2016 first-round draft pick Ryan Kelly is heading into his ninth season. More to the point, he’s heading into the final year of the four-year, $49.65 million extension he signed in 2020 that made him one of the NFL’s highest-paid players at his position, Mike Chappell of FOX 59 in Indianapolis reports.

General manager Chris Ballard has spent the offseason re-signing many of his own free-agents-to-be, most notably Michael Pittman Jr., Kenny Moore II, Grover Stewart, Tyquan Lewis and Rigoberto Sanchez.

He also signed two defensive cornerstones who were signed through 2025 to extensions: tackle DeForest Buckner (two years, $46 million) and linebacker Zaire Franklin (three years, $31.25 million).

Have the Colts approached Kelly about an extension?

“Not really,’’ he said. “I want to stay here. It’s my ninth year here. It’s the last year of my contract and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want another one, you know what I mean? We’ll see what happens.’’

According to Pro Football Focus, the Colts had the NFL’s No. 3-ranked offensive line in 2023. Smith and Raimann were ranked among the top-10 tackles while Kelly was ranked No. 8 overall among centers and No. 2 in pass protection. Nelson checked in at No. 16 among guards and became the first player in franchise history selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first six seasons.

Kelly, 30, has been the anchor. He’s missed only seven games over the past five seasons and his performance, along with everyone else’s along the o-line, achieved a bounce-back season in 2023. The Colts’ rushing attack ranked No. 10 in yards per game (121.1) and per attempt (4.3) and they cut their sacks allowed from 60 in 2022 to 41.

Kelly pointed to the value of continuity.

“It’s huge for an o-line,’’ he said, adding that the group recently shared a dinner with linemen from 2018, ’19 and ’20. “The five of us played a lot of games together. I think that the more you can have that year after year, all the snaps we played together, the time we spent in and around the facility, I think is huge for us. Obviously having Tony back for a second year, understanding where he’s at and looking at all we did in 2023. The mishaps we had, the great we did, encouraging us to do better, I think is big for us.’’

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