The Colts are not Extending Ryan Kelly for now

[indyagent17]

That’s running around the newswire right now and I understand. He’s 31 years old and still under contract for this season. His salary is going to be huge and an extension will be even bigger so I’m in the camp just to let him walk.

[holeymoley99]

1 hour ago, indyagent17 said:

That’s running around the newswire right now and I understand. He’s 31 years old and still under contract for this season. His salary is going to be huge and an extension will be even bigger so I’m in the camp just to let him walk.

If Tannor is what many think he is he will take over next season and could even press Fries for playing time this season at RG.  If he doesnt show the signs then it becomes a more interesting situation.

[AwesomeAustin]

I think a series of two year deals where the second year is not guaranteed may be a good route to go. Kelly played great last year but struggled the year before. I’m all for taking it basically one year at a time until he retires or the wheels fall off 

[GoColts8818]

Smart move, he’s older and getting older.  Not everyone has to get a contract extension a year early.

[Hawkeyecolt]

Even in 2021, when Kelly was out, the team didn’t miss a beat.  No way should they be extending a 31 year old center who has the cap hit that Kelly is carrying. I’m glad he had a good season, but I’m hoping his replacement is on the roster.   

[NewColtsFan]

25 minutes ago, Hawkeyecolt said:

Even in 2021, when Kelly was out, the team didn’t miss a beat.  No way should they be extending a 31 year old center who has the cap hit that Kelly is carrying. I’m glad he had a good season, but I’m hoping his replacement is on the roster.   

Kelly's replacement IS on the roster.  It’s Tyler Bortolini.   It’s not official, but I believe that’s the plan. 

[Hawkeyecolt]

16 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Kelly's replacement IS on the roster.  It’s Tyler Bortolini.   It’s not official, but I believe that’s the plan. 

Definitely what I’m rooting for. 

[NewColtsFan]

23 minutes ago, Hawkeyecolt said:

Definitely what I’m rooting for. 

Me too.  One of my favorites picks in this draft!   

[Hoose]

The Colts can’t continue to have the highest paid Oline in the league. Not if they want to build a championship team. As others have said, if things work out, the team has already selected Kelly’s replacement in Bortolini. It’s the smart way to go financially and also because Kelly has been concussion prone and repeatedly banged up. 

[Superman]

11 hours ago, Hoose said:

The Colts can’t continue to have the highest paid Oline in the league. Not if they want to build a championship team. As others have said, if things work out, the team has already selected Kelly’s replacement in Bortolini. It’s the smart way to go financially and also because Kelly has been concussion prone and repeatedly banged up. 

 

Yeah, you can have three highly paid OL. You probably can't have four. So assuming Raimann gets paid after this season, he would take Kelly's spot as the third highly paid OL.

[DougDew]

The Colts selected what is forecasted to be a very good C in the draft.  Not extending Kelly at this time makes sense, IMO.

[Solid84]

He’s getting up in age (for an athlete, lol), he’s had 4 consussions and his replacement is on the roster. Not extending him makes sense. 

[CR91]

To me, it's a non-story. Of course the colts aren't going to extend Kelly right now. They have no reason to. Kelly should take this season as a challenge to show he can still play at a high level otherwise, Pinter or Bortolini will replace him.

[John Hammonds]

1 hour ago, CR91 said:

To me, it's a non-story. Of course the colts aren't going to extend Kelly right now. They have no reason to. Kelly should take this season as a challenge to show he can still play at a high level otherwise, Pinter or Bortolini will replace him.

Yup.  And next year, the story will be a duplicate of the TY Hilton story, with just the names changed:

 

Kelly -- "I want to keep playing"

Colts -- "We really value the player, he played great for us, and feel he has a lot of talent"

Interpretation -- "We're not signing him.  We're moving on.  We hope someone else still finds use for him at this stage in his career.  It won't be us.  But we still love him."

[Dingus McGirt]

1 hour ago, CR91 said:

To me, it's a non-story. Of course the colts aren't going to extend Kelly right now. They have no reason to. Kelly should take this season as a challenge to show he can still play at a high level otherwise, Pinter or Bortolini will replace him.

Now - that’s just plain mean.   /s

 

Seriously, though - what is now Kelly’s  motivation to play hard, work through injuries, etc., if he knows this is his last season with Indy?  Will he really be attractive to other teams with his injury history?

