The Indianapolis Colts are one of the few teams that will enjoy continuity along their offensive line and the anchor of that unit in Ryan Kelly is one of the biggest reasons for their recent success.
Kelly has developed into one of the best centers in all of football and entering the final year of his rookie contract, he will be out to prove that again.
In ranking the top 11 centers in the NFL, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar placed Kelly at No. 3 in the league.
Former Colts general manager Ryan Grigson has been justifiably panned for what was an unspectacular career, but selecting Kelly with the 18th overall pick in the 2016 draft out of Alabama was a rare brilliant move. In the transition from Andrew Luck to Jacoby Brissett (twice, once to to injury and once due to retirement), it didn’t matter who was under center for the Colts as long as Kelly was that center. In 3,398 career snaps, he’s allowed just two sacks in his NFL career (none in 2016 and 2017, one each in 2018 and 2019), and though he was aided in a timing sense by Indianapolis’ conservative passing game with Brissett in 2019, Kelly gave up just 21 total pressures, and he’s always been a pure masher in the run game.
Kelly combines intelligence, leverage, agility, and accuracy in a combination that makes him one of the league’s best centers in any season, and it will be interesting to see how he handles new quarterback Philip Rivers — a more stationary passer with an idiosyncratic sense of consistency.
The Colts offensive line has numerous strong points, but Kelly is the glue that keeps everything together. Though he had a bout with injuries in 2017 and 2018, he bounced back to play all 16 games in 2019 and did so at a high level.
It will be interesting to see if and when the Colts offer up an extension for their center, but he will enter the 2020 season as one of the best at his position.