The Jacksonville Jaguars find themselves in a trade rumors battle on Sunday — except on the field, when they take on the Indianapolis Colts.
The Jags are more specifically involved in one rumor, with Brian Thomas Jr. having fallen out of favor and potentially being moved before the NFL’s Nov. 10 trade deadline.
The Colts are in fire sale mode. Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner are already gone. The likes of Jonathan Taylor, Josh Downs and Grover Stewart are all in rumors.
And in Week 8, these teams play each other.
Week 9 will happen before the deadline, too, but there’s a very real chance that multiple players on the field on Sunday play their last game with their current teams.
Even more interestingly, teams across the NFL will be watching — to see if these guys stay healthy, as well as to gauge what they can really provide.
Thomas has been linked multiple times now to the Kansas City Chiefs. They play in the later afternoon window on Sunday. They can spend the early window watching BTJ.
Brian Thomas Jr. Trade Prediction Connects to Jonathan Taylor
ESPN’s Ben Solak wrote heading into Sunday that he could see this being the final game that both Thomas and Taylor play with their current squads.
This is what Solak wrote:
“This AFC South matchup features the top two players on our trade candidate rankings. And I’m predicting that both playmakers will take their final snaps with the teams that drafted them Sunday. With another loss, the Colts could probably move Taylor for two Day 2 picks. Meanwhile, another empty stat line for Thomas leads him to … the Chiefs?”
There’s plenty to unpack there.
Solak suggests the Colts could get something like a second-round pick and a third-round pick for Taylor.
But as far as the Jags are concerned, it’d be fascinating to really end up trading Thomas to the Chiefs.
Chiefs Complication for Jaguars
There’s one obvious reason the Jaguars wouldn’t want to trade Thomas to the Chiefs: They’re already good.
Jacksonville wants to win the AFC and go to the Super Bowl. If they traded Thomas to some rebuilding team — like the New Orleans Saints, who are also in the NFC — it wouldn’t have a big chance of coming back to bite them.
If they trade BTJ to the Chiefs, though, they could meet up with him in the playoffs. And if Kansas City unlocks what Thomas can do, that could be a trade that legitimately ends the Jaguars’ season.
So they’ll have to be careful. Right now they say they don’t even want to trade Thomas. But if they do, sending him to an AFC contender comes with plenty of risk.
Jaguars’ Brian Thomas Jr. Trade Prediction Involves Colts Similarity, Chiefs Need