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Indianapolis Colts News & Rumors

Colts To Re-Sign T.Y. Hilton

March 24th, 2021 at 1:57pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

T.Y. Hilton isn’t going anywhere. The Colts legend will be returning to Indianapolis on a new deal, his agents the Katz Bros tell Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).

It’ll be a one-year deal for the veteran receiver worth $10MM with $8MM guaranteed, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a nice payday for a player on the back half of his career. Hilton has been with the Colts ever since they drafted him back in 2012, but this offseason for the first time it looked like a divorce was possible. Both sides had insisted they would like a reunion, but we heard right before free agency opened that there had been little progress on talks and Hilton would test the market.

Another team is believed to have submitted Hilton a stronger offer, according to The Athletic’s Stephen Holder (on Twitter). But the 31-year-old wideout opted to stay in Indianapolis. The Chiefs were not the team that offered more to Hilton, per Holder.

Owner Jim Irsay had said back in January he’d want to see the franchise icon return if the financials could be worked out. Hilton had been one of the top receivers left on the market. The wideout market in general has been heating up recently, with big names like Hilton, Kenny Golladay, and Will Fuller all signing over the past week. Teams like the Ravens looking to add a veteran pass-catcher are running out of top options.

He was still dominant as recently as 2018, when he put up 1,270 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games. Injuries limited him to ten contests in 2019, but he bounced back with a healthy 2020.

He wasn’t a true number one option as Indy had a lot of mouths to feed in a diverse offense, but he developed a rapport with Philip Rivers down the stretch and finished with a solid 56 catches for 762 yards and five scores in 15 games.

Hilton made four straight Pro Bowls from 2014-17, and although he’ll turn 32 this season, showed last year he’s still got something left in the tank. He’ll be catching passes from his fourth quarterback in as many years in 2021, this time from Carson Wentz.

Colts To Sign OL Sam Tevi

March 22nd, 2021 at 8:26pm CST by Ben Levine

Following the retirement of Anthony Castonzo, the Colts have been seeking a new left tackle. The organization has added one potential replacement, as NFL.coms’ Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that Indy has signed offensive lineman Sam Tevi.

The 2017 sixth-round pick out of Utah had spent his entire four-year career with the Chargers, including three seasons as a full-time starter. After starting 29 of his 30 games at right tackle between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Tevi started 14 games at left tackle in 2020. He finished the season having appeared in a career-high 1,025 snaps (87 percent of the Chargers’ offensive possessions).

The Colts have been relatively busy looking for players to protect Carson Wentz‘s blindside. We learned last week that the team was hosting free agent lineman Julie’n Davenport.

As Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com writes, the Chargers will likely turn to Storm Norton to replace Tevi’s spot in the lineup. The 26-year-old joined the organization last summer, and he proceeded to appear in six games (with three starts).

Colts HC Frank Reich On Carson Wentz

March 22nd, 2021 at 5:49pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

One of the (several) blockbuster moves this NFL offseason was the trade of Carson Wentz from the Eagles to the Colts. Philly moved on from the former second overall pick, while Indy will now have their fourth Week 1 starting quarterback in as many years.

The fallout from this trade will be significant, and will take years to take shape. One of the people who will be most impacted by however it turns out is Colts head coach Frank Reich, and in a recent interview with Albert Breer of SI.com he opened up about the deal for his new quarterback. Perhaps most interestingly, Reich revealed that the team was originally planning on drafting a signal-caller before they stumbled into the Wentz tradee.

“Was it going to be a draft pick? Honestly, I think Chris and I were thinking, somehow we were going to figure out how we were going to be able to draft the quarterback of our future. And then this thing came with Carson and it fell into our laps,” Reich said.

The “figure out how” part makes it seem like the Colts and GM Chris Ballard were plotting a trade up in order to draft one of this class’ top passers. It’s fun to think about how that alternate history would’ve played out. Reich expressed confidence that Wentz can turn things around after his disastrous 2020 season, and said he doesn’t need to go all the way back to 2017 to see that, but just the year before last.

“All you had to do, for me, was turn on the film in 2019, and with four games to go the Eagles needed to win out. And not only did they need to win out, but in each of those games, as I recall, looking at the film, Carson had to play great in the second half, and play a major role in that team winning those games in the second half,” he explained.

Reich also made it clear he doesn’t want to be viewed as a guru who’s going to work his magic and reinvent Wentz on his own. “I’ve already had a conversation with Carson, to say, ‘O.K., everybody’s throwing the word fix around and I get it,’” Reich said. “I wanted to get that off the table with Carson, because as a coach, you’re not trying to make it all about you. I’m not the fixer.”

Sammy Watkins To Visit Colts, Titans And Texans Interested

March 22nd, 2021 at 5:29pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We heard earlier today that Sammy Watkins was on his way to visit the Ravens, but Baltimore is going to face competition for his services. Watkins will visit the Colts on Wednesday after the Ravens, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Additionally, Schefter reports that Watkins has drawn interest from the Titans and Texans. It’s a sudden flurry of attention for Watkins, who we hadn’t heard much about prior to today. There was reportedly some mutual interest between Watkins and the Chiefs in spending one more year together back in February, but then at the beginning of this month Kansas City GM Brett Veach indicated it’d be hard to work financially.

The Colts make plenty of sense as a destination, since right now it’s very uncertain whether free agent T.Y. Hilton will be back in 2021. Indy has youngsters Michael Pittman Jr. and Parris Campbell under contract, but the receiver room could use some help. The Titans just lost Corey Davis to the Jets, and need a new number two behind A.J. Brown.

The Texans just lost Will Fuller, so all of these teams are natural fits. Watkins has never quite lived up to his potential, but if he can stay healthy he can really help a team. He had 37 catches for 421 yards and two touchdowns across ten games in a secondary role for the Chiefs last year.

