INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Bernhard Raimann started his football career as a receiver at age 14 and his college career at Central Michigan as a tight end.
Eventually, he found his way to the offensive line — and it’s there he blossomed as a pro.
The Austrian-born Raimann signed a four-year contract extension worth $100 million Tuesday, making him one of the league’s highest-paid left tackles and a key cog for Indy's yet-to-be determined starting quarterback.
“I haven’t really had time to sit down and think about it,” Raimann said after Tuesday’s training camp practice. “That seems like a dream come true right now, but I’m sure that tonight, seeing my wife, sitting down with my wife for the first time, I’ll take it all in.”
Coach Shane Steichen was not available Tuesday. The Colts are not scheduled to practice again until Thursday night.
Raimann has proven his value repeatedly to the Colts over the past three seasons.
After taking him in the third round of the 2022 draft, Indy initially projected Raimann as its swing tackle. Injuries, however, sped up the learning process and forced Raimann into the starting job on the left side.
While he wasn’t a natural there right away, he grew into the job. He’s started 40 of 45 games next to perennial Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson.
On a group that has dealt with many absences over the past three seasons, Raimann became a stabilizing force and has shown steady improvement. The reward came Tuesday.
“Bernhard has worked extremely hard, and this contract extension is a testament to his character, dedication and persistence,” general manager Chris Ballard said in a statement. “He exemplifies each of our team’s four pillars and is a leader in our locker room. I’m excited for him and his family on this well-deserved contract extension.”
It also reflects Ballard’s priority on the offensive and defensive lines.
The signing comes just days after Raimann told reporters he wasn’t sure if his agent and the Colts were even close to an agreement and follows an offseason in which the Colts let Pro Bowl center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries leave in free agency. Both signed with the Minnesota Vikings.
It’s also the first big move since team owner Jim Irsay died this spring. Irsay’s three daughters are now running the team.
With Raimann and Nelson anchoring the left side of Indy’s offensive line the Colts are hopeful right tackle Braden Smith returns to form after missing the last five games of last season to deal with a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
“This is probably the best I’ve felt in a really long time,” Smith said Monday. “Obviously, the last couple years physically has been a little bit rough, and last year was very rough mentally. It’s kind of nice just to see everything kind of come together and now I can just go play football and just have fun.”
Indy has tabbed Tanor Bortolini and Matt Goncalves, two draft picks from 2024 — to play center and right guard, respectively.
Getting Raimann’s deal done became crucial with Smith set to become a free agent in March and Nelson potentially hitting the free-agent market after the 2026 season.
Now the guy who put his college start on hold for one year to fulfill his six-month military obligation in Austria, is seeing the payoff.
“Obviously, you think about it (the contract), you know you want to be here,” he said. “You know you want security for your family. But at the same time, you have a season to focus on, so I’m just happy that all the distractions are out of the way and we can fully focus on the season.”
Cornerback Jaylon Jones was carted off the field during one-on-one drills Tuesday. The Colts said he injured his hamstring. Jones is competing to be one of Indy’s starters.
Oft-injured cornerback JuJu Brents also was out with a hamstring injury. The other Colts on the injury list are receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (groin), linebacker Cameron McGrone (quadriceps), cornerback David Long Jr. (groin) and running back Salvon Ahmed (back).
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL
Indianapolis Colts tackle Bernhard Raimann (79) stretches during practice at the NFL football team's training camp in Westfield, Ind., Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
It was at a relatively minor event in upstate New York in September 2022 that Ilia Malinin, the self-anointed “Quad God" who was fast becoming the biggest name in figure skating, finally landed the jump that so many people had thought impossible.
Others had tried quad axels in competition over the years. All of them had fallen. That extra 180 degrees of rotation — necessary for the only jump in skating that starts with a forward-facing entry — proved to be a half-revolution too much.
So when Malinin landed it inside the arena made famous by the U.S. hockey team's upset of the Soviets at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, it not only sent shockwaves through the tight-knit skating community but made headlines around the world.
“My mind was just blown,” said two-time Olympic skater Jason Brown.
