The Indianapolis Colts are right on the brink of being a playoff team as the 2024 season approaches the midway point.
Holding a 3-3 record and the No. 7 seed entering Week 7 of the campaign, the Colts need to make some big decisions ahead of the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
One proposed trade idea from ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has the Colts grabbing a former top-25 draft pick in a deal with the Buffalo Bills.
Barnwell urged the Colts to send a 2025 sixth-round pick to Buffalo in exchange for cornerback Kaiir Elam to address their questions in the secondary.
“Taking a flier on the 6-foot-1 Elam is one way to try to address that weakness. As a former first-rounder, Elam is owed $1.3 million over the remainder of 2024 and $2.6 million in 2025, all of which is guaranteed. That’s not a huge sum of money, but the Colts won’t want to pay that much unless they think he has a reasonable shot at becoming a regular member of the active roster,” Barnwell wrote.
The secondary for the Colts has been a major question mark since the beginning of the offseason when the only thing they did to address those concerns was spend two Day 3 draft picks at the cornerback position. Both players were cut following the preseason.
Now, the Colts are facing some difficult questions about their depth at the position due to injuries that have hit the room.
General manager Chris Ballard has made only one trade at the deadline since his tenure began in 2017. That was the 2022 deal that sent Nyheim Hines to Buffalo in exchange for Zack Moss and a draft pick.
With a few weeks remaining until the deadline, the Colts will have more information about the direction they are heading, but Elam could be a name to monitor if the front office feels they should buy