USAT: Colts Wire audio clip

USAT: Colts Wire

Feb 22, 2022

- - - Another offseason, another year the Indianapolis Colts won’t be using the franchise tag. - Since Chris Ballard took over as general manager, the Colts have never used the franchise tag. That’s mostly due to the fact that he likes to get contract extensions out of the way before the final year of a player’s deal. - Ballard is also comfortable letting a player test the market if said player believes he’s worth more than the Colts are offering. Unless the franchise tag is absolutely necessary, Ballard doesn’t use it. - Even though the Colts have a lot of names hitting the market when the new league year arrives in March, none of them are worth what the franchise tag projections appear to be. - The only way the Colts might use the franchise tag this offseason is if they used that time to negotiate a long-term extension. They can place the tag on a player, which keeps them from hitting free agency, and then they can discuss an extension before the deadline during the summer. - But the Colts don’t really have any candidates that are worthy of being paid the average of the top-five salaries at a player’s position. - The biggest names set to hit free agency for the Colts are left tackle Eric Fisher, right guard Mark Glowinski and wide receiver T.Y. Hilton. Considering the franchise tag for offensive linemen is projected to be around $16 million, the Colts will be all the way out on that. - Glowinski should be re-signed for competitive and depth purposes but he’s not worth that kind of money either. Hilton may retire this offseason and the wide receiver franchise tag is projected to be around $18.4 million. - So with that, the Colts are going to be among the many teams that aren’t expected to use the franchise tag in 2022. - - Like Colts Wire on Facebook - Follow Colts Wire on Twitter - Follow Kevin on Twitter (@KevinHickey11) - - RelatedPFF projects Eric Fisher to make $16M per year on next contractReport: Over 150 prospects could boycott NFL Scouting CombineColts re-sign CB Marvell Tell - - List - - Colts' 7-round mock draft pre NFL combine - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Email - - - - - Sign up - - - - - - - - Like this article? - Sign up for the Colts Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning - - - - An error has occured - - - Please re-enter your email address. - - - - - - Thanks for signing up! - - - You'll now receive the top Colts Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

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Mar 15, 2022