[CR91]

53 minutes ago, Dingus McGirt said:

Now - that’s just plain mean.   /s

 

Seriously, though - what is now Kelly’s  motivation to play hard, work through injuries, etc., if he knows this is his last season with Indy?  Will he really be attractive to other teams with his injury history?

 

Motivation is there's 31 other teams if the colts don't want to re-sign him

[CR91]

56 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

Yup.  And next year, the story will be a duplicate of the TY Hilton story, with just the names changed:

 

Kelly -- "I want to keep playing"

Colts -- "We really value the player, he played great for us, and feel he has a lot of talent"

Interpretation -- "We're not signing him.  We're moving on.  We hope someone else still finds use for him at this stage in his career.  It won't be us.  But we still love him."

 

It's unfortunate, but that's the reality of all sports and honesty any profession in general. They use you til they don't find value in you no more

[John Hammonds]

1 minute ago, CR91 said:

 

It's unfortunate, but that's the reality of all sports and honesty any profession in general. They use you til they don't find value in you no more

Yup.  It's a hard and fast rule in all professional sports:  "The organization is always ready to move on before the player is."

[NewColtsFan]

57 minutes ago, Dingus McGirt said:

Now - that’s just plain mean.   /s

 

Seriously, though - what is now Kelly’s  motivation to play hard, work through injuries, etc., if he knows this is his last season with Indy?  Will he really be attractive to other teams with his injury history?

 

Kelly’s motivations are too many to list, so I’ll toss out a few….
 

1.  How about, he wants to get paid next year.  If not by the Colts, then by his next team.   If he just phoned this season in (he won’t) the person he’s hurting most is himself. 
 

2.   How will any new team evaluate him.  If his play falls off, that will show up in tape.  Kelly doesn’t want to play for his new team on a deal for the vet minimum plus incentives.

 

3.   By the nature of who they are and the position they play,  offensive lineman are,  by their nature,  the most self-motivated  group on any team.   Only quarterback would be equal or better.  They are completely prideful.   The old saying is that if you’re hearing about a lineman odds are it’s bad.  Penalty, or sack.  So kelly would never let his teammates down.  
 

I could write more, but I think you get the idea.  Sorry if this seems harsh. 

[ColtStrong2013]

32 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

Yup.  It's a hard and fast rule in all professional sports:  "The organization is always ready to move on before the player is."

Yeah. In this case, they appreciate Kelly. But 1) he’s one of the very few (is he the only?) Grigson player left on this roster. 2) he has a history of missing time and concussion concerns 3) he isn’t cheap 4) he has notable replacement options on roster. 
 

I appreciate R.K. and hope he has a healthy/successful year this year, which may change the conversation, but it is time to consider moving on. The risk/reward doesn’t seem to be there moving forward considering the cost/value extending him. 

[indyagent17]

3 hours ago, CR91 said:

To me, it's a non-story. Of course the colts aren't going to extend Kelly right now. They have no reason to. Kelly should take this season as a challenge to show he can still play at a high level otherwise, Pinter or Bortolini will replace him.

Not Pinter please 

[Dingus McGirt]

41 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

 

Kelly’s motivations are too many to list, so I’ll toss out a few….
 

1.  How about, he wants to get paid next year.  If not by the Colts, then by his next team.   If he just phoned this season in (he won’t) the person he’s hurting most is himself. 
 

2.   How will any new team evaluate him.  If his play falls off, that will show up in tape.  Kelly doesn’t want to play for his new team on a deal for the vet minimum plus incentives.

 

3.   By the nature of who they are and the position they play,  offensive lineman are,  by their nature,  the most self-motivated  group on any team.   Only quarterback would be equal or better.  They are completely prideful.   The old saying is that if you’re hearing about a lineman odds are it’s bad.  Penalty, or sack.  So kelly would never let his teammates down.  
 

I could write more, but I think you get the idea.  Sorry if this seems harsh. 

Not harsh at all.  I asked the questions - your responses were exactly what I thought they would be.  Now anyone who wonders about Kelly has a great reference.  My compliments.

 

[CR91]

53 minutes ago, indyagent17 said:

Not Pinter please 

 

Pinter at C is a lot better then Pinter at G

[NewColtsFan]

5 hours ago, Dingus McGirt said:

Not harsh at all.  I asked the questions - your responses were exactly what I thought they would be.  Now anyone who wonders about Kelly has a great reference.  My compliments.

