INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The best clutch kicker in league history is staying put. So is Bob Sanders’ replacement.

On Wednesday, Adam Vinatieri and Melvin Bullitt both agreed to three-year deals, keeping them in Indianapolis. Details of the deals were not immediately available, and team spokesman Avis Roper said the Colts would not confirm any transactions until later this week because players cannot officially sign contracts until Friday.

Vinatieri’s agent, Gary Uberstine, confirmed the move in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Bullitt took to the local airwaves to confirm his deal.

“It was `Let’s get this done, let’s move past it, let’s get ready for the season,’ ” he told radio station 1070 The Fan Wednesday afternoon.

Bullitt has been a backup to the oft-injured Bob Sanders since joining the Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2007, but is expected to become a full-time starter this season after Sanders’ release. Sanders, the 2007 NFL defensive player of the year, signed with San Diego before the NFL lockout began.

Getting both deals completed quickly at least provides some answers for a team scrambling to put its roster together before players report to training camp Sunday.

Still, the biggest concern — a new long-term contract for four-time MVP Peyton Manning — has not been resolved . Team owner Jim Irsay has repeatedly promised to make Manning the highest-paid player in league history. Tom Brady currently holds that distinction with an annual average salary of $18 million.

Indy placed the exclusive franchise tag on Manning in February, a move that prevents him from negotiating with other teams and would pay Manning about $23 million this season if he signed the deal. Clearly, the Colts would prefer a long-term deal that lowers Manning’s salary cap number for this season and clears enough room to sign more of their own free agents.

“I hope it can get done quickly and I think it should get done quickly,” Irsay said Monday night. “Under this system, you can’t pay a player $25 million or you won’t be able to compete.”

While the Manning negotiations continue, the Colts have been busy signing undrafted rookies and agreeing to deals with Vinatieri and Bullitt.

The 38-year-old Vinatieri is one of just seven players in league history to score 500 or more points with two different teams (Patriots, Colts).

He made the 48-yard field goal that gave New England its first Super Bowl win after the 2001 season He also made the tying kick in regulation and the winner against Oakland in the snow during the 2001 playoffs, a game best remembered as the “tuck rule” game. Two years later, Vinatieri made another Super Bowl winning kick against Carolina.

And he played an integral role in the Colts’ 2006 Super Bowl run, making five field goals in a 15-6 win at Baltimore, going 3 for 3 against New England in the Colts’ AFC title game comeback, and 3 for 4 on a rainy Miami day to help beat Chicago in the title game.

After missing much of the 2009 season following hip surgery, Vinatieri played in all 16 games in 2010 and made 26 of 28 field-goal attempts.

Bullitt came into the league as an undrafted free agent in 200, started 21 games in 2008 and 2009 and had five interceptions in his first three NFL seasons. Last year, after replacing the injured Sanders as the starter again, Bullitt had season-ending surgery on his right shoulder in October.

More roster moves should be coming by Friday night.

Irsay has acknowledged the Colts will have to cut some players, perhaps even a “well-known” player. Though he did not identify any individuals as potential cap casualties, speculation has centered on longtime right tackle Ryan Diem. He is scheduled to make $5.4 in base salary this season, the last on his current deal.

“I’m like everybody else, I suspect something is going to happen,” said Cliff Brady, Diem’s agent. “I know they’re trying to get Charlie Johnson done.”

Johnson has been the starting left tackle the last two seasons in Indy and is an unrestricted free agent.

Indy used its first two draft picks in an obvious attempt to upgrade the offensive line. But it’s unlikely the Colts want two rookie linemen protecting their high-priced franchise quarterback, who is still rehabbing from offsesason neck surgery.

In addition to Bullitt, Johnson and Vinatieri, the list of free agents Indy would like to retain includes running back Joseph Addai and linebacker Clint Session, both starters.

Another possible cap cut could be cornerback Kelvin Hayden, whose base salary this season is expected to be nearly $9 million. It was Hayden who picked off the pass against Chicago and returned it for a touchdown to seal the Colts’ Super Bowl win.

“We are talking to some of our own guys,” general manager Chris Polian said Tuesday. “We will not have the ability to retain all of our free agents. We will try to retain as many as we can, but I would not expect that to be 100 percent across the board.”

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Former Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders plans to sign a one-year deal with the San Diego Chargers Thursday night, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Sanders also visited the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills this offseason, according to sources.

Since signing a five-year, $37.5 million deal after being named the defensive player of the year in 2007, the oft-injured Sanders played in only nine regular-season games for the Colts.

Sanders played in just one game last season, leaving the Colts’ opener on the team’s first defensive series with a torn left biceps.

With safety Antoine Bethea signing a four-year, $27 million contract last summer; Melvin Bullitt, Sanders’ backup, emerging as a competent starter; and the Colts still trying to sign four-time league MVP Peyton Manning to a new long-term deal, there wasn’t enough room to keep Sanders.

Sanders has 373 tackles, 3½ sacks, two forced fumbles, three recoveries and six interceptions in seven NFL seasons.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Former Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders(notes) has visited with the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason to see if he can dig up a job and the New York Post reports that he did the same with the New York Jets yesterday.

The big test for the oft-injured Sanders, who was the 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is if he can pass the physical. The paper reports that he has “apparently” done that for his previous two suitors this offseason.

Unfortunately, as the Post points out, since the 30-year-old won that award, Sanders has only “managed to play in nine regular-season games.” Last season he left the opener with a torn left biceps tendon and was done for the year.

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Source: New York Post

Related: Bob Sanders, Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets

POSTED: 4:55 pm EST March 2, 2011

Former Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders is in New York meeting with the Jets on Wednesday, according to a league source.

Sanders, the 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, was released Feb. 18 by the Colts. He previously visited the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills.

A possibility remains that Sanders could re-sign with the Colts at a dollar figure lower than what he was previously scheduled to earn. Sanders signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract after the 2007 season but played in just nine regular-season games over the next three seasons.

When healthy, Sanders has been one of the league’s top defenders.

Sanders played in 14 games in 2005, earning the first of two Pro Bowl selections. A knee injury limited him to four regular-season games in 2006.

Sanders was healthy again in 2007, playing in 15 games, earning another Pro Bowl trip and becoming the first Colts player to win the league’s top defensive award, but injuries limited him to just six regular-season games in 2008. In 2009, he missed the first five games after knee surgery and, in his second game back, tore the biceps in his left arm and missed the rest of the season.

Sanders didn’t even make it through that many games last season. He tore his right biceps on the first defensive series of the season opener and didn’t play again.

Sanders has 290 tackles, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, three recoveries and six interceptions in seven NFL seasons.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.