Zak Keefer

zak.keefer@indystar.com

INDIANAPOLIS – The rule around the Doyle household the past few months, the one strictly adhered to by dad Jack, mom Casie, even baby Ronan: No contract talk allowed.

(Not that Ronan was going to be an issue. He’s all of five months old.)

“Blinders,” said Jack, echoing an approach that would surely make Chuck Pagano beam with pride.

The rule has since been lifted; the Indianapolis Colts’ season is over. Decisions await. Doyle, the native Hoosier, Cathedral High School grad and locker room favorite – teammates had “Jack Does Everything” T-shirts printed this year – is set to become a free agent in March. This after acing his job audition better than any other player on this team’s roster in 2016.

No longer is he an overlooked practice player, a safety valve, a special teams staple. Jack Doyle became a bona fide stud this year.

By every statistical measure, he did more in in his fourth year than in his first three years combined. That’s more targets (75 in 2016; 43 from 2013-15), more catches (59 this year compared to 35 his first three years), more yards (584 this season; only 209 his first three), more touchdowns (five this year, three before that). He became Andrew Luck’s security blanket, a steady across-the-middle tight end option, a rock-solid, brings-it-every-Sunday glue guy whom the Colts couldn’t live without.

And, very likely, can’t live without moving forward.

Asked after the 2016 regular-season finale if he thought he did enough this year to earn a contract extension, Doyle shrugged.

“I guess so,” he said. “I’ve tried to play hard, tried to be in the right spots, so we’ll see what shakes out.”

That’s Jack Doyle – impossibly modest, impressively understated. He never seems to enjoy talking about himself. Good thing he has an agent for that.

Then again, Doyle needn’t say much. He stated his case on Sundays this fall. Just dig up the tape. The game-winner in Tennessee that capped a career day. The third-and-10 catch late in the fourth quarter in Green Bay that iced it. The game-winner in Week 17 versus the Jaguars that helped the Colts avoid a losing season.

Time and again, with nerves tight, the game on the line and the Colts on the verge of collapse, Doyle ruled. It’s what he does. How respected has he become in that locker room? Just listen to what Frank Gore had to say after a Week 7 win over the Titans.

“Coming from the bottom,” said the 12-year veteran, “undrafted free agent, getting cut, to this? Man. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever been on a football team with.”

Doyle hasn’t missed a game in four years. He’s done everything the Colts have asked of him since they claimed him off waivers in 2013: He’s lined up at H-back, he’s picked up blitzes, he’s caught touchdown passes, he’s led the special teams unit. His 59 catches this year are the most by a Colts tight end in six years, more than Coby Fleener ever had in his four seasons here, more than Dwayne Allen has had in five.

No tight end in football – not Travis Kelce, not Greg Olsen, not Jimmy Graham – caught more of his targets in 2016. Doyle’s 78.7 catch percentage (59 catches on 75 targets) was ninth in the league and first among tight ends with at least 50 targets. Mr. Everything became Mr. Reliable. He made a heck of a sales pitch for a long-term deal.

He, too, is a realist, aware that this game is a business, mindful that careers in this league rarely end where players want them to.

“Really hard to see myself playing anywhere else,” Doyle said after the Week 17 victory. “Obviously, I want to be back. I love Indy, all that stuff. But we’ll see what shakes out. There is a business part of it.”

Which begs a question no one was asking in 2015 but plenty will this spring: Can the Colts afford Jack Doyle?

He’s a second-stringer who could very well command a starter’s salary. Teams in need of a steady tight end target could swoop in and throw out a figure the Colts simply couldn’t match.

Indianapolis will have somewhere in the neighborhood of $55 million to spend in free agency, and that figure could increase if they release a few high-priced veterans (like, say, Art Jones and Patrick Robinson). Complicating the decision: The Colts’ deepest position group could very soon become one of its most expensive. The team dished out a fat, four-year, $29 million deal to its starting tight end, Dwayne Allen, last year. Third-stringer Erik Swoope improved by leaps and bounds in 2016. As an exclusive rights free agent, it’s a near-certainty he’ll return.

Asked late in the season on the team’s radio program if he hoped to retain Doyle and Swoope, General Manager Ryan Grigson didn’t hesitate. “Definitely,” he said.

The price point is where it could get sticky. Does Doyle offer the Colts a hometown discount? The market has been kind to pass-happy tight ends in recent years. On top of Allen’s $29 million deal last spring, Fleener signed with the Saints for five years and $36 million. Jordan Reed got a $46 million deal from the Redskins.

Doyle won’t command as much, but he has proven to deserve a substantial raise from the Colts. He made $1.67 million last year. A $5 million-per-year average isn’t out of the question. (It’s worth noting here that Doyle’s agent, Indianapolis-based Buddy Baker, also represents Grigson.)

Also at play is where the Colts choose to spend their cash. The defense is in desperate need of an upgrade (see: pass rush), and elite sack masters don’t come cheap these days. Will there be enough dough to go around? We’ll have to wait and see. The Colts could also be in need of a cornerback, depending on what they decide to do with Robinson. (Cornerback/safety Darius Butler is another free agent.)

The Colts have taken care of their own in recent seasons, locking up young talent they hope will form the backbone of this franchise moving forward. Luck got $140 million. Hilton $65 million. Anthony Castonzo $43 million. Allen $29 million.

With Fleener catching passes from Drew Brees in New Orleans, Doyle slid up on the depth chart. Oftentimes, when a bit player is featured in a more prominent role, he is exposed. Doyle did just the opposite.

He proved he belonged.

“Man, he is a baller,” Gore continued that day in Tennessee. “You’re so happy when things happen like this for a guy like that.”

More good things are coming for Jack Doyle. For starters: the biggest payday of his life.

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Call IndyStar reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134. Follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.