INDIANAPOLIS — Kelvin Hayden got his wish Wednesday evening.
Hours before the former University of Illinois cornerback was due to be designated as the Indianapolis Colts’ franchise player, Hayden — who had made it known that he wasn’t interested in playing anywhere else — signed a five-year, $43 million deal with the team.
The deal includes approximately $22 million in guarantees and will pay Hayden about $29 million in the first three years of the contract. It also carries a 2009 salary-cap number somewhere between $6 million and $7 million.
“I did not want to go anywhere else and I am excited it has ended this way,” Hayden said in a team-released statement Thursday. “I started my career here and, hopefully, I can finish here. It is going down that path right now. I want to finish where I started. I am excited and want to be around the guys I have played with here.
“I have grown a bond, a four-year bond, and I am happy this will continue. I think I still have room for improvement and I could not be with a better organization. The organization is committed to winning and it shows on the field. That’s why I want to be a part of it.”
First-year head coach Jim Caldwell is happy the deal got done as quickly as it did.
“I just think that when you look at [Hayden] and what he’s been able to do over the years for us, he’s just done an exceptional job and had an exceptional career,” Caldwell said Thursday at the National Football Scouting Combine. “He’s 26 years old, so he’s at the right age. And his overall play has been outstanding.”
• One down, more to go — Hayden’s signing allows team president Bill Polian, Caldwell and the rest of the Colts’ front-office staff to focus their attention on several other players who could become unrestricted free agents at the end of the month. That list includes center Jeff Saturday along with running back Dominic Rhodes, safety Matt Giordano and strong-side linebacker Tyjuan Hagler.
Saturday is the key. Indianapolis would like to bring the four-time Pro Bowl selection back if the right kind of deal can be worked out for the right amount of money. Indianapolis officials opted not to franchise him Thursday.
“He’s with us until otherwise indicated,” Caldwell said. “He’s been and [the Colts] certainly anticipate him to continue to be a very, very important part of our offense.”
Other potential unrestricted free agents are cornerback Keiwan Ratliff, defensive tackle Darrell Reid and defensive end Josh Thomas. Offensive guard/tackle Dan Federkeil will be a restricted free agent, while running back Lance Ball, middle linebacker Buster Davis and defensive tackle Daniel Muir are exclusive-rights free agents.
“Right now, we’re in the process of evaluating. We’re working our way through this free agency process. We’ll see. We’re all kind of looking at some things from kind of different vantage points, see if we can put together a package where we can get the guys back on the field that we certainly need and desire,” the Colts’ coach said.
• Don’t count on other team’s free agents — Indianapolis has not been a major player in the veteran free-agent market since Bill Polian took over as the team’s president in 1998. That is not expected to change this year. The Colts prefer to re-sign their own and develop personnel through the draft.
That’s not to say that Indianapolis won’t look at who’s available, but at this point — especially with the team’s salary-cap situation — looking is about all the Colts can afford to do. Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth had joked at the Pro Bowl about Peyton Manning’s attempts to have him consider Indianapolis as a potential destination for his services.
“Obviously, we have to be realistic too,” Caldwell admitted when asked about the possibility of adding a player like Haynesworth to the team’s smallish defensive-line rotation. “Just in terms in what we’re able to do, in terms of salary-cap issues and things of that nature. So we’re always kind of fiddling with them, tying to see where we can improve our squad, seeing where we have room to do certain things. But it’s also not fantasy land either.
“I think Bill, Chris [Polian] and Tom [Telesco] and those guys all do a great job in managing that aspect and letting us know what we’re able to do in those areas.”
• Marvin staying or going? — Rumors continue to swirl concerning wide receiver Marvin Harrison and his future with the Colts. NFL.com writer Adam Schefter wrote Wednesday that Indianapolis will “soon be parting ways” with Harrison due to the team’s tight salary-cap situation.
According to ProFootballTalk.com, Harrison has a $13.4 million salary-cap figure heading into the 2009 season. His base salary for next season will be $9 million. When a $2 million salary-cap acceleration for 2009 is included, the Colts could conceivably save $7 million in cap space with $6.4 million in dead money.
If Harrison is willing to reduce his 2009 base salary to $2 million, it would reduce his cap charge to $6.4 million and could create enough space that would allow him to remain in Indianapolis.
As far as on-the-field production, two members of the Colts coaching staff remain convinced that Harrison — who caught a career-low 60 passes for 636 yards and five touchdowns last season — can continue to be an important part of the team’s offense.
“He played pretty darn good [in 2008]. He played better, and I said this in the middle of the season, he was playing better than we were producing [as an offense],” Indianapolis assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Clyde Christensen said Wednesday.
“We were out of synch. A lot of things were out of synch [offensively]. He had some opportunities that could have been big days and they weren’t for one reason or the other. He’s an amazing guy. He was still humming pretty darn good. In my professional opinion, he was humming better than the [public] perception probably was. I didn’t see a huge dropoff skills-wise.”
For his part, Caldwell agrees with Christensen’s assessment.
“What I saw was a guy who’s as quick as he’s been. Still a guy with the outstanding hands that he’s always shown. Still with the ability to create some space for himself and get open,” Caldwell said. “I think it was just a couple of other things that happened during the course of the season. I think some looking from the outside in had a little different perception of that. But we did not see any diminishing in terms of his skills and ability.
