Ryan Grigson's Free-Agency Reliance Continues to Haunt the Indianapolis Colts

On Tuesday, the Indianapolis Colts announced they had cut offensive tackle Todd Herremans. 

On its face, the move doesn't seem all that noteworthy. Herremans hasn't played since being benched after Week 2, not even being a consideration over the last few weeks, when the Colts were down two starting linemen. Instead, both Lance Louis and seventh-round draft pick Denzelle Good got opportunities. 

Herremans was once a good starting lineman in Philadelphia, but age (33) and injuries have caught up with him. His career is likely done. 

His release could have come at any point in the last 12 weeks, honestly. 

But then we remember how Herremans got to Indianapolis, which was a free-agent deal worth up to $3.5 million this offseason, per ESPN's Adam Caplan (h/t Mike Wilkening of Pro Football Talk). Herremans, the Colts' lone offensive line addition outside of Good, was supposed to be a versatile, stabilizing veteran on the line this season. 

For example, take a look at general manager Ryan Grigson's comments back in April, per Mike Wells of ESPN.com:

"

There's a lot of things with Todd that made him attractive when he got released. He's big. He's athletic. He's versatile. Todd is a guy that's nice to have just because he can conceivably play four different spots for you. This year he was hurt, but he still is out there playing with a torn bicep. It shows the level of toughness he has as well. When you guys see him on the hoof, when he came into my office, I forgot how big he was. He's bigger than Jack [Mewhort], somewhat similar. It's going to be nice having that added size and added experience on our line.

"

Unfortunately, that didn't pan out. 

Sure, it was just a $3.5 million contract, just $2.25 million without counting incentives. But the bigger problem was Grigson relying on the solitary free-agent move to patch the offensive line for the coming year. Even with youngsters like Jack Mewhort, Hugh Thornton and Khaled Holmes elsewhere on the line, it was a risky move. 

And that is where the Colts have been harmed over the last four years. 

Not necessarily in the huge-contract free-agent busts; almost every contract the Colts have offered included easy escape hatches for the Colts to prevent massive dead money. Not necessarily in draft busts; every team has poor picks in recent years, and the Colts have drafted well enough comparatively.

No, where the Colts have painted themselves into a corner is in the cheap-to-moderate levels of free agency, where they've been too heavily reliant to build the bulk of their roster. 

Unit	Draft	Free Agent	UDFA	Waiver Wire	Trade
Offense	11	5	4	4	0
Defense	7	13	2	1	3
Special Teams	1	2	0	0	0
Total	19	20	6	5	3
Starters	9	11	1	1	2

And this is a problem because most of those free agents haven't been particularly effective. This is because free agency is generally not effective across the entire league. The best players stick with the teams that drafted them, and the ones who get into free agency then have to deal with transitions in location, scheme and coaching that often lead to lesser production. 

Free-agency reliance also leads to an older roster prone to more injuries and sharp drop-offs in play (Exhibit A: Andre Johnson). According to Spotrac.com, the Colts' average age of 27.6 years is the highest in the league. 

Building a team on free agency simply doesn't work. The Colts' free-agency woes have not been any worse than other teams; they've simply dipped into free agency more. 

It's not Grigson's fault completely. The Colts had to reset everything and blow up the roster when Grigson took over in 2012, and the team had to use free agency to patch up at least some of the holes. That roster blow-up led to massive cap space in the last three years, which was also contributed to by the team's smart contract structures.

The team had to spend the money (although it has been consistent in rolling over money, rolling over roughly $12 million from 2013 to 2015, per Spotrac), and it hasn't been irresponsible in the spending.

But the veteran free agents have monopolized starting positions, and the team hasn't been able to effectively develop drafted players into starters.

Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, Mewhort and perhaps David Parry and Henry Anderson have developed into potential second-contract starters, but the rest are questionable at best.

So, only a few players have gotten second contracts, resulting in more cap space and a never-ending cycle of free agency. 

This is a cycle the Colts have to get out of if they want to create a long-term Super Bowl contender, and it can only be done by drafting starters and developing the young players they have. 

Can owner Jim Irsay trust Grigson and the team's coaching staff to do that? That question will determine the job status of those people, with changes looking possible, even probable, in 2016.