ESPN’s Bill Barnwell put together his annual ‘all trades’ mock draft, where, as the title suggests, he goes through and tries to identify one first-round trade for each team that might make sense.
For the Colts at pick 15 overall, Barnwell has them making a trade with Miami and moving down to pick 21.
Barnwell utilized the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart to ensure it was a fair deal for both sides. The Colts received the 21st and 55th picks overall and parted with pick 15 and their fourth-round selection at 117th overall.
Here is what Barnwell had to say about the trade from the Colts’ perspective:
“GM Chris Ballard has been comfortable moving both up and down the board in the first two rounds of the draft during his time with the Colts, but he usually doesn’t make dramatic moves in one direction or the other. This would be the sort of move I could see him considering; by dropping down six picks, he would pick up one of the second-round picks he has repeatedly prioritized over his tenure. The Colts have made 13 second-round picks since 2017, two more than any other team. (The Chiefs, Ballard’s former employer, are second with 11.)”
Trading back in the first round does make quite a bit of sense for the Colts, of course, depending upon how the board falls.
Overall, the Colts rank 21st in total draft capital value. There are only four teams who have a fewer number of selections. Moving back gives them the opportunity to gain another top 100 selection and add some more immediate impact help to this roster.
Second-round selections have proven to be quite valuable for Ballard. In recent years, he has selected Michael Pittman, Jonathan Taylor, Dayo Odeyingbo, Alec Pierce, and JuJu Brents.
One scenario where we could see Ballard trade down is if Quinyon Mitchell, Terrion Arnold, and Brock Bowers are all off the board, which is realistic. With how deep the cornerback and receiver classes are in this year’s draft, the Colts could move down and still have the opportunity to choose from some combination of Cooper DeJean, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Nate Wiggins, Brian Thomas, Xavier Worthy, or Adonai Mitchell. Edge rushers Jared Verse and Laiatu Latu are two players who could still be available as well.
It often makes sense for teams to trade down in the draft when they are facing extremes. Meaning that there are either several players available who all grade out similarly, or a team’s top options at that stage of the draft are all gone.
In addition to Barnwell’s trade-down scenario, I recently ran through five of my own to help paint the picture of what the Colts could accumulate if they were to move down.
During his tenure as GM, Ballard has shown a willingness to make draft day trades, and has often preferred to move down rather than up.