The Colts’ decision to hold onto Grover Stewart looks a lot smarter now than it did in the moment.
Indianapolis moved four players just before or at the 2026 trade deadline, all of them on expiring deals. Stewart wasn’t among them, even though a social media post from Jordan Schultz made it sound like the Colts had passed on a real offer for the veteran defensive lineman.
Schultz wrote, “Sources: The Colts had an offer for DT Grover Stewart last week involving a fourth-round pick and another late-round pick, but waited on it, and it was ultimately pulled.”
Taken at face value, that would have made the Colts look reckless. They traded DeForest Buckner for a fourth-round pick, and Buckner is the more complete and better player. So if Stewart was really on the table for what looked like two picks, the obvious question was how Indianapolis could walk away.
But that wasn’t the full picture.
According to James Boyd of The Athletic, speaking on his morning radio show on 107.5 The Fan in Indianapolis, the rumored deal appears to have been much different. The version Boyd described had Stewart and an Indianapolis draft pick going out in exchange for a fourth-rounder. In other words, it may have been little more than a late-round pick swap, with Stewart included in the package.
That changes everything.
It suggests the Colts weren’t being stubborn for the sake of it. Carlie Iray-Gordon and acting general manager Ed Dodds seem to be handling the rebuild with some logic, not just dumping players because they can. If the return isn’t worthwhile, there’s no reason to move someone simply to say you did.
And in Stewart’s case, the Colts also didn’t have to force the issue. He could leave in free agency next year, and maybe that’s the cleanest outcome.
If he wants to keep playing, the better fit might be a team with a real playoff path. Indianapolis, as a rebuilding team, probably won’t be there in 2027.
He could re-sign with the Colts, but the team also wouldn’t be wrong to let him move on. He deserves the chance to find success elsewhere.
What Indianapolis didn’t need to do was undersell him in a trade. A fourth-round pick for Stewart would have been a strong return.
But if Boyd’s version is the accurate one, the Colts weren’t being offered that at all. They were being asked to give away Stewart for essentially nothing.
In that light, Iray-Gordon and Dodds made the right call.
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