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INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard reverted to his old free-agent playbook. He re-signed his own players first.Instead of making a big first-day splash Peyton Manning Jersey , he barely made a ripple on the second day. And he’s probably not finished yet.As the first big wave of free agency signings were announced Wednesday, Ballard made two under-the-radar moves — re-signing backup cornerback Chris Milton to a one-year deal and bringing back starting cornerback Pierre Desir with a three-year deal — before signing former Carolina receiver Devin Funchess to a one-year deal Thursday.It’s all part of the grand plan.“We have a very strict criterion of what we want to bring in,” Ballard said recently. “We want players that want to get better, want to be great, want to be a part of the team, that are willing to sacrifice sometimes their individual stats for the betterment of winning and being a good teammate. If they fit into that criterion, absolutely, they’ll fit in.”After taking some risks last season, Ballard is betting on Funchess, Carolina’s second-round pick in 2015. At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, he gives Andrew Luck a bigger receiver than he’s worked with in the past.And if Funchess replicates what he did in 2017, when he caught 63 passes for 840 yards and eight touchdowns, he could emerge as the perfect complement to three Pro Bowl pass-catchers already on the roster: receiver T.Y. Hilton and tight ends Eric Ebron and Jack Doyle.Last year, though Darius Leonard Jersey White , Funchess regressed. He had 44 receptions for 549 yards and four TDs and reinforced his reputation for drops. So Ballard reportedly gave Funchess a $10 million deal that could go up to as much as $13 million.“I think the Colts are a great fit and I think they’re ready to take that next step,” Funchess said Thursday during a conference call. “I think if we win the Super Bowl, everything will take care of itself.”Ballard has made this journey before.A year ago, he gambled on Ebron, the Detroit Lions’ underachieving first-round pick from 2014. Ebron wound up catching more touchdown passes in 2018 than any tight end in the league and made his first Pro Bowl appearance.Not every move pays off, though. Ballard also signed Ryan Grant, the Washington Redskins’ 2014 fifth-round pick, last year. Indy expected Grant would emerge as the No. 2 receiver. Instead, Grant’s playing time steadily dwindled.Now, Ballard is at it again, this time with Funchess — though it’s not a terribly risky move.The Colts went into free agency with the most cap space in the league and if Funchess doesn’t work out, the Colts could let him walk away next year and recoup all of their cap room — just like they did with Grant.But the Colts’ more important moves might have come before free agency opened Wednesday.Kicker Adam Vinatieri, the league’s career scoring leader, signed a one-year deal worth $3.875 million in January. Right guard Mark Glowinski agreed to a three-year, $16.2 million deal in February — a move that keeps Indy’s offensive line intact after allowing a league-low 18 sacks in 2018.Last week Youth John Simon Jersey , versatile defensive tackle Margus Hunt decided to stay in Indy after the best season of his career. His two-year deal is worth $9 million. On Wednesday, Ballard brought back Desir for three years at $25 million and Milton, a key backup and special teams player. Desir recorded 79 tackles in 12 starts last season.And Ballard has said he would like to keep oft-injured Clayton Geathers — if he can.“We are going to make some tweaks to our program internally, but our mission will never change,” Ballard said. “Everything we do matters. Our building understands that.”100<button class="view-gallery">View Gallery</button> Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta The Colts are in the middle of a rebuild, right? That has been the common refrain from fans and analysts alike all season. This is a team that is still a year or two away from really competing. There are just too many holes to truly run with the best teams in the NFL. The problem with that assessment is that no one bothered to tell the Colts. In a season where we were largely hoping to see marked improvement across the board and an Andrew Luck who could show that he was able to return to form after a protracted absence, we have gotten instead a well-coached team that looks like it could beat anyone in the NFL as the regular season comes to a close. In consecutive weeks the Colts have handled a Texans team that was on a 9-game win streak and a Cowboys team that was on a 5-game win streak. What is more impressive still is that rather than the old blueprint for this Colts team of letting Andrew Luck go to work and hoping that is enough, they’ve won in different ways. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY SportsAgainst the Texans it was a combination of strong defensive play and Luck taking deep shots to T.Y. Hilton. Yesterday against Dallas, it was a smothering defensive performance and a ground and pound game behind the formidable young offensive line that paved the way to a shutout win. Contributions from rookies like Darius Leonard and Tyquan Lewis as well as a young secondary made the Cowboys offense that had been rolling look totally impotent.So how good are they really? 1-5 seems like a distant memory for this team, who since that time have found their stride on defense as health and reps have given way to a very strong group. Since that time we’ve seen Darius Leonard sustaining a rookie season that could very likely end up with him as an All-Pro. As a unit the defensive line has hit their stride down the back stretch of this season, finding ways to repeatedly abuse opposing quarterbacks and making teams pay when they can’t get receivers open quickly. Complementing that effort perfectly has been the emergence of the secondary who are playing their best football of the season and have essentially shut down top receivers over the past two weeks. Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesWhat’s more, this team has taken on some of the best running backs in the NFL and proven itself up to the task of limiting them. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus seems to be hitting his stride in terms of play calling and has really got a feel for his team’s strengths and how best to use them. While there aren’t a plethora of game breakers across the group, this defense is loaded with guys who can make a play and who do their jobs well. That kind of balance can be huge in the playoffs.In all reality though, this isn’t a team that has to have a dominant defense. The reason? Andrew Luck. Luck has had a fantastic return season and has gotten better and his arm stronger as the season has progressed. Despite the loss of Jack Doyle, and no notable receivers to speak of behind T.Y. Hilton John Simon Jersey Stitched , Luck inside of Frank Reich’s scheme has been efficient, smart, and dangerous. The offensive line since the return of Anthony Castonzo has been essentially a brick wall, allowing the second fewest sacks in the league through 15 weeks. They trail only the Saints, who have attempted 140 fewer passes than they have. That is just plain incredible. The job of this line has been ridiculous. With the renewed running game we saw yesterday, this offense only stands to get more deadly as the season goes on. Frank Reich has continued to improve, and if he is given a balanced attack that can open up the play action, this offense can be deadly. Despite a relative lack of skill position players on the offense, a combination of Reich’s play calling and Luck’s brilliance has enabled them to get players involved and be very successful. Eric Ebron, the presumed first round bust at tight end who was signed in the offseason, has been incredible, setting the franchise record for most touchdowns by a Colts tight end in a season, and has two games to go yet. Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty ImagesSo the question remains, how good is this team? At their best, as in the way we’ve seen them play the past couple weeks? They are good enough to beat any team in the NFL. Over the past few weeks as we’ve watched the white hot Saints Youth Jabaal Sheard Jersey , Rams, and Chiefs cool a bit from their ridiculous levels of the earlier parts of the season, the Colts have been the ones heating up. They got a gut check game against Jacksonville to remind them that there was no room to take a week off. Now they’ll face the next two weeks in “must-win” mode. Games against the Giants and Titans will be critical to getting into the playoffs, and they’ll need either Baltimore or Pittsburgh to drop one game to make that possible. Additionally, if the Texans were to somehow lose out and the Colts win out, they would take the division. Once in, this is a team that no one will want to face. Given their youth, it is certainly possible that they could show up flat and drop a game to anyone. However, they have proven over the past several weeks that they are not a team to be taken lightly, and through solid coaching, sound play, and breakout performances from their young defense, this is a team that can absolutely contend for a Super Bowl this season. Regardless of how this season finishes, it is tough not to be excited about the possibilities for this young team as they grow and move forward. So what do you think? Is this team ready to contend now?