The Colts are a live longshot to win Super Bowl LVI

Super Bowl LVI is nearly a year away, but it’s never too early to lock in a solid value wager.

The Indianapolis Colts, sitting at +2500 and tied for 11th-choice status with the Miami Dolphins, look like a great bet at a big price in this market. We’ll outline the reasons why below.

Indy nearly beat Bills in Wild Card round

The Colts were a solid 11-5 in the regular season, but they had to settle for a Wild Card spot due to a tiebreaker loss to the Tennessee Titans for the AFC South crown.

Philip Rivers and company shuffled off to Buffalo, where they were underdogs against Josh Allen and the Bills. Indy had the ball late down 27-24, but a potential game-winning (or game-tying) drive ultimately fell short. Regardless of the result, the Colts put together a respectable season.

No quarterback, no problem

Rivers retired soon after his team’s Wild Card round loss, leaving the Colts to scour the quarterback market once again. But Rivers – much like Tom Brady in Tampa Bay – was a solid plug-and-play solution for Indy in 2020.

The Colts have a litany of options at their disposal in what looks like a potential quarterback carousel of an offseason.

Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz, and Sam Darnold have all been bandied about in trade rumors. Indy also has Jacob Eason, a 2020 fourth-round selection out of Washington, on their roster. They could even draft another quarterback in what looks like a fairly deep class of signal callers in 2021.

Lots of salary cap space

Colts GM Chris Ballard has put together a talented young team on the cheap, so he has over 36% of the cap to work with this offseason. The only free agents of import that Indy may want to re-sign are 32-year-old defensive end Justin Houston – a four-time Pro Bowler who had eight sacks in 2020 – and fan-favorite wide-out T. Y. Hilton.

Even if Ballard acquires an expensive quarterback like Watson or Wentz, he should still have enough wiggle room to bring in an impact free agent or two.

Linebacker Shaquil Barrett, a dominant force for the Bucs in Super Bowl LV, is part of a crowded free agent class at the position that includes Melvin Ingram, Bud Dupree, and Matt Judon. A bargain could easily be had on one of them.

It’s important to anticipate potential free agency moves or trades before they happen at this time of year, otherwise value in this market will disappear. So jump in on the Colts now if you like them, because it might be costly to wait.