Colts To Re-Sign CB Xavier Rhodes

March 20th, 2021 at 5:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

Xavier Rhodes will stay in Indianapolis. After catching on with the Colts last year, the former first-round pick agreed to terms to re-sign with the team, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.

The Colts are giving Rhodes another one-year contract worth $6.5MM, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets, locking in a key piece of their defense for the 2021 season. Last year, the Colts received strong value on the one-year, $3MM accord they agreed to with Rhodes. They will look to keep that going, while Rhodes may have his eye on a bigger payday in 2022.

Jettisoned after a woeful 2019 season in Minnesota, Rhodes bounced back in Matt Eberflus‘ zone-heavy defense. Pro Football Focus tabbed Rhodes as its No. 9 overall corner in 2020. He played a key role in Indianapolis’ defensive improvement, joining fellow new arrival DeForest Buckner in that regard, and will stick with the team for his age-31 season. Quarterbacks completed an astounding 82% of the passes they threw at Rhodes in 2019; he dropped that figure to 52% last season.

Under GM Chris Ballard, Indianapolis has used a measured approach to free agency. That has usually led to the team sitting on extensive cap space, though this year the Colts have cornerstone players Quenton Nelson and Darius Leonard eligible for extensions. These prospective re-ups will need to be accounted for, but the Colts came into Saturday with the NFL’s second-most cap space ($35MM-plus). They should have some interesting opportunities to bolster their team in the second wave of free agency. Another T.Y. Hilton contract remains on the team’s radar as well.

Colts To Sign DE Isaac Rochell

March 19th, 2021 at 8:49am CST by Zachary Links

The Colts have agreed to sign Isaac Rochell (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). It’s a one-year, $2.5MM deal for the former Chargers defensive end that can reach $3MM via incentives.

[RELATED: Colts Re-Sign Marlon Mack]

Rochell, 26 in April, had a solid season for the Bolts, starting six games in place of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram while compiling 29 tackles and 2.5 sacks. His best season to date came in 2018 as a reserve. That year, he recorded a career-high five sacks and six tackles for loss. Still, the Chargers opted against cuffing him as a restricted free agent.

The tender would have paid Rochell less than his new Colts deal. Even at the right of first refusal rate, Rochell would have been looking at a $2.13MM salary. Ultimately, Rochell fell up. Now, he’ll look to build on his 9.5 career sacks in Indianapolis.

Colts Host OL Julie’n Davenport

March 18th, 2021 at 5:18pm CST by Ben Levine

The Colts are apparently eyeing some offensive line help. ESPN’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter) that free agent offensive tackle Julie’n Davenport visited the team today.

The 2017 fourth-round pick out of Bucknell spent the first two seasons of his career with the Texans, including a 2018 campaign where he started 15 games. He was traded to Miami as part of the Laremy Tunsil trade in 2019, and he proceeded to spent the next two years with the organization. After starting eight games for the Dolphins in 2019, Davenport only appeared in five percent of his team’s offensive snaps in 2020 (although he did see time in all 16 games).

It would make sense for the Colts to be sniffing around at some offensive line help. The team has a hole at left tackle following Anthony Castonzo‘s decision to retire.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/17/21

March 17th, 2021 at 4:55pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s “minor” moves:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Colts To Re-Sign Marlon Mack

March 17th, 2021 at 3:16pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Almost everybody had expected these two sides to move on, but they just can’t quit each other. The Colts are re-signing running back Marlon Mack, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets.

It’s a one-year deal for $2MM, Pelissero reports. Mack began last season as Indy’s starter, but unfortunately tore his Achilles in Week 1. The saving grace of the timing of his injury was that it at least allowed him to get an early start on recovery for 2021. After Mack’s injury and the emergence of rookie Jonathan Taylor as the team’s new lead back, it had been widely assumed that Mack would be playing elsewhere next season.

In January, Colts GM Chris Ballard said “Marlon Mack deserves a contract, unequivocally. He deserves a good contract. I don’t know if we are going to be able to do that here.” Many understandably interpreted that as a sign that divorce was likely. Over the weekend we heard that Mack was progressing well in his recovery and was expected to be ready to go for training camp.

In all likelihood Mack tested the waters the past couple days, didn’t generate as much interest as he was hoping for, and opted to return to Indy on a cheap deal. A running back coming off an Achilles tear is enough to give anybody pause, but in 2019 Mack rushed for 1,091 yards and eight touchdowns in 14 games.

The South Florida product also only just turned 25 earlier this month, so he should have plenty left in the tank. With Mack, Taylor (who looked phenomenal down the stretch in 2020), and Nyheim Hines, the Colts will have one of the league’s best backfields in 2021.

Colts Tender TE Mo Alie-Cox

March 16th, 2021 at 9:30pm CST by Ben Levine

Mo Alie-Cox will hit restricted free agency. The Colts have slapped the tight end with a second-round tender, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo (via Twitter). The second-round tender value is set at $3.384MM.

The Colts will now have the chance at first refusal for Alie-Cox’s services. If the Colts don’t match a hypothetical offer to the tight end, they’ll received a second-round pick in return.

Alie-Cox made a name for himself as a forward on VCU’s basketball team. Despite the fact that he hadn’t played organized football since high school, the Colts took a chance on him as an undrafted free agent in 2017. The tight end has progressively received more responsibilities through his four seasons in the NFL, culminating in a 2020 campaign where he put up career numbers.

The 27-year-old ultimately finished the season having hauled in a career-high 31 receptions for 394 yards and two touchdowns. Alie-Cox has also earned a reputation as one of the better blocking tight ends in the NFL. Assuming he returns to Indy, the veteran will likely continue serving as the team’s number-two tight end behind starter Jack Doyle.

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