The Colts have made their stance on this season pretty clear. In a four-hour stretch, Indianapolis moved on from Quenton Nelson and then shipped DeForest Buckner back to the San Francisco 49ers, a shake-up that makes sense for a team sitting at 2-5 with no first-round pick or general manager.
Buckner’s exit stings, but it wasn’t coming out of nowhere. He had already expressed frustration with where things stood, and it’s hard to argue with the production he was still giving them.
At 32, he had 4.0 sacks in seven games and was doing it after a career-threatening neck injury. If anything, the Colts at least sent him somewhere familiar.
The bigger picture is uglier for Indianapolis: this looks a lot like a white flag. And once you get past the headline, the trade starts creating clear winners and losers inside the roster.
Adetomiwa Adebawore is one of the biggest beneficiaries. His promotion to a larger role was probably coming anyway, but Buckner’s departure speeds everything up.
Adebawore has taken a real step forward as a pass rusher this season, and his raw power and athleticism have made him a problem for offensive lines. Now he gets the chance to anchor a more central role in the defense.
Lou Anarumo, on the other hand, takes a hit. The Colts gave him the personnel he needed, and he still hasn’t gotten the unit where it needed to be.
Losing Buckner strips away the best player on the defense, and even with solid run defenders still around, Buckner gave them value in coverage too. The situation points toward bigger trouble for Anarumo and this regime, especially after what happened in his previous stop with the Bengals.
Tim Smith also stands to gain from the change. So far, he’s barely been a factor, logging just 60 defensive snaps this season and not once getting to 15 in a single game.
That should change now. He’ll still be behind Grover Stewart and Jerry Tillery, but the 2025 draft pick should finally get a real chance to show what he can do.
Daniel Jones is another loser in all of this. The move makes it even clearer that the Colts are resetting, and Jones has been a major part of why things have gone sideways.
With his play trending toward his worst version, he doesn’t look like someone headed for another shot as the starter in Indianapolis, and this season won’t help his case for a major deal elsewhere. Buckner was often the guy bailing out the defense; without him, Jones may be staring at bigger deficits every week.
CJ Allen gets a boost too. He missed the loss to the Vikings because of an ankle injury and has been in and out of the lineup at times because of health issues or because he’s still developing.
But if the Colts are truly leaning into the rest of this season as a lost cause, there’s no reason not to play him more. He’s their second-round pick, and the team should use the remaining games to let him work through the growing pains.
Grover Stewart is left in the toughest spot of all. He’s an impending free agent, and now he’s being asked to hold down the middle without Buckner next to him.
At 33, that only magnifies the limitations already showing up on tape. The Colts just removed their best defensive player, and the ripple effect across the line could make Stewart’s job look a lot harder than it already did.
In Other News...
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New York already had some concern in the running back room with Cam Skattebo dealing with a minor injury, so the timing of Tracys absence only adds to the pressure. The earliest Tracy can return is Week 13, leaving the Giants to sort through a short-handed depth chart while trying to keep their division lead intact. [Read more 🡒]
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For Colts fans, it is another reminder that McAfee remains one of the most visible and combustible voices connected to the franchise, even years after his playing career ended. The incident put an uneasy spotlight on a routine media stop that turned into something much more serious, and the universitys handling of the situation has become part of the story as well. What happens next between McAfee and Utah is still unsettled, but the episode has already made for an ugly detour around one of college footballs biggest broadcast events. [Read more 🡒]
Colts Face A Jonathan Taylor Deadline Question Fans Can't Ignore
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Jonathan Taylor sits at the center of the latest debate because he remains one of the Colts most important players and has just signed a contract extension. Even with outside interest building, the bigger question in league circles is how firm Indianapolis will be as the deadline approaches, especially with the roster already altered by major additions and departures elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]