Colts Clips
The Colts retained Alec Pierce and are apparently going to make him their top receiver.
That’s because Indianapolis will not have Michael Pittman Jr. back for 2026.
According to multiple reports, the Colts are trading Pittman to the Steelers for a late-round pick swap.
Pittman, 28, is entering the last year of his contract. By trading him, the Colts will save $24 million against the cap with $5 million in dead money.
A second-round pick in 2020, Pittman had spent his entire career with Indianapolis. He caught 80 passes for 784 yards with a career-high seven touchdowns in 2025, playing all 17 games.
Pittman’s best year came in 2023 when he caught 109 passes for 1,152 yards with four TDs.
Now Pittman will pair with DK Metcalf in Pittsburgh under new head coach Mike McCarthy.
The Colts have gotten it done with Alec Pierce.
Expected to be one of the top free agents on the market, Pierce has agreed to a four-year contract with the Colts, according to Pat McAfee of ESPN.
The initial reported numbers indicate Pierce will earn $116 million over the four-year deal, which works out to $29 million per year.
Pierce, 25, put together his best season for the Colts in 2025, recording 47 catches for 1,003 yards with six touchdowns. It was the first time he’d eclipsed 1,000 yards in his career.
The Colts had wanted to keep both Pierce and quarterback Daniel Jones heading into free agency. Now after using the transition tag on Jones, the club has also retained Pierce.
Blake Grupe closed out the 2025 season as the Colts’ kicker and he will have a chance to hold onto the job in 2026.
Grupe’s agent Mike Delle Donne told Mike Garafolo of NFL Media that Grupe has agreed to a one-year deal to remain in Indianapolis. The contract is worth up to $1.4 million.
Grupe opened last season with the Saints and was let go after appearing in 11 games for New Orleans. He was signed by the Colts to replace Michael Badgley and he was 11-of-11 on field goals over the final five games of the season.
Grupe made 57-of-75 field goal attempts in 45 games for the Saints. He’s also 96-of-98 on extra points over his entire career.
Spencer Shrader opened last season as the Colts’ kicker, but he tore his ACL and MCL during a Week 5 game. If he’s able to return in the preseason, he and Grupe will compete for the kicking job in Indianapolis.
On the eve of free agency, the Packers are bringing in a linebacker.
According to multiple reports, Indianapolis has agreed to trade Zaire Franklin to Green Bay in exchange for defensive tackle Colby Wooden.
Franklin, 29, recorded 125 total tackles with seven tackles for loss and six quarteback hits in 2025. He also had 2.0 sacks, five passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
Franklin led the league with 173 total tackles in 2024, earning his first Pro Bowl berth. He was also a second-team AP All-Pro selection.
Franklin has been remarkably durable in his eight-year career, missing just one game for which he was eligible since entering the league as a seventh-round pick in 2018.
He has two years remaining on his contract.
Wooden appeared in all 17 games with 16 starts in 2025. A fourth-round pick in 2023, Wooden has appeared in 47 career games with 17 starts. He’s entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Green Bay acquiring Franklin likely means the club will not retain pending free agent Quay Walker.
On Wednesday, the Cardinals will release Kyler Murray, the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. Those inclined to bet on propositions like a player’s next team regard the Vikings as the clear favorites to sign him.
On DraftKings, Murray’s odds have moved from -110 to -295. The next team is the Jets at +350.
The Dolphins are at +550, with the Falcons at +650. The Browns are +800. The Steelers are +1300, the Colts are +1600. The Rams are +2000.
The offensive rookie of the year and two-time Pro Bowler had three solid seasons in Arizona. The next four seasons, which were marred by an ill-advised homework clause and a torn ACL suffered in December 2022, did not go nearly as well.
Making Murray more attractive is the possibility that he’ll do a one-year, $1.3 million contract, with the Cardinals paying him $35.5 million.
The first question is whether he wants to play right away, or whether he’s content to join a team like the Rams as a backup, with the goal of hitting the reset button in advance of 2027. Given his skills, why spend a season on the sideline? He should be looking to play now, with the goal of playing well enough that another big contract will come his way next March, if not sooner.
The Vikings will officially need a new center for 2026.
Ryan Kelly announced his retirement from pro football on Friday.
Kelly, 32, signed with Minnesota last offseason after spending the first nine seasons of his career with the Colts. Kelly started eight games for the Vikings in 2025, but was placed on injured reserve in December after suffering his third concussion of the year.
