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Stephen Holder, ESPNMar 5, 2024, 03: 26 PM ET
- Stephen joined ESPN in 2022, keeping the Indianapolis Colts and NFL at substantial. Stephen accomplished first place in column writing within the 2015 Indiana Connected Press Media Editors competition, and he’s a previous prime-10 winner in explanatory journalism within the Connected Press Sports actions Editors nationwide contest. He has chronicled the NFL since 2005, keeping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2005-2013 and the Colts since 2013. He has beforehand labored for the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and The Athletic.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts on Tuesday placed their franchise tag on wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., who jam profession highs with 109 receptions for 1,152 yards this previous season.
The Colts and Pittman’s representatives had been in negotiations on a long-term extension in fresh days and were endeavoring to reach a deal ahead of Tuesday’s deadline for gamers to be tagged, however it came and went with out a fresh contract.
“We be pleased every thing about him, and we desire him to be a Colt,” coach Shane Steichen said Tuesday morning.
The franchise tag, price $21.8 million for wide receivers for the 2024 season, will allow each aspect to continue working toward a long-term deal. The tag enormously restricts Pittman’s ability to store himself as a free agent when the 2024 NFL league year commences subsequent week.
It’s the first time the Colts have extinct the franchise tag since 2013, once they extinct it on punter Pat McAfee.
Nonexclusive franchise tags allow gamers to bewitch in negotiations with varied groups, however the participant’s long-established crew retains the correct to test any competing offer or is entitled to 2 first-spherical picks if a participant joins a fresh crew.
Pittman, who has had a definite starting up quarterback in each of his four seasons in Indianapolis, has been a few of the more accomplished receivers in Colts historical previous, with handiest 5 others — Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, T.Y. Hilton, Dallas Clark and Invoice Brooks — catching more passes than Pittman’s 336.
He change into once, by a ways, the Colts’ prime purpose final season at 28.2%, which ranked 11th within the NFL. His 208 receptions since 2022 furthermore ranks fifth within the NFL for the length of that span.
Pittman, who turns 27 in October, uncared for a Week 16 sport after he change into once placed in concussion protocol following a Week 15 hit by Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontae Kazee, who change into once ejected and then suspended for the final three games of the season. Pittman change into once cleared from the protocol the subsequent Friday, however he experienced a relapse of symptoms one day later after arriving in Atlanta for a sport vs. the Falcons and went abet into the protocol.
At 6-foot-4 and 223 pounds, Pittman presents a wide purpose for his quarterback and is a willing, and continuously devastating, blocker within the running sport. He has talked at dimension about the upcoming return of 2023 first-spherical opt Anthony Richardson to the Colts’ lineup, and the affect the younger quarterback’s presence may perchance well perhaps have on the crew’s passing sport.
