Heading into their bye week last season, the Indianapolis Colts were 8-2 and looked destined not only to make the playoffs but to challenge for a championship. At last year’s trade deadline, the Colts believed their championship window was open and mortgaged the future for the now. They sent a 2026 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick, and Adonai Mitchell to the New York Jets in exchange for corner back Sauce Gardner.
Gardner was the fourth overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Cincinnati. He was billed as a can’t-miss prospect, and he lived up to that billing in New York. He won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, earned First-team All-Pro honors twice, and made the Pro Bowl twice. Eventually, he earned a four-year, $120.4 million contract extension in 2025. He played only 7 games before the Colts shipped him. He helped the team win in overtime against the Atlanta Falcons before the bye week.
The Colts faced the Chiefs off their bye week and lost 23-20 in overtime. That marked the start of seven straight losses. In Week 14, the team lost quarterback Daniel Jones to an Achilles tear for the rest of the season. They finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs.
Many people wrote off the Colts’ collapse as just a symptom of losing their starting quarterback for the season and figured that with a healthy Jones, they would return to form. Over seven games, they look more like the team that finished 0-7 than the one that started 8-2. They are 2-5 and on a three-game losing streak. Jones has been terrible, passing for 1,398 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions.
He may just not have been ready to return so soon from such a major injury, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s been ineffective. So Indianapolis leadership recognized that competing this year was a pipe dream, and with their first-round picks for this and next year belonging to the New York Jets, they would have to trade their good players for draft compensation.
The Colts sent veteran Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick.
They then sent defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick.
Wide receiver Josh Downs has also reportedly requested a trade out of Indianapolis. Additionally, running back Jonathan Taylor is reportedly on the trade block.
Come 4 pm ET on November 10th, 2026, the Colts could look very different as they tear down their core and hope to rebuild it into something better.