and the length of injury, it is almost certain that he misses some time. With Evan Boehm ready to work as the backup and Joe Haeg working his way back from IR, the Colts are not in dire straights if they are without Kelly for a couple games, but if they want to make a run of things it will hurt to miss him. Here is hoping that we get good news on that front.