 

Thank you.   Appreciate the very classy response.   

[NewColtsFan]

14 hours ago, CR91 said:

To me, it's a non-story. Of course the colts aren't going to extend Kelly right now. They have no reason to. Kelly should take this season as a challenge to show he can still play at a high level otherwise, Pinter or Bortolini will replace him.

To me, it’s also a non- story, but for a different reason.  
 

Because Ryan Kelly, classy guy that he is, has chosen to make it a non-story.  No complaining.  No running to the media to try to generate sympathy.   No hold out OR hold in where you show up but tell the team you won’t practice without a new contract.   He could’ve done any of them.  He chose to do none of them.  
 

I think Kelly is a classy guy.  easy to see why he’s voted a team captain, and I think the union rep.  I also think the Colts under Ballard are filled with classy guys who are easy to root for.  Honestly, it one of the biggest reasons I’ve stuck around since Luck retired.  It’s a fun team to cheer for. 
 

So I like the team, the coaches,  the front office, the owner and the city.   Hope to make it to Indy one day to meet as many of you as I can.   

[Scott Pennock]

I don’t think he’s long for the roster. 
 

No matter how well he performs this will be a financial issue - don’t forget we let our last star center walk as well.

 

We shall see how the rookie looks when Kelly gets dinged up and/or needs a breather.

[Defjamz26]

I had a feeling this might happen. It’s a smart play by the Colts tbh. We just handed out a bunch of extensions to our key guy. While Kelly definitely constitutes as a key guy, they drafted Tanor Bortolini was was highly thought of in draft circles , with some thinking he could have been a 3rd round pick. I think they’ll let him get through this season and re-evaluate after. 
 

For example, if he misses a couple games and Tamir fills and and looks great, he might not get that extension. If he plays well and stays healthy, he may get a 1-2 year deal.

[wig]

I think he's more likely to be cut than extended

[AKB]

23 hours ago, wig said:

I think he's more likely to be cut than extended

what would make you think something like that? 

 

this is his last year under contract, meaning he wouldn't need to be "cut", also he's a top 5 center, arguably top 3. I was one of the people saying we should've treaded him like 3 years ago.  But he certainly won't be cut. 

 

Also I read somewhere that the Colts are interested in extending him, despite the comment made by Kelly. I'll try and find the clip/article

[Defjamz26]

On 7/29/2024 at 1:44 PM, wig said:

I think he's more likely to be cut than extended

That’s not how Ballard does business. Shaq Leonard is one of the rare instances of Ballard cutting a core player, but his fall off in play and injury concerns made it warranted. Also as another poster said, he’s a FA after this year so it would be silly to cut him.

 

Also thinking out loud here, but I wonder if the idea of a possible extension for Raiman plays a part In the delay of the extension. This is year 3 for me and he was great last year. Wonder if they can afford to pay them both.

[wig]

3 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

That’s not how Ballard does business. Shaq Leonard is one of the rare instances of Ballard cutting a core player, but his fall off in play and injury concerns made it warranted. Also as another poster said, he’s a FA after this year so it would be silly to cut him.

 

Also thinking out loud here, but I wonder if the idea of a possible extension for Raiman plays a part In the delay of the extension. This is year 3 for me and he was great last year. Wonder if they can afford to pay them both.

 

We absolutely can't get more expensive on the Oline and they've spent solid capital for a reason. Raiman definitely plays a big part in that. I'd expect him to get a nice pay day this off season. And you just can't pay four OL high end money 

[DattMavis]

On 7/26/2024 at 2:39 PM, John Hammonds said:

Yup.  It's a hard and fast rule in all professional sports:  "The organization is always ready to move on before the player is."

Tell that to Paul George. I'm not still bitter. I promise I'm not bitter... I'm not bitter. 🥲

[AKB]

18 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

That’s not how Ballard does business. Shaq Leonard is one of the rare instances of Ballard cutting a core player, but his fall off in play and injury concerns made it warranted. Also as another poster said, he’s a FA after this year so it would be silly to cut him.

 

Also thinking out loud here, but I wonder if the idea of a possible extension for Raiman plays a part In the delay of the extension. This is year 3 for me and he was great last year. Wonder if they can afford to pay them both.

agreed