Stephen Holder

stephen.holder@indystar.com

INDIANAPOLIS – There might be no better indicator of the NFL’s exploding revenues than a quick look at the league’s ever-increasing salary cap.

Just six years ago, in 2011, the cap — which is structured to rise and fall in accordance with revenues — was $120 million per team. This week, during the NFL Scouting Combine, the league announced the 2017 cap will be a staggering $167 million.

For the Indianapolis Colts and the rest of the NFL’s 32 teams, this provides limitless flexibility. And that’s a good thing, in and of itself.

But it can have unintended consequences, too. And it's being reinforced to the Colts right now. For a team sitting on more than $50 million in salary-cap space, the Colts find themselves with a long shopping list, but, perhaps, not much quality inventory left on the shelves.

And the problem is universal.

“You look at the list today and it could be vastly different a week from now because all these franchise guys are getting signed to their tenders and guys are getting re-signed to their own teams,” Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn said. “So, the list that we’re working off might be totally different a week from now.”

Accordingly, much of the excitement among fans about possible pass rushers available to the Colts in free agency has subsided as teams continue to avail themselves of their ample cap space either by re-signing or franchising their edge players. Just in the past week, pass rushers Melvin Ingram (L.A. Chargers), Jason Pierre-Paul (New York Giants) and Chandler Jones (Arizona Cardinals) were designated franchise players, effectively taking them off the market just as they were scheduled to become free agents.

The result is a free-agent landscape that’s not particularly appealing.

Take the outlook for free-agent pass rushers, for instance. Whereas a player like Ingram might have come on the market under different circumstances, the best remaining pass rusher now might be Green Bay’s Nick Perry — a player whose career-best sack total was four before breaking he broke out with 11 in 2016.

With many deep-pocketed teams and the need for pass rushers always at a premium, a player like Perry — God bless him — is primed to break the proverbial bank.

“You’re seeing less quality free agents,” said Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, speaking generally and not about Perry in particular.

“There’s an inherent danger in that because a lot of the players hitting the market might not be worth what they’re going to get paid because of the supply and demand. I think that’s reflective in a lot of the early cuts, the 5- and 6-year deals that get cut after two or three because maybe they were oversigned. So, I think it reinforces that you’re wanting to sign your own and keep your own. You have to be careful about that free-agent market and not overpaying for maybe an average player.”

But the Colts find themselves in a situation where they have little choice but to engage in free agency, at least on some level. When you have as many holes as Indianapolis does on its defense, a mere seven draft picks isn’t likely to net enough solutions.

First-year Colts general manager Chris Ballard on Wednesday sought to correct the record and said, despite some of his previous statements, that he does see free agency as useful. But he emphasized he would take a buyer-beware approach.

“What I am going to say, though, is when we do dip into free agency,” Ballard said, “we have to be right on the player we sign.”

The current environment will be a boon for the Colts’ own free agents, such as tight end Jack Doyle and outside linebacker Erik Walden. As two of the bigger names available at their respective positions, the price for each player figures to increase because so few prominent players will make it to the open market. Walden, in particular, should benefit from the lack of available pass rushers.

The down side for the Colts: Neither player seems likely to be re-signed by the team before Tuesday, when they can officially begin dialogue with other interested teams. Knowing the kind of money available on the open market, both Doyle and Walden have motivation to take a wait-and-see approach.

But we need not wait to see how this is going to play out league-wide.

It's already obvious: The cap keeps rising, the money keeps flowing, and finding solutions in free agency is only getting tougher.

Follow Colts Insider Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.

RISING CAP

The NFL’s salary cap is determined using a formula that is tied to league revenues. Recent sharp increases have had a major impact on free agency for the Colts and all NFL teams. Here’s a look:

Year Salary cap (per team)

2011 $120 million

2012 $120.6 million

2013 $123 million

2014 $133 million

2015 $143.28 million

2016 $155.27 million

2017 $167 million