INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts, like a lot of NFL teams, have always said they’d like to reward their homegrown players by bringing them back when they reach the end of their contract.
The reality is the ideal isn’t always possible.
Because of the way Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard approaches the salary cap, and more important, because of the way Ballard values draft picks and depth, there are several Colts approaching free agency who have been key pieces of the Ballard-Reich era, but likely will not return.
Not if they can help it, and it’s understandable. For most of these players, the best opportunity for their career is almost certainly going to be somewhere else, somewhere the path to playing time is more open than it is in Indianapolis.
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“I tell every one of our players this: Their careers are short. They’re hard. Financially, they have to do the best they can, and we want them to,” Ballard said. “If another team offers more money than we do, good for him. Sometimes I get pissed about it because I don’t want to lose the player, but I’m always able to take a step back and say, ‘OK, we’ve done our job, and the player’s done his job. He deserves to be rewarded.’”
Marlon Mack
Mack has been everything the Colts could have hoped to find in a fourth-round pick.
The quiet, hard-working back played a critical role in the Run the Damn Ball ethos Frank Reich has embedded within the Indianapolis offense. Drafting Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith, and developing Mark Glowinski, set the foundation, but the Colts still needed a back capable of putting it all together.
Mack ended up being that back. Used as a workhorse in 2018 and 2019, Mack rushed for 1,999 yards over two seasons, averaged 4.5 yards per carry and scored 17 touchdowns.
But the Colts drafted Jonathan Taylor in the second round in 2020, Mack tore his Achilles tendon in the season opener and Taylor fully realized his immense potential down the stretch, finishing third in the NFL in rushing with 1,169 yards. Mack has stayed in Indianapolis this offseason, diligently rehabilitating his Achilles tendon, but the hard truth of Taylor’s emergence is that Mack likely will have to head elsewhere in free agency to get the money he earned in Indianapolis.
“Marlon Mack broke my heart. That sucked, that was hard,” Ballard said in January. “Marlon Mack deserves a contract. Unequivocally, he deserves a good contract. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to do that here.”
Mack’s injury might complicate his chances in free agency, but at just 25 years old, he still has time to be a lead back in the NFL, and another team will likely be willing to take a chance on that possibility.
“I’m not going to say Marlon Mack’s not going to be back, because I think he’s really special as a player,” Ballard said. “I’m not going to discount it. I think Marlon Mack is a great player and deserves what’s coming to him.”
Anthony Walker
Drafted in the fifth round in 2017, Walker’s arguably been even more integral to the Colts’ program-building than Mack. A three-year starter in the middle, Walker missed just one game from 2018 to 2020, played 2,211 snaps and made 321 tackles, 3.5 sacks and three interceptions, shifting over to the weak side twice to fill in for an injured Darius Leonard.
Walker also became a critical voice on defense, a leader in game-planning and formed a tight bond with Leonard, the Colts’ breakout star at linebacker.
But the emergence of Bobby Okereke whittled away at Walker’s playing time down the stretch — he averaged just 32 snaps per game in the final four games after Okereke recovered from a minor injury — it’s likely the Colts can’t offer a 25-year-old Walker the role he wants.
“I’ve got a special relationship with Anthony Walker,” Ballard said. “I know Anthony wants to play more. … We’ll see how it works out, but I want good for Anthony.”
Walker also might be a valuable commodity in an already-thin linebacker market that has seen Lavonte David and Matt Milano re-sign with Tampa Bay and Buffalo, respectively.
“If you play this game, you want to be a starter, you want to play significant snaps,” Walker said. “You play this game to be the best at your position, and that’s never going to not be my goal. Obviously, I want to be a starter, I want to play winning football. That will be a huge factor.”
Jacoby Brissett
Ballard tried to leave the door open for a Brissett return in January. Brissett, who has now spent four seasons in Indianapolis, has carved out an enormous place in the locker room and community, leading the team’s efforts to fight for social justice and community engagement last fall.
“We still like Jacoby Brissett and think he’s a good player,” Ballard said. “Let’s not take Jacoby out of the mix completely here.”
In reality, though, Brissett has always seen himself as a starter, and he’s not going to get that chance in Indianapolis. Brissett started two seasons for the Colts, in 2017 and 2019, and he came up short in his opportunity to prove he could take over for Andrew Luck as the starter.
If there was any doubt about that, the Colts laid it to rest by signing Philip Rivers last offseason, then trading two draft picks to Philadelphia to get Carson Wentz in February. Unless Brissett isn’t able to find a chance at a starting job elsewhere — even if it’s just in competition with a young quarterback — it’s hard to imagine he’d come back to the Colts to be Wentz’s backup.
Malik Hooker
Hooker, the first pick of Ballard’s tenure, needed to prove himself in 2020. The Colts made the difficult decision to decline Hooker’s fifth-year option last May, in part because injuries have plagued the free safety since he arrived in Indianapolis.
Then Hooker tore his Achilles tendon in the second game of the season, and rookie free safety Julian Blackmon emerged as a surprising force in the secondary, bouncing back faster than expected from a college ACL injury and becoming a key piece of the Indianapolis defense.
With Blackmon and Khari Willis now established in the secondary, Hooker likely would have a difficult time carving out a role in Indianapolis, and his pedigree might convince a team to sign him as a potential starter in a fairly thin free agent market at the position.