“Ten seasons,” Kelly posted in his announcement on social media. “What an incredible ride it was. I was blessed to be around some of the greatest people this sport has to offer. I always wanted to leave each place better than how I found it and with that I can hang my hat. Forever grateful for my family and brothers! Cheers.”
The No. 18 overall pick of the 2016 draft, Kelly was selected to four Pro Bowls in his career and was a second-team All-Pro in 2020. He started all 129 games he played in his career.
The Colts are talking with teams about a trade for linebacker Zaire Franklin, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
The team is $4.71 million over the $301.2 million salary cap, according to overthecap.com, and must comply by the start of the league year on Wednesday.
Franklin has no guaranteed money left on the three-year, $31.26 million contract extension he signed before the 2024 season. He is scheduled to count $8.255 million against the cap, and the Colts will save $5.755 million if they part ways.
Franklin, 29, made his only Pro Bowl in 2024 when he led the NFL in tackles with 173 and 3.5 sacks. (Tackles are an unofficial statistic.)
He totaled 125 tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble and five passes defensed in 2024.
Franklin has missed only one game in his NFL career.
The Cowboys are a team to watch as they need linebackers for the switch to the 3-4 under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker.
The Colts were trying to keep both quarterback Daniel Jones and receiver Alec Pierce on the eve of free agency.
But unable to strike a long-term deal with either player before Tuesday afternoon, the club elected to place the transition tag on Jones.
That means Pierce — No. 7 on PFT’s list of this year’s top 100 free agents — is now set to hit the open market next week.
While there has been reporting that Pierce could still reach a deal before he’s officially able to speak with other teams, the receiver disputed that notion during a Wednesday interview on Up & Adams.
“At this point now, it’s like, I love Indy. I’ve loved playing there — great organization, great people in the city,” Pierce said. “Just a ton of support. I know we haven’t been as good as we could be, and I know we can be.
“But, yeah, at this point, I’ve kind of earned the right to explore free agency, see what’s out there. Just make a decision that’s best for my career and for my family.”
Pierce, who turns 26 on May 2, has led the league in yards per reception in each of the last two seasons.
In 2025, Pierce caught 47 passes for 1,003 yards with six touchdowns.
When the Giants benched and then cut quarterback Daniel Jones during the 2024 season, it seemed that his days of making significant NFL money had ended. They’re now back.
Jones’ long-term deal with the Giants had an average value of $40 million per year. His one-year transition tender from the Colts has a total value of $37.833 million. If/when he accepts it, the amount will be fully guaranteed — without exception or limitation, despite the fact that he’s still less than three months removed from a torn Achilles tendon.
Jones now has the ability to see what’s out there, and to determine whether a team will sign him to an offer sheet that the Colts perhaps wouldn’t match. Sometimes, teams are reluctant to devote time and effort to essentially negotiating a player’s next deal with his current employer, given the possibility that the offer will be matched. On other occasions, a team will do a favor for the player’s agents in the hopes of having the favor returned later.
Jones is represented by Athletes First. The firm has many clients. If another team is willing to make Jones an offer that the Colts would likely match, that team will have performed an important service for Jones and his representatives.
Of course, that team would have to be willing to acquire Jones under the terms that are offered and accepted, if the Colts choose not to match.
Then there’s the question of whether Jones’s agents will share with the Colts the terms of an acceptable offer sheet before Jones signs it. That would give the Colts an opportunity to rescind the transition tender and to have Jones’s departure count toward next year’s compensatory draft pick formula. (If Jones signs an offer sheet and the Colts don’t match, his departure will become irrelevant to the compensatory pick process.)
Through it all, Jones has the ability to accept the one-year offer and to receive $37.833 million for 2026. It would be a significant bump over his one-year, $14 million deal from a year ago. And it would set him up for another opportunity to hit the market in 2027, with the Colts having the franchise or transition tag available again.
Bottom line? It’s not a bad spot for Jones to be in. Especially since he’s not currently healthy.
From 2015-24, the NFL saw five or more franchise tags placed on players each of those offseasons. A total of five tags were used the past two years.
The deadline to tag players in 2026 passed Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.
Only three teams used a franchise tag, with Jets running back Breece Hall, Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens and Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts tagged as non-exclusive franchise players. In 2025, Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins and Chiefs offensive guard Trey Smith were the only players tagged.
The only other time two or fewer players were tagged was 1994, the first year of the franchise tag, when Pittsburgh tight end Eric Green and Vikings defensive tackle Henry Thomas received their team’s franchise tag.
The Colts placed the transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones on Tuesday.
Teams will have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal with tagged players, or the players will play on the tag for 2026.
