On a day where Andrew Luck made NFL history, his starting rookie center Ryan Kelly also surprisingly received a considerable amount of the Indianapolis Colts attention.
While this year’s 1st round draft pick has yet to take a meaningful snap with the team, Colts owner Jim Irsay clearly has high expectations for one of the team’s newest players–calling him a core member:
Irsay: Franchise has core players in place. Luck, TY Hilton, Castonzo, Dwayne Allen, Ryan Kelly. 'We love where we are.'
— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51) June 29, 2016
However, the high praise didn’t exactly stop there, as Irsay believes Kelly can be a gamechanger not just for the team’s offensive line, but for Luck’s well-being overall: body and mind:
Irsay: We love the offensive line. I think you can not underestimate how much Ryan Kelly means to the franchise. #Colts
— George Bremer (@gmbremer) June 29, 2016
Irsay thinks the combo of Luck and Ryan Kelly "really puts Andrew in a different state of mind." (Protection in the A gaps!!)
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) June 29, 2016
Perhaps spirit.
It makes sense too.
After investing $87M guaranteed into Luck in a mega-deal that could reach $140M over the next 6 years, the Colts will assuredly seek to keep their highly paid franchise player healthy and upright.
While Kelly can’t be the only answer to the Colts continuous offensive line woes, he figures to be a monumental part of the solution.
Having another cerebral player to assist Luck in managing pass protections should only help the Colts offense and perhaps assist Luck into becoming the elite quarterback he’s more than capable of being.
As such, it’s easy to why the Colts significantly value Kelly and have such high expectations for him going forward. He’s clearly seen as a major contributor for the franchise for years to come and rightfully so.