The Indianapolis Colts entered the offseason with two clear priorities, in no particular order: No. 1, they have to make sure Alec Pierce didn't jump ship. No. 2, they had to lock up Daniel Jones with a multi-year contract.
General manager Chris Ballard used the transition tag on Jones to get some wiggle room to negotiate with his quarterback. In the end, it was the quarterback who got what he wanted by getting a max of $100 million over two seasons. The team was still able to keep Pierce, though.
That's two out of two for Ballard and the Colts. Granted, Michael Pittman Jr. was an unfortunate salary cap casualty to make numbers work, but even though the Colts only got a late-draft pick swap, it was better to do so and save $24 million in cap space than just releasing him.
Chris Balllard knows the Indianapolis Colts aren't that far behind
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At the end of the day, this team acquired its primary offseason reinforcement midway through last season. Trading for Sauce Gardner was their equivalent of pushing all the chips forward, knowing that they wouldn't have much cap space or valuable draft assets heading into this offseason.
This team doesn't need to make a ton of moves; they just need to be healthy. Braden Smith's departure will sting, especially given that [he's joining a divisional rival](https://horseshoeheroes.com/indianapolis-colts-fans-will-hate-where-braden-smith-is-headed-next), but they have a cheaper and promising replacement in the building in Jalen Travis.
Of course, it's hard to be that optimistic after watching the team collapse in the second half of last season, and Gardner will have to do plenty of heavy lifting to live up to his lofty trade value and cap hit. Still, this team was 8-2 at some point, and that wasn't a fluke.
The team might still have a bit of money to spend, but one shouldn't expect a big-name addition. Trey Hendrickson is off the board after signing with the Baltimore Ravens, and a trade for Maxx Crosby isn't going to happen. Bargain hunting is likely the way Indy will spend the rest of free agency.
Ballard somewhat backed himself into a corner with the decisions he made last season, but that doesn't mean the vision has changed. And once Jones is finally and officially signed, it'll all be about patching things up and [making minor tweaks](https://horseshoeheroes.com/indianapolis-colts-trade-raises-uncomfortable-questions-about-chris-ballard) to a roster that was already on the verge of contention.