After spending his entire nine-season NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts, center Ryan Kelly is headed for the Minnesota Vikings as an NFL free agent.

Kelly’s four-year, $50 million contract with the Colts expires at 3 p.m. CDT Wednesday, when the former Alabama All-American will be able to sign with Minnesota. Players with expiring contracts were allowed to begin negotiating with other teams on Monday.

Kelly is coming to the Vikings for a two-year, $18 million contract that includes $9 million in guaranteed money, NFL Network, the Minnesota Star Tribune and ESPN reported on Monday.

Minnesota is acquiring the four-time Pro Bowler even though Garrett Bradbury remains with the team. Bradbury played all 1,117 regular-season offensive snaps at center for Minnesota in 2024. After starting 88 regular-season and four playoff games since joining the Vikings in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Bradbury has one season remaining on a three-year, $15.75 million contract.

Kelly joined Indianapolis from Alabama’s 2015 CFP national-championship team as the 18th selection in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was a unanimous All-American and the winner of the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s best center in 2015.

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Kelly has started all 121 regular-season and three playoff games in which he has played across his nine NFL seasons. Kelly earned Pro Bowl recognition in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.

Despite missing seven games with injuries in 2024, Kelly passed Pro Football Hall of Fame member Dwight Stephenson for the most NFL regular-season games by an Alabama alumnus whose primary position was center. Stephenson had played in 114 NFL regular-season games when he suffered a career-ending injury in 1987.

Only three former Alabama players have started more NFL regular-season games as an offensive lineman than Kelly – John Hannah with 183, Chris Samuels with 141 and James Carpenter with 122.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.