How Will The Colts Replace The Free Agents They Lost?

1. Julian Blackmon

This is an assumption Blackmon will not return, as he remains a free agent a month into free agency.

After an admittedly disappointing and drawn out free agency last year, Julian Blackmon’s future in Indy all but ended when the team gave Cam Bynum the pay day they did to start things in mid-March.

On paper, this seems like an obvious transition of playing time with Blackmon’s staring job going to Bynum.

Depth at safety is probably something the Colts need to solve as Nick Cross plays out the final year of his rookie contract.

2. Raekwon Davis

Undoubtedly, Raekwon Davis was a bad signing.

But the big man did play 349 defensive snaps in rotating behind Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner.

So the Colts are going to have to fill that playing time, and finding more of a space eater for those short-yardage situations. This is something Lou Anarumo had in Cincinnati, but the Colts roster currently lacks it.

Dividing up snaps behind Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner remains an off-season question. New free agent signing Naville Gallimore is likely to absorb some of that.

3. Sam Ehlinger (Broncos)

When a team loses a 3rd quarterback in free agency, not much thought is given to it. 

But the Colts did call on Ehlinger to be the backup for more than a dozen games over the last two years. So the 3rd quarterback in Indy shouldn’t be viewed as an afterthought, given Anthony Richardson’s injury history.

Is this job going to Jason Bean, who is the 3rd QB on the roster right now (behind Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones)? Or will the Colts add another arm in the draft to compete with Bean?

4. Joe Flacco (Browns)

The Colts will have a new No. 2 and No. 3 quarterback in 2025. Flacco was needed to start 6 games for the Colts in 2024, continuing the need for multiple signal callers in a season. Replacing Flacco will either be Anthony Richardson/Daniel Jones, whoever “loses” the starting quarterback competition.

5. Will Fries (Vikings)

The Colts will have a new starter at right guard this season, and center.

With Will Fries heading to Minnesota, the turnstile at right guard over the last three months last year needs solving heading into 2025.

Undrafted rookie Dalton Tucker got the first chance, and then his poor play led to the Colts trying 32-year-old Mark Glowinski.

Matt Goncalves made 8 starts as a rookie, all at tackle, after some brief guard action during the offseason. Some draft pundits thought Goncalves had more of a guard future in the NFL entering the league, so that could be an option to explore.

It doesn’t sound like the team will try to move Braden Smith over to guard, where he played in college. Wisely, 7 years of solid play at right tackle will keep Smith entrench there.

Is another move at guard coming in the draft/free agency?

This is definitely a starting position to watch.

6. Matt Gay

Yes, the Colts will have a new kicker in 2025. In one of the more surprising moves of the offseason, the Colts cut Matt Gay, foregoing a kicking competition between him and Spencer Shrader. While Gay hadn’t lived up to his elite contract, Shrader doesn’t have the resume to just be handed the ’25 kicking job without some resistance. Assuming the Colts will, it’ll be interesting to see how they provide competition for Shrader. Draft pick? Another undrafted move? Cast off veteran? 

7. Kylen Granson (Eagles)

Targeting Kylen Granson last year proved to be incredibly unreliable in 2024.

Granson had one of the worst catch percentages of any NFL tight end.

His absence though does open up 430 offensive snaps, as his play time has hovered near 50 percent in the last 3 years.

No matter the plan for Granson in 2025, tight end was always going to be a huge need this offseason. And that remains.

8. Ryan Kelly (Vikings)

When the Colts drafted Tanor Bortolini in Round 4 last April, you knew the future of Kelly lasting a 10^th year in Indianapolis was unlikely.

But Shane Stiechen isn’t ready give “Bort” the starting keys just yet, saying it’ll be an off-season competition with the re-signed Danny Pinter.

No matter, whoever wins the job will be the first new Colts center since the 2015 season, when the Colts were having a revolving door in snapping to Andrew Luck.

In the 2024 season, with Kelly sidelined, the Colts stayed with Pinter for a second straight week at center (vs. Denver) instead of going to Bortlini (who had started 5 games earlier in the year), so there is some precedent here.

9. Dayo Odeyingbo (Bears)

Some might be surprised to note that Dayo Odeyingbo played the most snaps (745) of any Colts defensive lineman last year.

That means exiting is a versatile and durable defensive lineman.

Unlike some of the answers post-Kelly, post-Fries, this answer is probably more from a multi-person point of view.

The Colts will lean heavily on Kwity Paye, Samson Ebukam (torn Achilles) and Laiatu Latu at defensive end, with Tyquan Lewis having some history in the versatile Odeyingbo role.

It would not surprise me at all if the Colts spent an early draft pick along the defensive line. That is a very Chris Ballard thing to do, and they have some questions left there.

10. E.J. Speed (Texans)

The veteran linebacker is off to the class of the AFC South.

Speed got a full-time starting opportunity with the Colts in 2025 and plenty of inconsistency followed. But his departure does mean the Colts need to find a new starting linebacker alongside Zaire Franklin.

Internally, Jaylon Carlies showed some early flash as a rookie, so he is a definite option after making the position switch from safety to linebacker. Segun Olubi remains, and could bump into the Grant Stuard (Lions) role.

Do we see the draft as an avenue for some competition for Carlies, or even a lingering free agent option?  This is probably the most linebacker questions the Colts have faced in a while, and Franklin’s indispensability has been magnified given the unproven depth.