Ryan Kelly: It was just time to move on from Colts

Ryan Kelly's departure from Indianapolis as a free agent this offseason was notable enough to elicit a statement of gratitude from Colts owner Jim Irsay and the Vikings center discussed his decision to switch teams on Thursday.

Kelly made four Pro Bowls while spending the first nine years of his NFL career with the Colts and he told reporters that he had long envisioned spending his career in one place. He said there was "no major event" that led him to change his mind, but that he began to feel "it was just time to move on" as he got closer to the end of his contract with the team.

"It was time for me to maybe check out what else is out there and move on and have a new perspective in this career," Kelly said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN.com. "So, yeah, I can’t say there’s a specific event. I’ll miss the guys in the O-line room and I’ll miss a bunch of people there. But, in my heart, I just knew it was time to move on and I kind of felt that way over the last year and a half."

Kelly noted that he snapped the ball to 13 quarterbacks during his time with the Colts and the current hope in Minnesota is that he will only be snapping to J.J. McCarthy during his time in a Vikings uniform.