Colts Re-Sign Tight End Ross Travis

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INDIANAPOLIS – On the first official start day of the 2018 NFL Combine, the Indianapolis Colts took care of one of their own players.

The team re-signed tight end Ross Travis to a one-year contract extension on Tuesday morning.

Bringing back Travis is a very wise move for the Colts, even though the tight end position isn’t expected to undergo much turnover, if any at all, this offseason.

Travis, 26, has some nice upside.

He was a guy looking like a strong possibility to be on the team’s 53-man roster in 2018 before tearing his ACL with less than two minutes remaining in the preseason finale last August. The knee injury sent Travis to injured reserve for all of last season.

It was a tough blow for the 6-6, 248-pound tight end, who was once again impressing among a deep tight end room.

A former college basketball player at Penn State, Travis has been a fan of Chris Ballard’s for some time.

Travis originally played 11 games for the Chiefs in 2016, with Ballard on Kansas City’s staff. When KC waived Travis in November 2017, Ballard and the Colts wasted no time nabbing the athletic tight end.

In the final month of the ’17 season, Travis played in 4 games with the Colts, impressing the staff, even though the sample size was small.

For his career, Travis has 10 catches for 91 yards, playing in 21 games (6 career starts).

The return of Travis already bolsters the potential of arguably the biggest tight end group in the NFL.

Travis was busy rehabbing in Indy throughout the ’18 regular season. His rehab, along with that of Jack Doyle, will be the key ones at tight end this offseason.

Veteran Ryan Hewitt is the Colts’ lone unrestricted free agent at the tight end position.

New tight ends coach Jason Michael should have a very talented room in 2019, with the likes of Doyle (coming off his injuries) and Ebron leading the way, along with Mo Alie-Cox, Travis and possibly Hewitt also offering some unique traits. Plus, it was pretty clear in 2018 how much Frank Reich enjoys using multiple tight end sets.

Doyle, Ebron and Travis will all be playing in contract years next season.

With Travis now locked up for 2019, the Colts have 7 restricted free agents left this offseason.