Insider: Colts' quiet approach to free agency confirms one thing — they're rebuilding

INDIANAPOLIS – The human nature in us likes to avoid confronting difficult truths.

When our waistlines expand, it’s not that we’re getting fatter. We’ve just put on a few.

Even as we age, we refuse to admit we’re getting old. We instead claim 40 is the new 30 (is it, really?).

Now, we’re learning these realities apply to football, too. Take, for example, the Indianapolis Colts. For a team that was 4-12 last season and has gone too many years without a dramatic reshaping, many fans have found it easier to proceed as if the team is just a couple players away from returning to glory. An Andrew Norwell here, an Allen Robinson there and — poof! — the Colts are back.

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Given the dearth of talent on the roster, those two headliner free agents would certainly look good in Colts blue. But the approach of Indianapolis during this free agency period should finally convince the few remaining holdouts of what is actually happening here.

This week has, without question, confirmed that the Colts are rebuilding. And we’re not talking about the sort of rebuilding effort where a team tries to apply a fresh coat of paint in an effort to get to 8-8. This will be an extensive, perhaps painful, and lengthy rebuilding process.

The Colts entered free agency on Wednesday armed with more than $70 million in salary-cap space, enough to sign practically any player on the market. The only deal they’ve done so far is a three-year pact with defensive lineman Denico Autry that will average less than $6 million per year. We’re only two days into free agency, so more deals are likely to come. But they will be targeted signings designed to create competition and address holes with temporary, moderately-priced solutions.

The basis of this rebuild has been, and will continue to be, the NFL draft. And that takes time. Lots of it.

This week’s events will not be the last time your patience will be tested. That might also happen this fall, depending on how quickly the Colts’ young roster can mature and develop. But this is happening, whether or not Colts fans like it or endorse it.

General Manager Chris Ballard is dead set on moving forward in this manner. So, too, is owner Jim Irsay. Ballard made his plans known to his owner before he even landed the job. Irsay’s decision to hire him anyway is a tacit endorsement of Ballard’s plans.

Listen to Irsay’s own words. This is what he said shortly after the Colts introduced Ballard in 2017:

“I’ve said it before, I’d rather have a chance to win two Lombardis and have a losing season or two than just be 8-8 or 9-7 and win no Lombardis. It’s about greatness, about championships.”

That’s a difficult thing for Irsay to admit after enjoying a decade-plus of excellence during the Peyton Manning Era. Irsay doesn’t cope well with losing. But he also understands football, and he knows Ballard could be on to something.

The Colts are on a trajectory that they arguably should have been on six years ago. Former GM Ryan Grigson started to tear down the roster when he arrived in 2012, sending a parade of accomplished, but aging, players out the door. Manning was released for myriad reasons. Gary Brackett, Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai, among others, followed.

The table was set for major reboot. And the Colts did just that — at least in 2012. A great draft haul led by Andrew Luck and some select veterans helped pave the way to an 11-5 season and playoff berth. But the Colts got away from that plan in 2013, spending big on veteran free agents and abandoning the organic roster-building path they appeared to be on.

The short-term solutions brought with them short-term gratification. With Luck enjoying a career year, the Colts were just good enough to get to the AFC Championship Game in 2014. But 2015 demonstrated just how unsustainable the roster was. Poor drafting and an over-reliance on free agency left the roster without much talent in the pipeline.

Which brings us to the start of Ballard’s tenure. He blew up the roster and went with low-priced free agents and tons of young players. More of the same is expected this year. And there could be pain along the way (though the prospect of Luck returning potentially changes the landscape).

“Look, you can’t build a sustained winner — one that lasts over time — through free agency,” Ballard said last month.

That was, perhaps, Ballard’s way of telling you to brace yourself. That was Ballard telling you the truth that no one wants to accept.

In the Colts’ estimation, it is a truth that can no longer be ignored.

Follow Colts Insider Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.

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