The Indianapolis Colts‘ fire sale began early.
A full two weeks before the NFL’s Nov. 10 trade deadline, the Colts traded offensive guard Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Colts haven’t made a trade since, though. The sale stopped, for now.
There are still plenty of logical trade candidates. Josh Downs, Grover Stewart, Keenan Allen and Spencer Shrader are all useful players on expiring contracts. Jonathan Taylor isn’t on the last year of his deal, but he’s the biggest conceptual trade piece out there in the entire NFL.
Something changed for the Colts, though, that stopped them from just continuing to send all their players out at once.
It seems they may have learned from the Nelson and Buckner deals, which were criticized by some for being too fast.
Colts Learned Lesson From Fast Trades
The Colts traded both Nelson and Buckner on Tuesday, Oct. 27. There were two weeks until the deadline.
They were criticized for not holding out and waiting to see if they could maximize value.
Sure, there was injury risk, but the Colts could’ve also held players out to avoid injuries. They certainly didn’t get a king’s ransom for either player.
This week, NFL reporter Ari Meirov provided some insight into how the Colts might’ve changed their approach after that.
“People around the league were like, ‘Dude, why are you doing this two weeks before the deadline?'” Meirov said. “… They took less than they probably could’ve gotten if they waited. As a result, this entire week everyone is waiting for more Colts moves, and now they’ve decided to be like, let’s wait. Let’s not do it yet… Everyone is ready for Jonathan Taylor. Everyone is ready for Josh Downs. Everyone is ready for Grover Stewart.”
The #Colts, after moving too quickly in trading Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner, seem to have taken the position of: Let’s slow down, wait until the deadline and see if the offers increase before making any more trades. https://t.co/E6k95EfuDp
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 5, 2026
Evidence of Waiting
Meirov was questioned in a reply about the idea that waiting on Grover Stewart, the veteran defensive tackle, could matter — and he replied with this:
@SmoothSmittyy I can confidently say they’ve already been offered more for Grover Stewart than they got for Buckner.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 5, 2026
That’s big news for the Colts if true, but it does show a potential error in their ways.
The football world will have to wait and see to know for sure what might come next for the suddenly patient Colts.
Colts Learned Lesson on Quenton Nelson, DeForest Buckner Trades