The Indianapolis Colts and cornerback Kenny Moore II have agreed to seek a trade, league sources confirmed to The Athletic on Friday. The decision to potentially move on from Moore is partly due to his fit in defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo\u2019s system, the sources said.<\/p>\n
Colts general manager Chris Ballard said at the end of last season that his team\u2019s defense needed to get younger and faster, and parting ways with Moore would fit that description.<\/p>\n
Moore, who turns 31 in August, is entering the final year of a three-year, $30 million contract he signed with the Colts in March 2024. He has a $13.11 million cap hit in 2026, but if the Colts trade him before June 1, they\u2019d create $7.06 million in cap space while having to carry $6.05 million in dead money. Indianapolis currently has $26.63 million in cap space, per Over the Cap.<\/p>\n
In Moore\u2019s absence, the Colts would likely turn to Justin Walley as his replacement in the slot. The 2025 third-round pick was having an impressive training camp and was poised to start before he tore his ACL in a joint practice with the Baltimore Ravens and was sidelined for his entire rookie campaign.<\/p>\n
The Colts\u2019 willingness to trade Moore also puts more pressure on the rest of the team\u2019s cornerbacks, particularly on the outside. Indianapolis revamped its cornerbacks room last year by signing 2023 second-team All-Pro Charvarius Ward Sr. to a three-year, $54 million contract. The Colts then traded for two-time, first-team All-Pro Sauce Gardner, sending the New York Jets two first-round picks and wide receiver AD Mitchell in the November deal.<\/p>\n
Gardner and Ward played only one full game together because of a calf injury and repeated concussions, respectively. Ward suffered three concussions last year and publicly contemplated retiring before he decided to return for a second NFL season with the Colts and ninth overall. Now, Indy is banking on Ward to stay healthy in 2026, especially if Moore isn\u2019t around as a contingency plan.<\/p>\n
Moore, the Colts\u2019 2025 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee, is widely respected within the franchise, with one source adding that it\u2019s \u201cnot easy\u201d to envision the team without him. Moore went undrafted out of Division II Valdosta State in 2017. He eventually signed with the New England Patriots but was waived just before the start of his rookie season. Moore was claimed off waivers by the Colts and has carved out an impressive nine-year career in Indy, highlighted by a Pro Bowl selection in 2021.<\/p>\n
Moore\u2019s playing time took a significant dip under Anarumo, who took over as the Colts\u2019 defensive coordinator last season. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2018, Moore played at least 93 percent of Indy\u2019s defensive snaps across 102 games from 2018 to 2024. Last year, however, Moore played just 76 percent of the team\u2019s defensive snaps in 14 games.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair to argue that Moore may have lost a step as he\u2019s aged, but he still has proven to be a productive player who could help shore up another team\u2019s secondary. In 2025, Moore totaled six pass breakups, one interception (a 32-yard pick six against the Tennessee Titans in Week 3), 1.5 sacks and three tackles for loss. Opposing QBs completed just 62 percent of their passes when targeting a player who was covered by Moore, per Pro Football Reference, which is the best mark of his career.<\/p>\n
If the Colts can trade Moore, he would be the second multiyear team captain and third starter they\u2019ve traded this offseason. They dealt former captain and linebacker Zaire Franklin<\/a> to the Green Bay Packers for defensive tackle Colby Wooden. They also traded wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.<\/a> and a 2026 seventh-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 2026 sixth-round pick. Quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr. remains on the trading block, too. The 2023 No. 4 pick, who started just 15 games (8-7) in his first three seasons, lost his starting job to Daniel Jones last year.<\/p>\n Additionally, three more Colts starters from last year have joined new teams via free agency: right tackle Braden Smith (Houston Texans), defensive end Kwity Paye (Las Vegas Raiders) and strong safety Nick Cross (Washington Commanders).<\/p>\n The Colts have not made the playoffs since 2020, and their five-year hiatus is tied for the third-longest drought in the NFL. Indy has not won a playoff game since 2018, which was Andrew Luck\u2019s final season before he shockingly retired shortly before the 2019 opener.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indianapolis Colts and cornerback Kenny Moore II have agreed to seek a trade, league sources confirmed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,3686,398,396,397,349,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-576317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-indianapolis-colts","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}