Yet by conquering the gravity-defying jump, Malinin also raised an important question: What comes next?
The six main jumps in figure skating have been standard since the early 1900s. The only difference between then and now is the number of revolutions. Dick Button landed the first double axel in 1948, and the first triple jump four years later. Kurt Browning landed the first quad, a toe loop, in 1988, and it was 10 years before Timothy Goebel landed the first quad salchow.
By landing the quad axel, Malinin may have maxed out the boundaries of human performance. Most sports scientists agree that the speed and amplitude necessary for five-revolution jumps truly is impossible, leaving figure skating at a crossroads, where a dearth of innovation threatens to take the shine off a sport already fighting to maintain popularity.
“I think it's kind of natural that we were going to get to this point,” said Malinin, the overwhelming favorite to win gold for the U.S. at the Milan Cortina Olympics. "But I haven't reached my top, whether it's in the technical and how much I can jump and spin, but also in the creativity.”
Malinin, 20, points to his signature “raspberry twist,” a somersaulting spin unlike anything that anybody else does. He created it himself, and it tends to bring down the house whenever he throws it down near the end of his programs.
Yet the flashy maneuver also underscores one of the inherent problems with trying to be creative: It doesn't get rewarded.
The International Skating Union has rigid requirements for both short programs and free skates, and it rarely pays off to deviate too far from the script. Malinin might not get a lot of extra points for landing his raspberry twist, for example, since it is not one of the six standard figure skating jumps, but a failure to land it could cost him dearly.
“Absolutely, there are a lot of things I've wanted to try,” Malinin told The Associated Press, “because I think it would be really cool and appealing. But it's a bigger risk for the program itself, and the system and scoring means it doesn't make sense.”
In other words, what's the point in trying to innovate?
“There are so many rules in your programs that you don't have too much wiggle room,” said Alysa Liu, the reigning world champion. “A lot of these rules really restrict us. Like, all of our spins look the same now, but they could look so different."
“One of my training mates, Sonja Himler, does these incredible programs," added Amber Glenn, a three-time U.S. champion, and along with Liu one of the favorites to win Olympic gold for the American team in February.
“Like, she spins the other way, jumps the other way — really cool things that, you know, someone who's watched a little bit of skating will be like, ‘Oh, I’ve never seen that before,'” Glenn said. “Whereas if I go and do, you know, the norm, and do it well, versus what she does, my scores will be better, even though what she does is way more impressive, in my opinion.”
Justin Dillon, the manager of high performance at U.S. Figure Skating, acknowledged having had hard conversations with some skaters about their programs. They may have planned something unique or interesting, but the risk wouldn't be worth the reward.
“I encourage individuality, and bringing it to the ice,” Dillon said, “but if they do something so avant-garde that it doesn't check those boxes, then it really doesn't serve them. It doesn't always mean throw it out, but what can we do to make it a home run?”
To its credit, figure skating's governing body has loosened some restrictions in recent years. The backflip, which was long banned in competition because of its inherent danger, is allowed now, though it also doesn't carry a whole lot of scoring weight.
Is that hold-your-breath element of risk and uncertainty the next big step in skating?
“I mean, you're cringing. It legit scares me," Glenn said of the backflip. “If you can do it, great. I think it's so fun. I want to learn it once I'm done competing. But the thought of practicing it in like, a warmup or in training, it just scares me.”
Brown has never been able to consistently land quad jumps in competition. Instead, he relies on near-perfect execution of triple jumps, along with arguably the best artistry in figure skating, to consistently challenge for podium placements in major competitions.
Maybe, Brown mused, the next innovation in figure skating has nothing to do with extreme feats of athletic ability.
“I have so much respect for the ways in which people are pushing the sport technically,” he said, "but I think the more that people fixate on executing an element, the less risk people take artistically, because they’re already taking these risks technically. And it is very hard to do both. So maybe the next step for figure skating is to reward the story we're trying to tell."
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Amber Glenn skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Ilia Malinin skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Ilia Malinin competes during the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Ilia Malinin competes during the men's short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
