Colts agree to terms with Ryan Kelly

The Indianapolis Colts tonight announced that they have agreed to terms with first round pick Ryan Kelly, making him the first of their eight draft picks to agree to his contract.

We calculated that Kelly's contract will likely be somewhere around a $10,556,949 deal over the course of four years, with a cap hit of $1,919,253 in year one.  Those aren't official numbers, but they are based off of the number 18 draft slot and the projection for this year, meaning that it's probably pretty close to accurate.

Kelly was drafted by the Colts in the first round of the NFL Draft last week.  During his career at Alabama, he played in 46 games (starting 36 of them) as a three-year starter and helped Alabama win three National Championships (three!).  He won the Rimington Award in 2015 as the nation's top center and was a first-team All-American.  During his final two seasons at Alabama, he did not allow a single sack.

He will be the team's starting center in 2016 and for several years to come, as the Colts hope that he can become this era's version of Jeff Saturday.  As we all know, Saturday and Peyton Manning started an NFL record 170 games for a quarterback/center combination, and the team is hoping that Ryan Kelly and Andrew Luck can replicate that.  The team made it a point to address the offensive line and the interior of the line was the biggest weakness, so they grabbed Kelly in the first round.  It was a good and safe pick for the Colts, and they've now got him under contract.