NFL insider reveals Colts’ stance on trading Quenton Nelson, DeForest Buckner
Carlie Irsay-Gordon fired general manager Chris Ballard on Monday, and her statement announcing the move insisted the Colts’ goals for 2026 had not in any way changed. Other teams have been calling Indianapolis since, and they are asking about two of the best players on a 2-4 roster that has lost two straight.
The Colts have received strong trade interest in guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner in recent days, Tom Pelissero reported today, Saturday, in the Week 7 edition of his newsletter, The Sweep.
No player is expected to be off-limits if Indianapolis decides to sell before the coming deadline in November. That includes running back Jonathan Taylor, who signed a two-year, $44 million extension in August. The Colts have paid out less than $18 million of that deal, so moving Taylor now would free significant cash and cap room.
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Irsay-Gordon wants to see how the team responds before she approves anything major, according to Pelissero, and the three games left before the deadline offer little room for patience. Indianapolis faces the 5-0 Vikings on Sunday, visits the 4-2 Jaguars on Nov. 1 and hosts the 2-4 Cowboys on Nov. 8, two days before trades close.
“I also want to be clear: this decision does not change our goals for the season. We have a lot of football in front of us, and I expect us to compete, improve, and win football games,” Irsay-Gordon said in the team’s statement.
What do the Colts actually gain from losing?
Ballard sent the Colts’ 2026 and 2027 first-round picks and receiver Adonai Mitchell to the Jets for cornerback Sauce Gardner at last season’s deadline, when Indianapolis was 7-2 and leading the AFC. The Colts finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs. That trade took away the usual consolation for a lost season, since every loss from here improves a first-round pick that already belongs to New York.
Nelson, 30, is in the final year of the four-year, $80 million extension he signed in 2022. Buckner, 32, is playing out the two-year, $46 million extension he signed in 2024. If both leave in free agency next spring, any compensatory picks the Colts get back would not arrive until the 2028 draft. A deal before Nov. 10 could hand draft capital to whoever Irsay-Gordon hires to replace Ballard a full year sooner, for a team with no first-round pick of its own in 2027.
The Colts made the playoffs in Buckner’s first season after the 49ers traded him to Indianapolis in 2020 and have not been back since. After a 26-20 home loss to the previously winless Titans on Oct. 18, in which the Colts wasted a 13-point halftime lead, he made it clear how that stretch feels from inside the organization.
Irsay-Gordon fired Ballard the next morning. Three Sundays now stand between Buckner and a deadline that could end his own time in that building.
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