Colts extend the contracts of GM and head coach
The Indianapolis Colts expect to win now.
They’re also looking ahead to what they believe will be an even brighter future.
On Wednesday, team officials announced coach Frank Reich and general manager Chris Ballard had signed contract extensions, keeping both with the team through 2026. Financial terms were not immediately available.
“For me as a head coach, the most exciting thing is the chance to keep working with Chris,” Reich said after practice. “Along with (owner Jim Irsay), we get to take this team down the path we think it’s headed. Bright things are ahead.”
Reich was not scheduled to speak with reporters Wednesday and did not take questions. Ballard also was not available to reporters.
But both have already made their intentions clear.
Reich, entering his fourth season, and Ballard, in his fifth with the team, believe they’ve built a championship contender even as they’ve used the early portion of training camp to bet big on future seasons.
They signed right tackle Braden Smith to a four-year, $72 million in late July. And while recent ankle surgery kept two-time All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard off the field for the first two weeks of camp, he returned to practice Tuesday – two days after agreeing to a new five-year deal worth nearly $100 million.
Now the Colts have their coach and general manager under contract long term, too.
“We have as great a general manager/head coach combination as there is in the NFL, and I can’t tell you how proud I am to have them leading our franchise,” Irsay said in a statement. “I truly believe this football team is on the doorstep of great things, and that’s because of the culture both have cultivated in their time with the horseshoe. Whether we are marching toward the playoffs or facing adversity, whether we are building our roster or making a difference in the community, we have the ideal leaders in Chris and Frank.”
It’s not just what the Colts have done in the past month.
Last year, Ballard acquired All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner in a trade with San Francisco and immediately gave him a four-year, $84 million extension. Before last year’s regular-season opener, starting center Ryan Kelly signed a four-year, $50 million deal. In November, defensive tackle Grover Stewart cashed with a three-year deal worth $30.75 million and in March, Ballard traded for quarterback Carson Wentz who has three years left on the four-year, $128 million contract he signed with Philadelphia.
Seahawks release defensive end: Aldon Smith’s time with the Seattle Seahawks was short as the team released the embattled defensive end Wednesday.
Smith, 31, was reinstated by the NFL in the spring of 2020 after missing four seasons due to off-field issues. He appeared in 16 games for Dallas last season and had five sacks along with 48 tackles.
He signed a one-year deal with Seattle in April but he was arrested two days later on a second-degree battery charge in St. Bernard Parish near New Orleans. He is scheduled to be arraigned later this month.
Even though Smith missed the Seahawks’ offseason program, coach Pete Carroll said early in training camp that the team was ready to support Smith.
Smith was the 11th overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2011 draft. He set an NFL record with 331⁄2 sacks in his first two seasons before his career spiraled out of control due to multiple drunken-driving charges. He was also arrested in 2018 on a domestic violence charge in San Francisco.
Bateman sidelined: Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh says rookie wide receiver Rashod Bateman is expected to miss “a number of weeks” with a soft tissue leg problem.
Bateman was drafted in the first round by the Ravens this year, part of Baltimore’s attempt to boost its passing game. Now it’s not clear when the rookie out of Minnesota might return.
“It’ll be a number of weeks. So, I don’t know how many,” Harbaugh said Wednesday. “It’s not going to be months, but it will be weeks. We’ll see where we’re at.”