Indianapolis Colts' Best Move? Trade Back

by Tony Donohue

As the Colts' pick currently falls mid-draft at #15, the team’s best option may be to trade back in round one. For certain, the Colts have needs that can be filled where they sit now, but the options on the board to fill their needs at wide receiver, defensive back and defensive end could all be sorted while moving back and collecting a few more picks.

The Colts' big board for the first round should focus on two defensive positions and wide receiver. The wide receiver class is deep in this year's draft, which makes it even more possible that the Colts could trade down to acquire an additional pick of two.

"You have to have a vision for a player, then the coaching staff also has to see that vision. We have to know what role a guy is going to play," Colts' GM Ballard told the media last week on the approach for the draft.

"We have 19 to 21, right in that area," Ballard said of the first-round grades the team has given out. "It's very good," said the eighth year GM of the Indianapolis Colts.

With a max of 21 first round grades (and with none of them at the quarterback position as ostensibly the Colts already have their quarterback of the future in Anthony Richardson), it's almost a certainty the Colts could trade out of the 15th overall pick to move back into the 20's and secure another 2nd or 3rd round selection.

"There is depth throughout. You can get a really good player in the middle rounds, the OL and Wide Receiver group really stick out. You'll see a lot of offensive players taken early in the first round." Ballard spoke on the depth of the offensive positions.

"We are going to trade back," Ballard jokingly told media members. "I just go off history, the more picks you have, the better chance you have to hit."

Ballard would double down on moving back when asked if the team would consider moving up. "Well, I just told you we are moving back. A player would have to be dynamic and make sense for us to move up."

If coveted corners Terrion Arnold and Quinyon Mitchell are off the board at 15, it seems likely the Colts would trade back. And talented receiver Rome Odunze and tight end Brock Bowers will most likely already be gone at the 15th pick as well.

So what alternative impact players might still be on the board in the twenties if the team did indeed trade down?

Iowa’s all-purpose cornerback Cooper DeJean is a player who continues to arise in circles around the Colts. If the Seahawks look past him with the 16th overall pick, the Colts could be waiting to select him in the mid 20s.

And the fastest corner at the NFL Combine, Nate Wiggins from Clemson, is a day one player and has been touted as the best cover corner in this year's draft. If he's a guy that the Colts are high on, trading back with a team like Philadelphia and securing the 22nd overall pick and a 3rd round selection might be an answer for Indianapolis.

Alabama corner Kool-Aid McKinstry has been all over the mock draft boards, being selected as high as 12th and as low as 36th. Trading down into the late first round and securing a second-round selection in the process would fit right into Ballard’s history of trading down to acquire draft picks. McKinstry would help the depth at the cornerback position and could also be an asset to the return game, a phase of the NFL that will become more of a need with the latest round of rule changes.

Draft Nation expects the Colts to move out of the 15th overall pick. Plenty of other teams will be looking to move up, while the Colts could create competition at multiple spots by adding more draft picks in this year's draft. Time will tell, but Colts fans will only need to wait another few days to learn what Ballard has up his sleeves.