The Indianapolis Colts are open to trading cornerback Sauce Gardner before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline as the franchise continues a rapid teardown of its roster.
The Colts fired general manager Chris Ballard earlier this season and have already dealt longtime standouts guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. A 42-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 1 dropped Indianapolis to 2-6, reinforcing the decision to sell rather than push for a late playoff run.
NFL insider Jason La Canfora reported that the Colts are expected to complete another three or four trades as ownership looks to strip the roster down to the studs. Gardner has emerged as a potential piece of that sell-off.
“Sauce Gardner is likely to return from a more minor injury in Week 8 and the Colts would have to be willing to assume salary to facilitate a trade as he’s guaranteed $26M next season, but between him and Charvarius Ward who is due $18M in 2027 with no guarantees, something is going to give,” La Canfora wrote.
“‘Oh, I think they want to move a corner,’ a high-ranking official told him.”
Any deal involving Gardner would mark a sharp reversal from last year’s approach. On Nov. 4, 2025, with the Colts sitting at 7-2 and tied for the AFC’s best record, Indianapolis sent its 2026 and 2027 first-round picks plus wide receiver Adonai Mitchell to the New York Jets for the two-time All-Pro cornerback.
The acquisition produced little immediate return. Gardner appeared in only three games for the Colts in 2025 because of a calf injury. Indianapolis then lost its final seven games, finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
The cost looks steeper now. At 2-6, the Colts’ 2027 first-round selection owed to the Jets is trending toward the top of the draft. Moving Gardner would be complicated by the four-year, $120.4 million extension he signed with the Jets in July 2025, which made him the highest-paid cornerback in league history at the time and runs through the 2030 season.
The Colts would likely need to absorb salary to complete a trade. Gardner is guaranteed roughly $26 million next season, and any move would leave Indianapolis with significant dead money against the salary cap. Still, recovering even modest draft capital could appeal to a team that already lacks its own first-round pick in 2026 and 2027 as a new front-office regime takes shape.
Interim leadership under assistant general manager Ed Dodds has shown little reluctance to move established veterans. Running back Jonathan Taylor has also drawn trade interest, though no deal has been completed. The deadline arrives at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 10, after which teams cannot trade players until the start of the 2027 league year.
Gardner has publicly indicated a willingness to remain in Indianapolis through a rebuild. Whether the Colts view him as a long-term piece or a movable asset will become clearer in the hours before the deadline.
For a franchise that went from AFC contender to clear seller in roughly 12 months, the decision on Gardner would underscore how thoroughly the previous regime’s win-now gamble has unraveled.
