The 2024 NFL trade deadline has now come and gone, and for the Indianapolis Colts it was a quiet day–which should have been the case.
The Colts did not make any moves prior to the Tuesday afternoon deadline and instead stood pat, keeping their roster as is.
Although the Colts believe there’s an opportunity to win now and make a playoff push–that is, after all, one of the main reasons for benching Anthony Richardson with Shane Steichen saying that Joe Flacco gives them the best chance to win–that isn’t exactly their reality either.
Can the Colts still make the playoffs? Sure. Following Sunday’s loss, the Colts are 4-5 on the season and are still just one game out of the final wildcard spot in the AFC, trailing the 5-4 Denver Broncos.
Having said that, after watching Sunday’s game unfold with an offense that struggled to string together multiple first downs, I’m sure we can all agree that this isn’t a team that should have been buying at the deadline.
However, because the Colts are still in thick of the playoff race, as Steichen put it a week ago, it’s not as if they were going to be sellers either.
It’s also worth noting that during Chris Ballard’s tenure as general manager, rarely has he made an in-season trade–it’s just not in his DNA.
So the fact that the Colts didn’t make a move on Tuesday shouldn’t come as a surprise. Whether you were hoping for the team to buy or sell, for the reasons mentioned, neither of those outcomes were likely ever in the cards for Indianapolis.
