The Indianapolis Colts were left for dead less than halfway through the 2018 season. Coach Frank Reich's team lost five of its first six games, four times surrendering at least 34 points to their opponent and twice scoring 16 points or less.

Needless to say, few outside Indianapolis' locker room saw a midseason turnaround coming, but that's indeed exactly what happened. The Colts were the hottest team in the NFL after Week 6, winning nine of their last 10 regular season games to finish 11-5, then beat the division-rival Houston Texans on the road in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Considering the two-way success Indianapolis enjoyed over the last three months of the season, might it be time to accelerate the team's path toward legitimate title contention by making a splash in free agency or trades this offseason? General manager Chris Ballard isn't totally opposed to the idea, but admits there's a high standard every potential acquisition must meet before joining the Colts.

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“We will explore every avenue,” he said of his team's offseason plans, per ESPN's Mike Wells. “If we think from a free agent standpoint that we are going to go get one of the high-priced [players] – we have a very strict criteria that he's going to have to fit. He's going to have to fit in the locker room. He's going to have to earn the high salary that he's making — not only with his play, but with his impact and his presence within the locker room.”

Two of the league's most high-profile players, wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le'Veon Bell of the Pittsburgh Steelers, both hope to play elsewhere next season. Indianapolis has ample room to acquire them, too, with $120 million in cap space to use when the new league years kicks off next month. But given the “strict criteria” players must meet before the Colts consider bringing them in, it seems unlikely Ballard will chase Brown or Bell this offseason despite the needs both players would fill next to franchise signal-caller Andrew Luck.