Tag: Zaire Franklin

Quenton Nelson is Colts’ sixth 2018 draft pick signed to extension

The Colts have now signed six of their 2018 draft picks to contract extensions.

The 2018 NFL draft class for the Indianapolis Colts is widely considered the best group of players selected since general manager Chris Ballard took over the year prior.

Leading that group had been left guard Quenton Nelson, who was selected No. 6 overall during that draft. Following the breaking (but hardly shocking) news that Nelson signed a historical deal, the three-time All-Pro became the sixth player from the draft class to sign an extension with the Colts.

He’s also the fifth player from the group that signed a multi-year extension with the team since being drafted.

The deal is reportedly for four years worth $80 million with $60 million guaranteed. The averaged annual value (AAV) of $20 million makes Nelson the highest-paid guard in NFL history.

Here’s a look at the six 2018 draft picks that signed contract extensions with the Colts:

Colts announce 2022 team captains

Here are the Colts’ 2022 team captains!

The Indianapolis Colts announced the team captains for the 2022 season Wednesday.

After the team voted on the captains on Monday, the announcement was made Wednesday afternoon. In total, seven players were voted as team captains.

Three offensive players, three defensive players and one special teams player make up the seven captains going into the 2022 season—none of which are surprising in the slightest.

Here’s a look at the seven team captains for the Colts in 2022:

Colts’ Zaire Franklin and Lions’ Jamaal Williams talked major trash to each other after a heated ‘Hard Knocks’ battle

These two gentlemen don’t seem to be on friendly terms!

While teams around the NFL have started to participate in joint training camp practices, the Lions and Colts had the distinct fortune of their mutual session being filmed by virtue of Detroit’s presence on HBO’s Hard Knocks.

One new testy moment between Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin and Lions running back Jamaal Williams (who already shined in an episode earlier this month) came into focus in what seems to be promo dialed up for next week’s episode. And boy, was it effective.

As the two squads divided up for individual drills, Franklin and Williams matched up one-on-one in a few pass blocking and coverage reps. Let’s just say there was no love lost between the two during the plays and well after:

Phew, man. There’s a lot more heat happening in that clip than the hot temps at the Colts’ training camp facility.

With Franklin seemingly getting the best of Williams during their battle, the linebacker decided to rub it in a little bit on Twitter:

My goodness. No chill whatsoever from Franklin. Of course, Williams couldn’t help but respond directly in kind:

Gentlemen, please! Save all these competitive juices for your preseason game on Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis (!). And yes, to everyone else — get your popcorn ready.

Colts’ Zaire Franklin takes shot at Lions’ Jamaal Williams

Colts LB Zaire Franklin did not pull any punches with this tweet.

As the Detroit Lions continue to be the focus on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” throughout the preseason, the Indianapolis Colts will indirectly be featured as well given that they hosted joint training camp practices this week.

In promoting a clip likely to air during the upcoming episode, they showed three reps between Lions running back Jamaal Williams and Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin.

In the clip, the two players were jawing at each other at the end of each play. With Williams being one of the stars of the show, some might consider the clip painting Franklin in a negative light when it comes to his performance.

He responded with a ruthless rebuttal, referring to Williams’ emotional speech during the first episode about changing the direction of the team.

How much Franklin will play during Saturday’s preseason game remains to be seen given that he has been running with the first-team defense, but this heated battle is likely to spill over in some capacity at Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend.

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Zaire Franklin quickly earned ‘great respect’ from Gus Bradley

Gus Bradley had high praise for LB Zaire Franklin.

The Indianapolis Colts signed linebacker Zaire Franklin to a three-year contract extension this offseason not only for what he does on the field but also because of the impact he has in the locker room.

As general manager Chris Ballard has preached since the day he arrived, the Colts have harped on bringing high-character players into leadership positions on the roster.

As a two-time captain, Franklin has been the epitome of that notion, and he’s quickly earned the respect of his new defensive coordinator in Gus Bradley.

“When I got here, everybody talked about his leadership, his presence amongst the team – not only in the linebacker room, but you feel him,” Bradley said Thursday of Franklin.

A seventh-round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, Franklin has been a strong force on special teams in each of his four seasons in the league. He’s played sparingly on the defensive side of the ball, totaling 462 snaps in his career.

Compare that to the 1,280 snaps he’s played on defense, and it becomes clear what his role has been since entering the league. But there has been an interesting development at Colts training camp throughout the first two weeks of practices.

As star linebacker Shaquille Leonard recovers from offseason back surgery, Franklin has been the one to step into the middle of the defense next to starter Bobby Okereke.

Considering Franklin was the No. 3 linebacker in snaps played during the 2021 season, it isn’t all that much of a surprise. But that role was sort of niche as the SAM backer when the Colts would have three linebackers on the field, which wasn’t that often.

What’s interesting about the development during the first two weeks of training camp is that Franklin has been lining up at all three linebacker spots.

