ready for the next chapter.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cYou don\u2019t really think about how long eight years is until it comes to an end,\u201d Franklin said. \u201d Just grateful for that time but also just extremely excited. I had a couple of chances just to go out to that Green Bay community. It\u2019s just different, to be honest with you. I feel like this is a great opportunity. I\u2019m really looking forward to being a Green Bay Packer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Franklin said there\u2019s no hard feelings between him and Colts general manager Chris Ballard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t take it personal\u2026 It\u2019s a part of the business. I mean, Chris has to make decisions, and I have to keep playing,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cI really value my relationship with Chris. He\u2019s been instrumental in my development, and he\u2019s the one that took a chance on me early, so much love to him and the whole organization, but we both have to move on. That\u2019s just apart of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Franklin said he\u2019s spoken with Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen since the trade and is glad relationships with the Colts front office remain strong \u2013 especially with team co-owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy relationship with Carlie is deeper than football, deeper than the Colts, so the relationships in that building are also what they\u2019re going to be, which I\u2019m most thankful for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the course of his eight years with the Colts, Franklin worked his way up from a seventh round pick and special team player to leading the team in tackles the last four years. But his fondest memories come from being in the community \u2014 especially with his Tackles for Hunger campaign helping Boys & Girls Clubs across the Indianapolis area.<\/p>\n
Franklin donated $15,000 and hosted a pizza party for the Lilly Boys & Girls Club, marking the fifth and final location his initiative has helped serve this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me emotional a little bit just to see the lives we were able to touch and the people we were able to impact,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of weird now because I cant say I\u2019m a Colts linebacker, but I\u2019m just thankful that community brought me in. I came from Philly not really understanding the way Indianapolis is about. I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m a full Hoosier, but somewhere in my heart, the Hoosier State always got me.\u201d
__<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s all love\u201d for Zaire Franklin. The former Indianapolis Colts linebacker talked about being traded to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,7,2004,392,2381,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-863668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-colts","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indianapolis","11":"tag-indianapolis-colts","12":"tag-indianapoliscolts","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116384154710890779","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}