The Indianapolis Colts traded Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday, an early but unmistakable signal that the franchise is giving up on its 2026 season.
Seattle sent Indianapolis a third-round pick in the 2027 draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2028 draft for Nelson, a 30-year-old offensive line anchor who has made the Pro Bowl in each of his eight NFL seasons.
The move lines up with where both teams sit. The Colts have fallen to 2-5 and are on a three-game losing streak. The franchise already fired general manager Chris Ballard this season, and whoever takes over on a permanent basis will need draft capital to rebuild a roster still carrying the cost of trading multiple first-round picks last year for cornerback Sauce Gardner.
The Seahawks, by contrast, are fresh off a 20-3 win over the previously undefeated Kansas City Chiefs and are using the trade window to reinforce their offensive line as defending Super Bowl champions. Adding Nelson is expected to let Seattle shift 2025 first-round pick Grey Zabel from left guard to right guard, the position he played in college at North Dakota State.
Indianapolis has not publicly characterized the move as a sell-off — teams rarely do, and the league frowns on the appearance of it — but the signs point that way. Over the weekend, the wife of Colts running back Jonathan Taylor said her family is on “a Colts transaction watch,” an indication that players in the building are bracing for more moves before the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
Nelson’s situation made him a logical trade chip beyond the team’s record: he is unsigned for 2027. Keeping him through free agency and hoping for a compensatory pick if he left would have netted Indianapolis a selection no earlier than 2028 — a year later than the pick it just received in this trade.
Other Colts players who have been floated as possible trade candidates include defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, who a league source says has drawn interest from multiple teams, along with wide receivers Josh Downs and Keenan Allen. Tight end Tyler Warren appears to be the one player currently considered off-limits; nearly everyone else on the roster is regarded as available depending on what other teams are willing to offer.
Running the dismantling in Indianapolis is interim general manager Ed Dodds, who began his career in Seattle in 2007 and worked for years under Seahawks general manager John Schneider before moving to the Colts. That long-standing relationship appears to have helped grease the wheels on Tuesday’s deal.
