{"id":207366,"date":"2025-01-01T14:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T19:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=207366"},"modified":"2025-01-01T11:54:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T16:54:54","slug":"three-players-who-likely-wont-return-to-the-colts-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/01\/three-players-who-likely-wont-return-to-the-colts-next-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Players Who Likely Won\u2019t Return to the Colts Next Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which players won\u2019t return to the Indianapolis Colts next season? If general manager Chris Ballard<\/a> keeps his job, he may go the \u201crun it back\u201d route again this offseason. Last spring, he re-signed a bunch of players instead of signing key outside free agents and making any blockbuster trades.<\/p>\n

This has been another disappointing season for the Colts. They\u2019ll miss the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. And after coming off an embarrassing loss to the New York Giants<\/a>, they could choose to press the \u201creset\u201d button this offseason. That means Ballard\u2019s eight-year tenure could be over.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s Ballard or someone else running the show, several players like quarterback Anthony Richardson<\/a>, running back Jonathan Taylor, and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner are expected to return. But, of course, everybody won\u2019t be back. Here are three players who probably won\u2019t be around for the 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

Three Players Who Likely Won\u2019t Return to the Indianapolis Colts Next Season<\/h2>\n

Kylen Granson<\/h3>\n

Indianapolis needs to rebuild its tight end room. The position is one of, if not the biggest weaknesses for the team right now.<\/p>\n

Some fans wanted Ballard to trade up for tight end Brock Bowers<\/a> last April. But a draft-day deal never materialized. Bowers, who’s having a sensational rookie year with the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, would\u2019ve been an outstanding addition to the Colts\u2019 struggling offense.<\/p>\n

This season, Kylen Granson<\/a> leads the Colts\u2019 tight ends with just 13 catches for 175 yards. The former SMU star has only scored one touchdown during his four-year NFL career.<\/p>\n

Granson is set to become a free agent after the season. The Colts will probably let him walk as they\u2019ll look to upgrade the tight-end position.<\/p>\n

Joe Flacco<\/h3>\n

The Colts signed<\/a> quarterback Joe Flacco to a one-year deal last offseason. He replaced Gardner Minshew, who served as Richardson\u2019s backup in 2023.<\/p>\n

Flacco is best known for being a Super Bowl MVP with the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>. But that was a long time ago. Flacco is still a solid backup, though. He has played seven games (five starts) for the Colts this season, filling in for Richardson, who was briefly benched and also missed time with injuries. Flacco has thrown for 1,497 yards and 11 touchdowns. However, look for the soon-to-be 40-old to retire following the season. Even if he doesn\u2019t retire, the Colts will likely replace Flacco with a younger backup.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kelly<\/h3>\n

Indianapolis drafted Ryan Kelly 18th overall in 2016. The center out of Alabama is the team\u2019s longest-tenured player. He has been a fixture for the Colts for nearly a decade, making the Pro Bowl four times.<\/p>\n

However, Kelly\u2019s time in Indy might be coming to an end. He is playing out the final season of a $50-million extension he received in 2019. Kelly was denied another extension<\/a> last offseason. With that said, it\u2019s likely the 31-year-old will sign with another team like the Chicago Bears<\/a>, who need an overhaul on the offensive line<\/a>. He has missed nine games this season due to injury. Plus, the Colts drafted his possible replacement, Tanor Bortolini, in the 2024 draft.<\/p>\n

Main Image: \u00a0Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a look at three Indianapolis Colts players who might retire or play for another team following this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":207607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,12],"tags":[33071,56,235,8021,3013],"class_list":["post-207366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-colts","tag-2025-nfl-free-agency","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-joe-flacco","tag-kylen-granson","tag-ryan-kelly"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207608,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207366\/revisions\/207608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}