Colts Capology: How much available team salary cap space following Michael Pittman Jr.’s franchise tag?

The Colts still have ample salary cap space to make new additions, but they also have key free agents to contemplate re-signing.

According to OverTheCap, after applying the $21.8M franchise tag to lead wideout Michael Pittman Jr. earlier this week, the Indianapolis Colts have a projected roughly $49.2M of available team salary cap space this early offseason.

That available salary cap space number could actually go higher though, if the Colts and Pittman Jr. are able to successfully reach a long-term contract extension before the July 15th deadline, which would reduce his ‘Year 1 cap hit’ from the $21.8M that would’ve otherwise come from the wide receiver franchise tag as is.

For what it’s worth, Spotrac projects Pittman Jr. to receive a 4-year, $100M contract extension with $40M guaranteed at his current free agent market valuation:

If a new deal is not ultimately reached between the two sides, Pittman Jr. will be forced to play out the year on the tag—or in the extremely rare chance he’d elect not to sign it, he’d be ineligible to play for any other team for the entirety of the 2024 season.

The Colts still have a number of other key free agents to think about including cornerback Kenny Moore II, defensive tackle Grover Stewart, and safety Julian Blackmon among others.

However, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them shore up their secondary with an outside veteran free agent signing at either outside cornerback or safety this offseason—and look toward the upcoming early NFL Draft to fill some of their other remaining critical team needs.

What will be interesting though is how the Colts plan to take advantage of 2nd-year quarterback Anthony Richardson’s rookie contract in the short-term, while also providing him a stronger supporting cast for his continued development and success bigger picture.