PFF Grades Colts' Free Agency as 'Average' So Far
As other teams across the National Football League have gone crazy throwing around money in free agency, the Indianapolis Colts have stayed frugal, limiting their spending through the first week of a busy free agency period.
Therefore, it's hard to have a stance on what the Colts have done in free agency aside from re-signing cornerback Xavier Rhodes and running back Marlon Mack on one-year deals, or adding veteran pass rusher Isaac Rochell in free agency on a one-year deal.
Despite the quiet start, Pro Football Focus tabbed the Colts' free agency period as "average" to date in a recent article from Sam Monson and Brad Spielberger.
With just three true signings in free agency, there wasn't much to choose from for the PFF duo when it came to the best signing for the Colts. However, Monson and Spielberger tabbed the Rhodes re-signing as the best move of the free agency period for the Colts.
"The Colts made arguably the biggest gamble of the offseason so far by trading for Carson Wentz after his subpar 2020 campaign in Philadelphia, one in which he was eventually benched for Jalen Hurts. And that wasn't necessarily because the team had huge faith in the second-round backup; it was more so because Wentz gave them no choice with his play.
"Wentz gets to reunite with Frank Reich, his offensive coordinator in 2017 when he had an MVP-caliber season. His 84.9 overall PFF grade that year was a career-high, but it was also built on a series of incredible numbers in very unstable metrics. He earned a 91.8 PFF grade on third downs and didn’t have a single turnover-worthy play when under pressure, for example. The Colts have banked on being able to rediscover Wentz’s best play and were prepared to take that risk because of the fear of otherwise not finding a viable starting quarterback.
"Beyond that, re-signing Xavier Rhodes is a very shrewd move for the Colts. They allowed him to experience how soft the cornerback market was and then brought him back on the cheap, retaining a player who was a top-10 corner for them last season. Rhodes had a huge bounce-back year and allowed just 50.7% of passes thrown his way to be caught."
The re-signing of Rhodes is an important one for the Colts, one that is a perfect one for the franchise.
Rhodes was the most important free agent the Colts had hitting the market — more important than T.Y. Hilton, Justin Houston, Malik Hooker and Denico Autry — so being able to retain him was huge.
According to Pro Football Focus grades, Rhodes' 76.3 overall grade was fifth among all NFL corners who played at least 80% of their defense's snaps, which marked a significant rebound season for the former Minnesota Vikings star.
Retaining the standout corner provides the Colts with two high-level cover corners in Rhodes and Kenny Moore II, allowing the Colts to do some different things in coverage aside from the two stars that really completes one of the league's better defenses — at least on paper.
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