Where there’s smoke, there’s fire? There are more pre-draft rumblings about the Colts looking to trade up in the first round.
On Tuesday, NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah mentioned that he heard that the Colts were potentially looking to trade up for cornerback Quinton Mitchell.
Now, Dan Graziano of ESPN mentioned in his recent NFL intel article with Jeremy Fowler that the Colts are among a few teams making calls to potentially trade up. Other teams doing the same are Jacksonville, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Here is what Graziano had to say:
“For the Colts and Jaguars, the target would most likely be a cornerback, which might be interesting to a team like Chicago at No. 9 or Denver at No. 12. Having two division rivals battling it out to trade up for the same guy (maybe Alabama’s Terrion Arnold?) could drive up the price.”
With a focus on the cornerback position, the Colts are either eyeing Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell or Alabama’s Terrion Arnold at this stage of the draft.
According to ESPN analytics, Mitchell has a roughly 30 percent chance to be available at pick 15, and Arnold has a 55 percent chance. ESPN’s data suggests that Arnold is the most likely pick for the Colts at 15th overall if they were to stay put.
Graziano mentions the Bears at pick 9 and the Broncos at pick 12 as two teams who could look to move down.
If the Colts were to jump to pick 9, using the Rich Hill trade value chart as our guide, they would have to potentially give up picks 14, 46, and 117 in return for pick nine and the Bears’ third-rounder.
If the Colts were to make a trade with Denver, they could have to part with picks 117 and 191.
“I think it would depend,” said GM Chris Ballard this past Friday on trading up. “There would have to be someone within striking distance we felt was really unique and a difference-maker for us.”
Cornerback is the biggest need that the Colts have to address in this year’s draft. This was a young position group last season that experienced ups and downs, with too many big plays being surrendered and not enough plays on the football being made.
Ballard recently discussed the optimism that he has for this young position group, mentioning that JuJu Brents and Jaylon Jones were no longer rookies and that getting Dallis Flowers back will be important.
However, those are unknowns and not certainties, which makes cornerback an upgradeable position for the Colts.