With the Colts turning the page at the top of the front office — and possibly, in time, at the top of the coaching staff — the possibility of trading veteran players is on the table.
But with the deadline still 16 days away, and with most of three full weekends left to be played, it’s still too early to sell off contracts.
Via the Batman-and-Joker turned Batman-and-Robin of ESPNFL, the plan is to see whether the Colts can improve their 2-4 record in the coming three games against the Vikings, Jaguars, and Cowboys before deciding whether to trade away certain players.
The biggest name of the bunch belongs to running back Jonathan Taylor. Per the carefully (but also a little clunkily) worded report: “The Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos and Vikings are among the teams that have, or are expected to, pondered the possibility of a trade for the star running back, according to sources.”
That feels like an effort by the Colts to maximize the market, in an effort to maximize the return. The more teams that are at the table, the more the Colts will get for their biggest star.
The Colts gave Taylor a new contract in the offseason, a two-year, $44 million extension. A trade would result in a 2027 cap charge of $10 million, and it would shift the final two years of his current deal to his next team, at a compensation package of $16.02 million for 2027 and $17.98 million in 2028. The deal also has $1 million in incentives attached to each of the final two seasons.
The Colts don’t have a first-round draft pick in 2027, thanks to the Sauce Gardner trade. Surely, they’d want at least that much for Taylor, especially after giving him a $15 million signing bonus when Taylor signed his extension.
Of the teams that were listed, the Vikings, Broncos, and Seahawks make the most sense. Each is a contender with an offense that would benefit from the presence of an elite tailback. The Packers, who are getting Josh Jacobs back today, make the least sense; adding them to the list seems to be nothing more than an effort to get the Vikings to give up a little more in an effort to ensure he won’t land with a viable division rival.
Other potential trade candidates mentioned by the report include veteran defensive tackle DeForest Buckner (who could go back to the 49ers, who traded him to the Colts), guard Quenton Nelson (who’s in the last year of his deal), and defensive tackle Grover Stewart.
Whatever the Colts do, or don’t do, at the trade deadline will impact the deck of cards the next G.M. has. Without knowing who the next G.M. will be, it’s impossible to know whether that person would prefer to have Taylor moving forward or whatever the Colts can get for him.
Regardless — and this is true for any team thinking about trading players before the deadline — the remaining weeks will be a factor. Some teams won’t be ready to make their moves until Week 9 has ended; in some cases, the final decision hinges on winning or losing in the last game before the window closes.