Indianapolis

Colts

The 29-year-old, longtime Colt had a rough 2025 season, but is hoping for a “change of scenery” turnaround in Green Bay, where he will presumably be paired with Edgerrin Cooper. Franklin’s arrival should mean Quay Walker’s departure in free agency. An every-down player, Franklin is a “jack of all trades, master of none” even in the best of times, and last year was not his best of times.

It’s a pure player-for-player swap as the Packers further bolster the interior of their second level with Franklin, dealing the former fourth-round defensive tackle Colby Wooden in the deal. Franklin led the league in tackles in 2024 (173) and played the entirety of his eight-year NFL career in Indianapolis prior to the trade, giving the Packers a top tier linebacker to pair with Edgerrin Cooper with Quay Walker due to become a free agent Monday.

He ultimately predicts (not reports) the Patriots will sign Pierce to a four-year, $104 million contract. It’s certainly an outcome that would be unsurprising at this point, though Dianna Russini has mentioned that the price tag could continue to climb on Pierce over the weekend. We were expecting the Patriots to be one of the main teams in the race for Pierce the second they released Stefon Diggs and this article does nothing to dissuade us from this notion.

He also links Romeo Doubs to the 49ers, who will have a big hole at wideout with the expected release of Brandon Aiyuk and impending free agency of Jauan Jennings. We’ve yet to see any beat or any of the sources report Jennings as someone the 49ers believe will return. The 49ers do hypothetically have the cap space to be involved in the Pierce sweepstakes if they’d like to be, but we’d be surprised if they won a bidding war against the major salary cap space super powers.

Boyd predicts (but doesn’t report) that Pierce will leave in free agency, and projects a quick pivot that would include Michael Pittman staying with the team and the Colts chasing another receiver to replace Pierce outside. Shaheed does fit the need for speed even if he doesn’t exactly have the contested-catch ability that Pierce leads with. Shaheed has already been linked to the Commanders, Bills, and Raiders this offseason — though the Bills have since traded for DJ Moore.

Murray appears to want to sign with the Vikings the most, to which Breer notes “the Vikings are mulling their options,” which could mean they at the very least don’t see Murray as a slam-dunk No. 1 quarterback on the market. Breer also tosses out the Jets, Dolphins, and Falcons as places of interest for Murray. Specifically for the Colts, he notes that it would ease Daniel Jones’ Achilles rehab to have a viable starter in place for the early season. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Murray prefers the Vikings and Colts and neither have the interest in him that he has in them.

Franklin has played for the Colts since 2018, after Indianapolis spent a seventh-round pick on him. He blossomed into a capable starter, earning Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors in 2024 while leading the NFL in combined tackles. He led the Colts with 133 combined tackles last season. Franklin turns 30 in July.

Pierce said this after Kay Adams asked him how the likely return of Daniel Jones will affect Pierce’s thoughts heading into free agency. He added that this will give him the opportunity to “see what’s out there.” It doesn’t sound like the Colts are getting a hometown discount on Pierce after opting not to place a tag of any kind on him. With the transition tag placed on Jones, the Colts are currently $4.7 million over the cap. The Titans, Raiders, Commanders, and Jets all need help at receiver and have over $70 million in cap space to work with. All signs point to Pierce, coming off his first 1,000-yard season, finding a new home on the open market.

The Colts are very motivated to get Pierce’s contract done before free agency opens, but transition tagging Daniel Jones doesn’t actually guarantee Jones will be on the roster next year — something that Pierce has been rumored to definitively want. It’s also possible that Pierce could simply get way, way more in free agency than the Colts are willing to offer. It would not be surprising if Pierce did better than the $27.3 million franchise tag number for wideouts on the market, per Boyd and Russini.

This gives Indianapolis the “right of first refusal” in negotiations with Jones, it’s the first time a transition tag has been issued to a quarterback since Jeff George. This tag means the Colts cannot tag Alec Pierce, so the wideout could hit free agency if a deal isn’t worked out. For Jones, this is a continuation of a legendary career of bag-getting, earning at least $37.8 million despite suffering a late-season torn Achilles that threatens his early-season availability. It’s hard to understand why the Colts went this route against the field when Jones’ career doesn’t really stand out in any way outside of his two-month span at the start of the season, but the simplest way to put it may be that the honeymoon never ended. Jones could sign an offer sheet with another club if another club wants to do so.