Eric Ebron signs with Indianapolis Colts after being released by Detroit Lions

Eric Ebron was a surprise cut by the Detroit Lions just before the new league year began but he has found a new home with the Indianapolis Colts.

The Detroit Lions were set to pay Eric Ebron $8.25 million for the 2018 season until they reversed course and cut him before his fifth-year option became guaranteed at the start of the new league year. The move freed the entire $8.25 million out of the team’s salary cap picture but it was a move viewed with skepticism by many fans because of the gaping hole it leaves at the tight end position.

Bob Quinn may have gotten some vindication tonight with the news that Ebron has signed with the Indianapolis Colts. The dollar figure Ebron was schedule for on his option didn’t seem like it was exorbitant, especially after Trey Burton found himself an $8 million per year deal in free agency with the Chicago Bears. Apparently Quinn had a pretty decent feel for the market and Ebron’s value in it.

Ebron, set free by the Lions on the open market, couldn’t better the deal that was pulled from him last week. According to Adam Schefter, Ebron is headed to the Colts on a two-year deal that tops out at $15 million with incentives.

So at best that is $7.5 million per year for the next two years, slightly under what he would have been paid had the Lions held on to him. This also helps explain why the Lions weren’t able to find a trade partner. Why give something up to take on a player who ended up taking a pay cut on his next deal?

It’s a little less money but that may not bother Ebron in the slightest. A fresh start could do him well considering he was never going to win over some fans because of where he was drafted and who he was drafted in front of. He enters the situation in Indianapolis without the expectations that comes with being a top ten pick and can just be one of the guys trying to bring on-field success back for football fans in central Indiana.

There doesn’t currently appear to be a particular plan as to what the Lions would do with the cap space cleared by Ebron’s release. After seeing what he got on his new deal in Indy it is even more likely it just came down to the team deciding they would rather have the cap space than the player.

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Since unused cap space can be rolled over from year to year, it may be that we don’t see an immediate use of the cap space Ebron would have taken up, or even a use this year. With his first head coaching hire just getting started and a freshly signed contract extension, Bob Quinn is playing the long game.