The Indianapolis Colts are on the verge of making the playoffs as the 2024 season nears its halfway mark.
With a 3-3 record and the No. 7 seed entering Week 7 of the season, the Colts must make some major decisions before the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday, November 5.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell proposed a transaction in which the Colts would get a past top-25 draft pick from the Buffalo Bills.
Barnwell advised the Colts to trade a 2025 sixth-round pick to Buffalo for cornerback Kaiir Elam to help them solve secondary concerns.
“Taking a chance on the 6-foot-1 Elam is one approach to addressing that problem. Elam, a former first-round pick, is owing $1.3 million for the remainder of 2024 and $2.6 million in 2025, all of which is guaranteed. That’s not a lot of money, but the Colts won’t want to pay it unless they believe he has a good chance of becoming a regular member of the active squad,” Barnwell wrote.
The Colts’ secondary has been a significant question mark since the start of the summer, when the only thing they did to solve it was to spend two Day 3 draft picks on cornerbacks. Both players were released after the preseason.
The Colts are now facing some difficult concerns regarding their depth at the position as a result of recent injuries.
Since taking over as general manager in 2017, Chris Ballard has only made one deal at the deadline. That was the 2022 trade that brought Nyheim Hines to Buffalo in exchange for Zack Moss and a draft selection.
With only a few weeks until the deadline, the Colts will have a better idea of where they want to go, but Elam is a name to keep an eye on if the front office decides to buy.