“His leadership out there – man, he’s playing multiple positions for us. It’s not, hey it’s a new system let’s just get you locked into one, I mean he’s playing all three,” Bradley said. “So, for a guy to come in and handle that kind of workload mentally and on the field, and lead, I’ve got great, great respect for him.”

It still isn’t clear when Leonard will be back—the Colts hope it’s before the Week 1 opener against the Houston Texans.

Regardless of what happens with Leonard, they have faith Franklin can be both a leader in the locker room and on the field in the meantime.

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6 takeaways from Day 4 of Colts training camp

Here are six takeaways from Day 4 of Colts training camp.

The Indianapolis Colts were back on the field Tuesday for training camp at the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield.

Though this was the fourth practice of training camp, it was the first time the Colts threw on the pads and got physical. These are the types of practices that truly show the separation in the position battles.

We also put together a quick roundup of the practice that includes news, notes and highlights from the session.

Here are six takeaways from Day 4 of Colts training camp:

Colts’ 2022 training camp preview: Linebackers

Here’s a look at the LB corps entering Colts training camp.

The Indianapolis Colts are officially one week away from the start of training camp with veterans set to report July 26.

Among those veterans will be the linebackers led by Darius Leonard and Bobby Okereke. The Colts didn’t make too many changes to the linebacker room outside of adding a veteran special teamer and two intriguing undrafted rookie free agents following the 2022 NFL draft.

Be sure to check out the other position previews ahead of training camp:

Here’s our preview for the linebacker position entering training camp:

Breaking down Zaire Franklin’s new contract with Colts

Here’s how the new contract for Colts LB Zaire Franklin breaks down.

The Indianapolis Colts agreed to a three-year deal with linebacker Zaire Franklin on Tuesday, and now the details of that contract have been released.

It’s a solid deal for both the Colts and Franklin. While he isn’t a major player on defense, he did see the third-most snaps among Colts linebackers in 2021. Where he makes his impact is on special teams and in the locker room.

That may not sound flashy or exciting, but it’s still an extremely necessary part of football. Let’s take a look at how the contract breaks down for the Colts and Franklin.

Starting at the top, the deal is for three years worth up to $12 million with $4 million guaranteed.

In 2022, Franklin has a base salary of $1.1 million and a roster bonus of $2 million. That combined $3.1 million is fully guaranteed for the 2022 season. He also has $510,000 in per-game roster bonuses. His salary-cap hit is $3.61 million.

In 2023, Franklin has a base salary of $2.49 million with $900,000 guaranteed. He also has $510,000 in per-game roster bonuses and is a salary-cap hit of $3 million. There is no guaranteed money after 2023.

In 2024, Franklin has a base salary of $2.88 million and per-game roster bonuses of $510,000. He carries a cap hit of $3.39 million.

Joel A. Erickson of The Indianapolis Star reported that Franklin has $500,000 in playtime/playoff incentives for 2024 along with $500,00 playtime/playoffs as a 2023 base escalator and a $1 million playtime/playoffs base escalator in 2024.

So, essentially it is a three-year deal worth $10 million with $2 million in incentives and base escalators.

Here’s a visual view of the contract from Over The Cap:

(Courtesy of Over The Cap)

It was necessary that the Colts brought back Franklin and they got a solid deal in re-signing him to a three-year contract.

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Colts to re-sign LB Zaire Franklin

The Colts have agreed to a three-year deal with pending free agent LB Zaire Franklin.

The Indianapolis Colts and pending free agent linebacker Zaire Franklin agreed to a three-year deal, first reported by Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus on Tuesday.

A move that was expected to happen, Franklin was one of the team’s captains for the 2021 season and has had a massive impact on special teams since being selected in the seventh-round of the 2018 NFL draft.

Kyed reported that the deal is for three years worth $12 million with $4 million guaranteed. The deal was confirmed by Joel A. Erickson of The Indianapolis Star.

Franklin posted a career-high 40 tackles (21 solo) and 1.0 tackle for loss during the 2021 season while playing 18% of the defensive snaps, good for the third-most among Colts linebackers.

Where Franklin makes his impact is on special teams. He led the Colts in special teams snaps during the 2019 and 2020 seasons and played just one fewer snap than the 2021 leader in Matthew Adams.

While it may not be a flashy signing, it was a necessary one to bring back Franklin, who is a core special teamer and a vocal leader in the locker room.

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12 pending free agents the Colts should re-sign

Here are 12 pending free agents the Indianapolis Colts should re-sign in 2022.

The Indianapolis Colts are still over a month away from the free agent market opening across the league but they will soon be able to re-sign some of their pending free agents.

Entering the offseason in a solid salary-cap standing, the Colts will have enough money to re-sign a number of players while also being active on the open market. How active they will be is a mystery.

The Colts have a long list of free agents set to hit the market this offseason. Unlike offseasons past, there are a high number of players the Colts should consider re-signing.

They won’t re-sign all of the players on this list but each of them is listed here for a reason.

Here are 12 pending free agents the Colts should consider re-signing this offseason: