Colts Trade-Back Scenarios Continue to Get More Intriguing in First Hours of ‘Tampering’

The better part of the past several weeks has been filled with figuring out if, and with who, the Indianapolis Colts might be able to trade back with in order to receive a massive return in draft picks. The New York Jets and Denver Broncos have long been two who have been tossed around as they are in need of a franchise quarterback, but the Buffalo Bills — who recently held the 21st and 22nd overall picks in the draft — have also been one team worth the mention as well.

Ultimately it seems that where Kirk Cousins lands has a lot to do with how this could all shake out. We’ve heard a lot about him being favored to land in Minnesota with the Vikings, but there has become some apparent mutual interest between Cousins and Arizona.

Either way, the Vikings and Cardinals landing Cousins would make the Colts ability to trade back a little easier. Today, already, the Bills are showing that they are indeed pulling some deals in order to move up to nab the quarterback of their choice as they traded away tackle Cordy Glenn to the Cincinnati Bengals which has resulted in the Bengals moving back to pick 21, and the Bills moving up to 12.

Now with the Bills holding numbers 12 and 22 overall, it seems as though the possibility of the Colts finding enough value — along with whatever additional compensation that may be attached — in a trade back scenario with Buffalo.

While trading out of the top-10 in this draft may be seen as risky, depending upon who the Colts would be eyeing for their first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, this combination of first-round picks would certainly improve the return should the two teams come to an agreement at some point.

Chris Ballard has said recently that he’ll take calls up to the minute come draft day, and thus it might be more advantageous to do just that. I wouldn’t think that we should expect this to become a deal until draft day should it happen at all. Ballard holds the leverage if he draws it out, allowing other interested teams to make pitches of their own.

The Colts aren’t the only ones who would be interested in moving back, though, either. The New York Giants sit at No. 2 and would likely take an influx of picks just as the Colts would. But, between the battle for Cousins, the movement of picks between the Bills and Bengals and whoever is left without the quarterback of their choice, it looks as though the Colts’ opportunities to come away with some very valuable picks out of this offseason continues to get more and more intriguing by the minute.

You can see all of the latest rumors and reports for the Indianapolis Colts in our Free Agency Rumor Tracker here.