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INDIANAPOLIS – At first, the number Chris Ballard and the Colts were handing T.Y. Hilton in free agency wasn’t enough for him to stay in Indianapolis.

That’s when Jim Irsay stepped in.

On Thursday afternoon, T.Y. Hilton joined The Pat McAfee Show and shared details on how he returned to the Colts, on a 1-year contract for $10 million ($8 million guaranteed).

Hilton said the process of him returning sped up just after Noon on Wednesday.

After texting back and forth with Ballard for a few hours, Hilton decided at 2:30 PM that he would sign somewhere by 3:00.

When Hilton got off the phone with Ballard at 2:55 PM, The Ghost actually thought he would be signing with the Baltimore Ravens, for a contract value that, at signing, would have exceeded the entire contract he ended up signing to stay in Indianapolis, Hilton said.

This is how Hilton explained to McAfee his conversation with Ballard, before Irsay got involved:

“Are we going to get this done? How can we get this done?” Hilton said of his questions to Ballard. “(Ballard) came up with a number. And I’m like, ‘Man, it’s all right. I guess it’s meant for me to go to this next team.’

“As soon as I closed his message, Irsay texted me. I said, ‘There goes my sign right there.’

“When (Irsay) texted me, that’s when we got it done…I told him the number that I wanted and they got to it, right then and there, and the deal got done.”

For those that saw the ‘eye emoji’ tweet from Hilton on Wednesday, that was in reference to him possibly signing with the Ravens, he said.

Hilton, 31, added there were a couple of teams involved in his first ever free agency.

Throughout this process for Hilton, which had him free on the open market for a full week, he leaned on former teammate Reggie Wayne.

“The one person that I got to give a lot of credit to is Reggie Wayne,” Hilton told McAfee. “I call him ’87.’ He helped me out a lot. He answered the phone when I needed. He was a big help all the way through this whole thing. I’d give anything for him. He’s a real big brother to me. I love him to death. For him to be there every step of the way with me, all the way until I signed, it was incredible.”

Andrew Luck was another former teammate of Hilton that he heard from upon signing.

“(Luck) texted me, ‘I’m so proud of you,’” Hilton said of Luck. “I told him the money I turned down and he said, ‘Wow, dude! That’s awesome.’”

Hilton, who will now play a 10th season with the Colts, was also extremely complimentary of the #BringTYHome hashtag that took off this past week.

“That played a big factor,” Hilton said. “Seeing the songs, seeing the tweets, it was awesome. I listened to every last one of them. It was incredible the love this city has for me. “It definitely touched me in a major way.”

In 2021, Hilton will now have a new starting quarterback in the season opener for a 5th straight season.

Even though Hilton’s future was clearly up in the air, he’s already had plenty of communication with his new quarterback, Carson Wentz.

“I’ve been talking to Carson since the day he (was traded),” Hilton said. “He was texting me yesterday, too. ‘Are we close? How we looking?’

“He wants to play football with me and I want to play with him. It’s been incredible for him just to continue to reach out to me as I’m a free agent. I respect him a lot. I can’t wait to get to work with him. I told him, ‘If you need me, I’m going to be there. I’m going to go through the fire with you.’ And he said, ‘I’ll do the same for you.’ We look forward to it and it’s going to be some big things happening in Indy.”

While the talk of retirement for Hilton after this one-year deal never came up on Thursday, it’s very clear Irsay did not want the only player left on the side of Lucas Oil Stadium to be playing elsewhere in 2021.

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