The Indianapolis Colts made some waves during the legal tampering period when they agreed to a four-year deal with kicker Matt Gay, making him one of the highest-paid players at his position.
While Gay did make a bit of history by signing the biggest free-agent contract for a kicker and receiving the most money in the first three years of a contract at the position, the deal hardly impacts the Colts’ salary cap in a constricting manner.
According to Over The Cap, Gay signed a four-year deal worth $22.5 million with $10 million guaranteed at signing and potentially $13 million in total guarantees.
Here’s how the contract breaks down:
- Signing Bonus: $8 million (guaranteed)
- 2023 base salary: $1.08 million (guaranteed)
- 2024 base salary: $3.92 million ($980,000 guaranteed)
- Remaining $2.94 million of 2024 salary guaranteed on fifth day of 2024 league year
- 2025 base salary: $4.75 million
- 2026 base salary: $4.75 million
While there were plenty of negative reactions to the Colts signing a kicker to a technically historic contract, this deal will hardly make a negative impact on the salary cap. Even in its most expensive season, the contract accounts for 2.4% of the salary cap.
It also should be noted that there is no guaranteed money in the deal after the 2024 season. So if it truly doesn’t work out, the Colts can save money without incurring too much of a dead cap hit. If they need to do so, they should wait until after the 2025 season to maximize savings.
But with the way Gay has been playing, that may not be an issue. He’s been incredibly accurate—historically accurate even—to begin his young career.
Over the last two seasons with the Rams, Gay has converted 60-of-64 field-goal attempts (93.8%) and has missed just two of his 81 extra-point attempts during that span. That includes converting 11-of-14 attempts from 50 yards or more.
Among kickers with at least 100 career field-goal attempts, Gay’s 87.8% conversion rate ranks as the fifth-best mark in the game. He trails only Justin Tucker (90.5%), Younghoe Koo (89.1%), Daniel Carlson (88.3%) and Harrison Butker (88.2%).
The Colts needed to pay up a little bit to secure a position that has been extremely volatile over the last handful of seasons and unless things go south in a hurry, this could turn out to be a very strong move by general manager Chris Ballard.
Keep up to date with the latest news, signings and rumors through our free agency tracker for the Colts.
