INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts have lost another starter on the offensive line.
Former starting right guard Will Fries has agreed to terms with the Vikings, a league source confirmed to IndyStar on Tuesday, for a five-year deal that ESPN reported is worth up to $88 million, a monster contract for the former seventh-round draft pick.
Fries, who turns 27 in April, was initially drafted for his ability to play multiple positions, versatility that projected well as a backup.
But the collapse of the Indianapolis offensive line in 2022 opened a path for Fries to take over the starting job at right guard, and the Penn State product ran with it, starting the next 31 games while developing into one of the most highly regarded young guards in the NFL.
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A broken tibia in Jacksonville ended Fries’ 2024 season prematurely, but it apparently did nothing to dissuade Minnesota, which made Fries the 10th-highest paid guard in the NFL.
“From a seventh-round pick to everybody kind of beating him up a little bit as he grew into a really good football player has been really fun to watch,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said at the NFL scouting combine. “It was unfortunate this year with the injury, but the rehab has been anything you’d expect from Will. Never a missed day, doing everything in his power, he’s progressing nicely. I couldn’t be more happy for him.”
The Colts wanted to get Fries back, but Ballard acknowledged at the Combine that the market might price Indianapolis out of the market, and Indianapolis got some insurance on the offensive line by reworking Braden Smith’s deal to retain the veteran right tackle, offering flexibility between Smith and Matt Goncalves on the right side.
The deal Fries landed in Minnesota priced him out of Indianapolis.
The Colts already have the NFL’s highest-paid guard in the form of Quenton Nelson, and an extension is possible for blossoming left tackle Bernhard Raimann, a potential cornerstone who plays the most important position on the front.
Ballard has also indicated Indianapolis might continue to add offensive linemen through the NFL draft.
“The o-line, the mid-round group is really deep (in 2025),” Ballard said at the Combine.
In the meantime, the Colts now have a need for depth on the offensive line. Former Ball State offensive lineman Danny Pinter, a free agent who started two games at center last season, could return to Indianapolis. Dalton Tucker, an undrafted free agent who started seven games in place of Fries last season, is still on the roster, along with swing tackle Blake Freeland, a 2023 fourth-round pick who made 10 starts as a rookie but fell behind Goncalves last season.
Indianapolis will likely add, either through free agency or the draft.
The injuries to Fries, Smith and departed center Ryan Kelly — who reportedly agreed to a two-year, $18 million deal in Minnesota on Monday — the past two seasons have only strengthened Ballard’s belief that a team must be deep on the offensive line.
“It’s a position we don’t ever want to go light on,” Ballard said. “You have to be good up front. It’s hard when you can’t block people, and over the length of a season, when you have weakness, it shows up.”
The Colts have lost some good players on the offensive line in the first two days of free agency. But Indianapolis has prepared for this possibility in the NFL Draft, and they’ll likely continue to replace those pieces over the next couple of months
