Will Fries Colts Free Agent Watch
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INDIANAPOLIS – Had the injury not occurred, Will Fries might have just been the Colts best story of the 2024 season.
Sure, there weren’t many players that qualified for such an honor, but Fries was having a very nice start to his 4th year in the NFL.
As the least headline-drawing Colts starting offensive lineman, Fries was a bit of an afterthought in starting 17 games in 2023, finishing 2nd to Quenton Nelson in snaps played during the ’23 campaign.
Fries, a 7th round pick in 2021, became a full-time starter during the chaotic 2022 season and kept that right guard spot until an ugly broken leg last October.
Hitting free agency for the first time, Fries’ promising contract year came to a screeching halt as the injury forced immediate surgery in a Jacksonville hospital.
A full recovery is expected from the Penn State product, and one could make the case he’s the most important in-house free agent for the Colts in 2025.
With ’25 questions at center (Tanor Bortolini taking the torch form Ryan Kelly?) and right tackle (is Braden returning? Do the Colts still want Smith given his contract number?) some familiarity at right guard would be nice, even if Fries is rehabbing a serious injury.
In a large overview of roster construction, finding interior offensive line hits from Day 3 draft picks makes a ton of sense.
Fries was heading in such a direction, starting the final 7 games of 2022, in the lineup for all 17 games of ’23 and having played every snap of ’24 before going down in Jacksonville.
Letting Fries walk could bring 3 new offensive line starters for Anthony Richardson’s third NFL season.
Depth at right guard wasn’t easy to find after Fries went down, with the Colts trying in-building (Dalton Tucker) and outside of the building (Mark Glowinski) options.
While re-signing Fries would still bring a “how does he look post-injury?,” doing so is the right path given how he was playing prior to losing the rest of such an important season.
