Another cog in the Colts' free agency binge over the last two years has been let go.
The team announced the release of Ricky Jean Francois on Monday afternoon, saving them from the back end of a four-year, $22 million deal he signed in 2013.
Indianapolis cut LaRon Landry, recipient of a four-year, $24 million contract in the same offseason, two weeks ago.
Though veterans like Francois and Landry rarely make it to the tail end of their deals, this is the second of general manager Ryan Grigson's high-profile signings from a busy 2013 and 2014 to be cut.
"I think you have to be aggressive no matter what avenue you're going down to acquire players," Grigson said at the combine last week. "Even if it's acquiring CFAs after the draft, but you can't just do it for the sake of being aggressive and just get a name or get whomever, it has to be someone you collectively feel will better your team. You don't bat 1.000 obviously but when you go over the film and you go over every last bit of information and you hope you hit."
In fairness, Grigson's team is nestled comfortably under the salary cap, and could have more than $40 million to spend, according to Over The Cap. Although much of that will go to retaining some of the Colts' rising stars, the team has enough money to play with this spring.
He did deals, like this one, with an easy out in order to protect the core of his franchise.
So while Grigson will take the hit for going on a spending spree that didn't quite work out, give him credit for positioning the Colts to strike again this year.
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