Getty Former Indianapolis Colts starting left tackle Eric Fisher reportedly wants to play during the 2022 NFL season.
Former Indianapolis Colts starting left tackle Eric Fisher remains a free agent. He played one season for the Colts in 2021 after eight years with the Kansas City Chiefs.
ESPN’s Ed Werder reported Fisher wants to play this season and that the Dallas Cowboys could develop interest. But it remains anyone’s best guess where Fisher lands, as Werder also reported Fisher has been very selective during his free agency process.
“A source says former No. 1 overall pick wants to play this season but will be selective and has turned down offers from nine teams so far,” tweeted Werder on August 25.
If the #Cowboys develop interest in Eric Fisher as potential solution to OT issues with Tyron Smith injury, a source says former No. 1 overall pick wants to play this season but will be selective and has turned down offers from nine teams so far.
As Werder indicated, the Cowboys may become interest in Fisher now that the team announced two-time All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith has suffered a tear to his left hamstring. Smith has missed at least three games every season since 2016, and with this latest injury, Smith is “unlikely to return before December” according to ESPN’s Todd Archer and Adam Schefter.
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Fisher’s Market Value
At least publicly, it’s been a quiet offseason for Fisher. The Colts never really expressed any interest in re-signing him, and he hasn’t been mentioned all that much in the media.
Of course, Werder’s report changes that narrative quite a bit. What still isn’t public, though, is whether Fisher has turned down nine offers because he hasn’t found the right team and city for him or if the offers haven’t been what he is seeking financially.
After the Chiefs drafted him first overall in the 2013 NFL Draft, it took Fisher some time to become one of the best left tackles in football. But he made his first Pro Bowl in 2018 and then made the Pro Bowl team again in 2020.
Fisher suffered an Achilles injury in the 2021 AFC Championship Game, which forced him to miss the Super Bowl. Entering free agency that offseason, that was not an ideal time to get hurt for multiple reasons.
He worked extremely hard to return for Week 2 of last year, but it took him even more time to get back to his 2020 level of play.
Overall last season, he started 15 games for the Colts, replacing Anthony Castonzo, who retired following the 2020 season, at left tackle in Indianapolis.
On January 22, Pro Football Focus ranked Fisher the fifth-best available offensive tackle in free agency and projected Fisher to receive a three-year contract worth an average of $16 million per season.
Colts New Plan at Left Tackle
It remains uncertain where Fisher will play this fall, but it will not be in Indianapolis.
The Colts re-signed veteran Matt Pryor to a one-year contract worth as much as $6 million with the idea that he would start at left tackle. Indianapolis also drafted offensive tackle Bernhard Raimann in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Pryor and Raimann have been competing with each other during training camp, but Pryor has taken a majority of his repetitions with the Indianapolis first-team offense. On August 21, Colts head coach Frank Reich all but named Pryor the team’s starting left tackle.
“I think Matt’s [Pryor] done a good job, and I think he’s given us a lot of confidence in him going into this week and into the season,” Reich said. “I think that’s our mindset right now.
“I like the progress that he is making and feel good about the opportunity for him going forward.”
This late in the preseason, Fisher’s best bet of finding a job is with a team, such as the Cowboys, that expects to compete for a Super Bowl and has a new injury at offensive tackle.