{"id":822653,"date":"2026-03-20T06:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/822653\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T06:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:50:08","slug":"top-9-free-agents-for-colts-after-first-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/822653\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 9 free agents for Colts after first wave"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 19, 2026, 11:58 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

For the most part, NFL free agency is now at a standstill. However, the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> have remained quite active.<\/p>\n

GM Chris Ballard has now made 10 outside free agent signings over the last week-plus, along with re-signing a number of the Colts<\/a>‘ own free agents.<\/p>\n

However, there is still work to be done, as the Colts still have several roster holes<\/a> to address. The good news is that the Colts have a good amount of salary cap space<\/a> to work with.<\/p>\n

If Ballard is going to continue to tweak this roster through free agency, here are the best available free agent options as of March 19th at positions of need for the Colts, with help from Gregg Rosenthal’s big board<\/a> at NFL.com.<\/p>\n

Free agent defensive ends<\/p>\n

What’s the need?\u00a0The Colts have added to the depth of this unit, signing Micheal Clemons and Arden Key. However, those additions addressed the Colts’ rotational need at the position. Adding a high-end defensive end to pair with Laiatu Latu would be quite valuable.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a>Joey BosaHaason ReddickCameron JordanKyle Van NoyJadeveon ClowneyFree agent linebackers<\/p>\n

What’s the need? The Colts signed Akeem Davis-Gaither<\/a>, who provides experience and some stability to this position. However, beyond Davis-Gaither, Jaylon Carlies and Austin Ajiake — who combined have played fewer than 450 career defensive snaps — are the next two on the depth chart. More experience, depth, and competition are needed here. The draft may be the best avenue for accomplishing that.<\/p>\n

No linebackers are currently listed among Rosenthal’s top 101 free agents.Free agent interior offensive linemen<\/p>\n

What’s the need?\u00a0The Colts’ starting offensive line may be on the roster already, but this unit is short on experienced depth and competition.<\/p>\n

Free agent offensive tackles<\/p>\n

What’s the need? Everything just said about the interior offensive line applies here.<\/p>\n

Jawaan TaylorTaylor DeckerFred Johnson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 19, 2026, 11:58 a.m. ET For the most part, NFL free agency is now at a standstill.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,108396,95882,98073,96771,95903,97561,96711,97541,111939,95896,95888,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-822653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcolts","16":"tag-sstsncolts","17":"tag-tagakeem-davis-gaither","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagarden-key","20":"tag-tagcameron-jordan","21":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","22":"tag-tagjadeveon-clowney","23":"tag-tagkyle-van-noy","24":"tag-taglaiatu-latu","25":"tag-tagmicheal-clemons","26":"tag-tagnational-sports","27":"tag-tagnfl","28":"tag-tagoverall-positive","29":"tag-tagsports-news","30":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116260175624620366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}