The Indianapolis Colts are trade deadline sellers, having already shipped out Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks and DeForest Buckner to the San Francisco 49ers. But their biggest piece has yet to move.
Running back Jonathan Taylor is garnering serious trade interest from teams around the NFL, and he might be the top trade target for this year’s deadline. That has given the Colts a very unique opportunity.
As ESPN’s Ben Solak highlighted, the Colts can control the trade deadline with the sweepstakes for Taylor. As plenty of top contenders try for Taylor, the Colts’ control of the biggest trade chip gives them the key to the trade deadline this year.
How the Colts can control the NFL trade deadline with Jonathan Taylor
“But the market is paralyzed by Taylor, as all these teams stare down the Colts and their towering demands,” Solak writes.
While he believes some team might pivot from Taylor and go after someone like Tony Pollard, considering the interested teams in Taylor are top contenders competing with one another, not landing Taylor would be doubly bad for a lot of teams.
The Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings, and Cincinnati Bengals are the teams most commonly linked to Taylor this season.
With so many interested teams for a Taylor trade, the trade deadline market might not get rolling until the Colts make a final decision on Taylor.
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They could decide to keep him, taking him off the block, or they could trade him away. Either way, until a decision is made on Taylor, his status as a trade candidate could stop some of those contenders from making moves for help at this year’s deadline.
While a team or two might pivot to other positional needs, all of the RB-needy teams will have their deadlines determined by the Colts and their willingness to part with Taylor.
It’s a unique opportunity for the Colts, as the trade deadline might only move along based on what they do with Taylor.
Indianapolis can also determine the wide receiver trade market with Josh Downs, so the Colts really have the means to control the trade deadline this year.
As Solak put it, the Colts can “paralyze” the NFL trade market this November with the sweepstakes for Taylor. Whether they trade or not is still up in the air. But the Colts should be able to control the deadline this season, all thanks to the Taylor sweepstakes.
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