“We certainly hope [that he remains with the team]. That’s what we anticipate. We’re not quite certain what’s going to happen, but we’d certainly love to have him back.”
Sidelines
February 20, 2009
Hayden's loyalty to Colts pays off
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Old friend missing as Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic begins
It occurred to me late last month, as I opened my morning newspaper to read up on the draw for this year’s Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic, that when I walk through Terre Haute South’s doors on Wednesday it will be the first time that I won’t find my old buddy Dean Kendall sitting at one end of the gym, a smile on his face a good while before the first whistle is blown or the first shot is taken.
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SIDELINES: Good for even a traditional Classic buff
Lights down, tree out, another year gone at the Classic.
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Sidelines: Pizza Hut Classic is basketball on caffeine
I’m no coffee connoisseur. If it’s hot and black and in a Styrofoam cup, I’ll drink it.
Knowing I consume a good bit of brew every day, my family helps fuel the addiction by buying Christmas gift cards for me at a local coffee shop, but, since I make it into town only occasionally, the cards stay stashed in my wallet until the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic rolls around. - Sidelines: Feeling cold? Here’s a story that just might warm your feet Despite a glowing space heater that hums near my chilly feet, I still hug my arms and rub my legs as I sit to write this story. The sub-zero temperatures this weekend have brutally reminded us all of our human frailty, of our dependence on stoves and furnaces, electricity and natural gas, on blankets and fleece and wool and warm water.
- Tipping my can in honor of the Classic’s 10th It never ceases to amaze me how fast time slides past us… Or should I say, blows by. I’ve lived in my house 28 years; I’ve taught school for over 30, and I’ve been married a little longer than that.
- Hayden's loyalty to Colts pays off Hours before the former University of Illinois cornerback was due to be designated as the Indianapolis Colts’ franchise player, Kelvin Hayden — who had made it known that he wasn’t interested in playing anywhere else — signed a five-year, $43 million deal with the team.
- Thumbing through a real history book My wife and I invest a bit of our time on the occasional Saturday wandering through antique stores and junk shops.
- Sidelines: When it comes to the Classic, it’s better late than never… I’m normally pretty punctual. Despite having to slip into the back pew at church on the occasionally tardy Sunday morning, I’m not in the habit of paying late fees on bills, standing at the back of any buffet lines, or being the last guy in the neighborhood to mow grass. As a matter of fact, I’m often the first employee to pull into the parking lot every morning.
- Colts notebook: Team won't be very active in free-agent market Now that Indianapolis has re-signed unrestricted free agents Bob Sanders (strong safety), Dallas Clark (tight end) and Ryan Lilja (offensive guard), team officials are planning to sit back and see what’s going to happen with the rest of the team’s free agents.
- SIDELINES: Like fine wine, Classic gets better with age I know virtually nothing about wine, but I do know that the best of it gets better with age. That’s apparently true of the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic.
- Sidelines: A man has to do what a man has to do I have a job to do just after Christmas, and believe me, it’s a tough one; it takes four days, involves putting in long hours, requires both physical and mental sacrifice, and perhaps even holds the chance for long-term injury. But a guy has to do what he has to do to bring home a paycheck.
- Metro roundup: ISU announces Hall of Fame class
- Sidelines: Illinois has its share of unique nicknames too Over the years, I’ve written at least four columns about unique school nicknames, but Casey resident Jim Blome reminded me in a letter about a year ago that I’ve never done a story about interesting names from Illinois schools. I think it’s time I remedied that error.
- Sidelines: Advocates had their chance for higher basket Years ago, if atmospheric conditions were just right, I could occasionally dunk a basketball, particularly at one local gym where pick-up game artists like me knew that one rim was at least three inches lower than regulation height.
- Warm up for Classic with Clyde Quiz An obligation at work kept me from being at the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic luncheon and tournament drawing at Terre Haute South a few weeks ago, but I don’t intend to let much get in my way when it comes to showing up for the lion’s share of the 28 games in the Classic, which, by the way, gets started today.
- Mike Lunsford: It’s not how much we’ve gained, but how much we’ve lost I haven’t seen much basketball this fall; the weather outside has been too nice lately to turn my attention to things indoors just yet. So this is the first Sidelines of the year; I was already writing about hoops in October last season. I hope the old adage of it being better late than never still rings true.
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Sidelines: Mail waste of time for some, but not for me
No matter how many bills or how much junk mail I get, I’m one of those folks who anticipates going to the mailbox like Carter opening Tut’s tomb. I’ve always enjoyed getting mail; there’s a feeling of connectedness one gets when he sees his name on a letter from somewhere in the outside world. It makes little difference that what I most often get isn’t worth the postage it took to send it, even at the bulk rate.
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Sidelines: It doesn’t take much for me to name names
It’s no secret that I enjoy talking about old high school nicknames; I’ve done several columns on the subject before. I usually wait a little while before I write about a topic for a second (or third) time, but when Fred Myers of Riley dropped a letter to me a few weeks ago pointing out a potential mistake I made about a nickname, I just couldn’t resist going into it again. After all, it has been a couple of years.
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Old friend missing as Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic begins
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