With just one month until the 2023 NFL draft, smokescreen season is in full effect, which makes it difficult to truly know how the Indianapolis Colts feel about a potential trade for Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
After Jackson made his trade request public Monday, the league has a new narrative to talk about until the NFL draft. Considering the massive need the Colts have at the game’s most important position, they’ve been linked as a potential destination.
New head coach Shane Steichen was asked about a potential trade for the 26-year-old, but he kept mum on anything involving the process.
When asked about the possibility of a deal Monday at the NFL owners’ meetings, Colts general manager Chris Ballard essentially gave a non-answer.
“Any time a special player is available, which he is, you’ve got to do the work,” Ballard said of Jackson. “And that’s where — I’m not going to get into deep discussions on where it’s at or what we’re doing or what we might do. But I’ll tell you he’s a really good player, really special player. But you never know how any of this will work out.”
There are so many moving parts to a potential deal for Jackson that it’s incredibly difficult to predict how the situation will end. The Colts have the means and needs to make the move, but there are several factors to consider.
If they hypothetically were interested, the Colts would have to make an offer to Jackson that the Ravens wouldn’t match. Who knows what that deal would even look like, and then on top of that, the trade price likely starts at two first-round picks.
Then, there’s the matter of the contract, which includes reports that are all over the place in terms of what Jackson wants and what the Ravens have offered.
Now, we also have to consider the Colts may be using this as a smokescreen to their advantage. If the Colts convince other teams they aren’t going to move heaven and earth for a quarterback, it may lead those organizations might be less inclined to trade up in front of Indy in the draft.
That’s a big “if” of course as teams know the dire situation the Colts are in when it comes to their quarterback room.
Whether the Colts are seriously considering a trade for Jackson is up for interpretation.
“Any time at that position when you got a chance to acquire a guy, you got to do your work on it to see if it’s doable,” Ballard said. “Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not.”
Sifting through the smokescreens should be a full-time job at this point of the offseason, and only time will tell what to make of a potential trade for the former unanimous MVP.
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