A year ago on this date, the Indianapolis Colts made a trade with the New York Jets that wound up giving both teams a number of cornerstone players in the 2018 NFL Draft.
In what’s so far a true win-win, the Colts were able to add guard Quenton Nelson along with several young contributors. The Jets wound up selecting potential franchise quarterback Sam Darnold.
Here’s what the full trade looked like:
Colts received:
- No. 6 overall (first round)
- No. 37 overall (second round)
- No. 49 overall (second round)
- 2019 second-round pick
Jets received:
- No. 3 overall (first round)
The Colts wound up taking Nelson with the No. 6 overall pick and right tackle Braden Smith with the No. 37 overall pick. Ballard then traded back from the No. 49 overall pick to No. 52 (Kemoko Turay) while adding an additional fifth-rounder (Jordan Wilkins) in the 2018 draft.
Looking back, it was a ridiculous haul for the Colts. They are still reaping the benefits of the trade as they get to use the No. 34 overall pick in the 2019 draft, which was the final piece to the trade.
Ballard and the front office had their eyes on Nelson throughout the entire draft process and still believed he would be on the board following the trade.
A year after the deal went down, Indy has multiple building blocks in place and one more pick still to go.
