We might not get Peyton Manning........but...

[Stamos]

It might still help us out anyway. The Colts will obviously tag Peyton, but thats a good thing. In the first of what seems to be many "unloads" it was reported the Colts will release Adam Meadows. Well Indy has a great young guard named Rick DeMulling heading in restricted free agency this season.

Rick, along with Bennie Anderson from Baltimore, have remained high atop my wish for potential FA's, restricted or not. It remains to be seen what the tender for Rick will be, but at the very least, the evident cap crunch indy is in is good news for anyone with an eye on Mr. DeMulling, and hopefully along with myself, Rick Speilman has an eye set towards indy too.

 

[jbond]

that'd be nice.....we need 2 good Oline men IMO

 

[Cranx]

Actually, according to a report I heard on the radio this afternoon, the Colts already have the framework of a 7 year deal with a $20 million signing bonus (to be paid in three installments over the life of the contract) that seems to be appealing to both sides. The deal would only garner a cap figure of $10 million for this upcoming season and, therefore, the Colts would be able to keep most of their pending FA players.

Unfortunately-- assuming this deal does get done-- that means that the Dolts will still have money available to take care of their own players and will likely have enough left over to grab a couple of mid level FA's to help on defense.

 

[feelnoway]

Disappointing, maybe, but no surprise. Bill Polian is damn good at his job.

 

[Stamos]

Originally posted by Cranx
Actually, according to a report I heard on the radio this afternoon, the Colts already have the framework of a 7 year deal with a $20 million signing bonus (to be paid in three installments over the life of the contract) that seems to be appealing to both sides. The deal would only garner a cap figure of $10 million for this upcoming season and, therefore, the Colts would be able to keep most of their pending FA players.

I am gonna dispute the numbers you heard, I think the signing bonus will be closer to 25 million. Unless the salaries are extraordinary high, like 10-12 million per year, makes no sense for peyton to take that deal.

I strongly believe its in his OWN best interests to get tagged first, then agree to a contract. Granted I am sure he will try his best to make it economically feeisble for the Colts, and 18 million dollar 1 year salary would be in his best short term interest, cause it would atleast ensure a signing bonus, like I said, in the 25 million dollar range. He could get the 18 this year, play the 1 year, and sign this contract next year.

Once again though, I don't know how greedy Peyton is, and I am PRAYING this thing drags out as long as possible cause like the stated aim of this thread, I want DeMulling.

 

[ckparrothead]

I am the Colts in the little GM game we have set up here at FinHeaven so I actually know a lot about the Colts' salary cap situation believe it or not.

Here's the deal the Colts cut RT Adam Meadows (who I believe was injured and replaced adequately by Ryan Diem this season anyway) and they cut backup QB Brock Huard, and that saves them $10 million of base salary. Thats right, Brock Huard's base salary this season is set to be a full $5 million and so is Meadows. I don't know what kind of pro-rated signing bonus we have left on both guys contracts that eats into that $10 million, but I assume at least in Huard's case it cannot be much. Meadows has got to be entering one of the final years of his contract too. After that another probably casualty would have to be Chad Bratzke who has a $4.5 million base salary. I'm not sure how much a part of their defense he was but surely with guys like Dwight Freeney, Brad Scioli, and up-and-comer Raheem Brock there, Bratzke's $4.5 million base is a luxury they can't afford with the Peyton negotiations going on.

Cut those three guys and they are roughly cutting probably about $12 million after the pro rated bonuses do their damage. After that though the next likely step is restructuring Harrison's $5.6 million base salary, which I would consider to be pretty safe considering the caliber player he is. That could save them as much as like $4 million I'd imagine. After that Brandon Stokley seems to be taking up a $1.2 million base salary that I would imagine he's not worth. After that though moves are going to be messy because there's hardly any guys there that have a base salary even just above $1 million.

Which brings me to the RFAs you were talkin about. They have quite a few, and a pretty good amount of GOOD RFAs. With them being put to the screws by Peyton's negotiations and possible franchise tag this offseason, it could be a good time to pull some RFAs out of Indy. I can think of 4-5 good candidates.

1. Rick DeMulling...if they don't tender him at the $1.3 million level then he will garner only a 7th round pick in compensation.

2. Dominic Rhodes...obviously we don't need him but if they don't tender him at the $1.3 million level the Colts get NO compensation...

3. Ryan Diem...6'6" guard turned tackle who filled in for Meadows and probably is the reason the Colts are confident enough to cut Meadows outright instead of trying to work with him...if he doesn't get tendered at $1.3 million the Colts get 4th round compensation

4. Nick Harper...a CB and this is the RFA I like the most unfortunately with David Macklin a UFA this year, he is very likely to get the $1.3 million tender or maybe even the $1.7 million tender. He did VERY well at CB last season. If they were dumb enough to tender him at the 600k level then they dont even receive any draft picks as compensation.

Their other RFAs are likely to get the lowest tender, and to deserve it too. So now that we've come around to it the Colts can't afford to lose Harper I would think, with Meadows gone probably can't afford to lose Diem, and so the big questions are about DeMulling and Rhodes. With their cap situation how many $1.3 million contracts can they afford to hand out? If its only 3 of them, I have to wonder whether they might consider Rhodes to be a guy they tender high just so that they can negotiate the compensation with other teams...cuz of the good backup RBs in Indy he is the one most attractive to other teams, and from the Colts perspective they can stand to lose him. Then again if they are handing out a third $1.3 million contract it might be to a guy like Rick DeMulling who they can't stand to lose.

There's probably a good 50/50 chance that DeMulling will receive a lower tender IMO and that makes him open season for us.