Indianapolis packed a season’s worth of upheaval into about 48 hours this week. The Colts traded Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner on Tuesday, and Josh Downs requested a trade Wednesday morning. Somewhere in there, a 2-5 team still has to go play the 4-2 Jaguars, who are coming off their bye.
Indianapolis hasn’t won in Jacksonville since 2014, and Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET kickoff on CBS arrives with more questions about the roster than the game plan. Here are five that Colts fans are asking.
Will Josh Downs play after his trade request?
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Yes. Shane Steichen said Friday that Downs will play his usual role, according to IndyStar’s Nathan Brown, and ESPN’s Stephen Holder reported that Steichen talked with Downs about handling the situation professionally.
Downs asked out the morning after the Nelson and Buckner deals, according to ESPN’s deadline rankings, which put him 13th among the top 25 candidates with a 45% chance of being moved. Jeremy Fowler called him “the team’s best receiver” with Alec Pierce out and listed the Chiefs and Steelers as fits. A 2023 third-round pick, Downs is in the final year of his rookie contract, so a team that wants him gets a short-term piece. We ranked his most likely trade destinations earlier this week.
For Sunday, the matchup is friendly. Jacksonville allows 283.0 passing yards per game, 30th in the league, and Downs played 52 snaps against Minnesota with a 66.6 overall grade, according to PFF.
Did Jonathan Taylor ask for a trade?
No, and he said so himself Thursday. “I haven’t heard anything, and I can’t control that,” Taylor said, per ESPN’s Stephen Holder. “Obviously, you guys know that I’m always proud to wear the horseshoe, proud to be here.”
That doesn’t mean the phone is quiet. Fowler and Matt Bowen ranked Taylor No. 1 on their deadline list with a 30% chance of a trade, and Taylor acknowledged the reality, saying, “Whether you like it or not, the day may come.” His two-year, $44 million extension signed in August runs through 2028, and moving him before Nov. 10 would leave about $17.6 million in dead money on this year’s books.
Taylor has 587 yards and eight rushing touchdowns on 140 carries, but his 4.2 yards per carry is a step down. Jacksonville leads the NFL in run defense at 72.2 yards per game and 3.2 yards per carry, so Sunday won’t pad his trade value.
Who replaces Quenton Nelson at left guard?
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Rookie Jalen Farmer gets his first career start. The Kentucky product has taken three offensive snaps all season, but he has repped more on the left side than the right since arriving, according to the team’s website.
Offensive line coach Tony Sparano made it clear that nobody is asking Farmer to be Nelson. “You don’t replace Quenton. It’s not about that,” Sparano said. “This is an opportunity for (Farmer) to begin his journey, and those are two independent journeys.”
Center Tanor Bortolini said Farmer has been “preparing like a starter all year.” He’ll need to be. Nelson posted an 87.8 pass-blocking grade against Minnesota, according to PFF, and the Colts’ hole at left guard lines up across from a Jaguars interior led by Arik Armstead and DaVon Hamilton.
Is Daniel Jones still the starter?
For now. Steichen shut down the benching talk after the 16-10 loss in Minnesota. “I have not thought about a quarterback change,” Steichen said. “I’ve got a ton of faith in Daniel.”
The numbers make that patience hard to defend. Jones has completed 59.6% of his passes for 1,398 yards with four touchdown passes, seven interceptions and a 69.4 passer rating, and he’s been sacked 19 times. His late interception to Harrison Smith ended the comeback in Minnesota, and he finished that game with a 48.7 passing grade, according to PFF.
Jacksonville’s defense has seven interceptions in six games. Another multi-turnover day would make Steichen’s answer much harder to repeat.
Do the Colts even benefit from losing?
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Not in the 2027 draft. The Jets own Indianapolis’ first-round pick from the Sauce Gardner trade, and the pick has climbed to No. 7 after three straight losses. Every Colts loss improves New York’s position, and Indianapolis’ first selection would come early in the second round.
That makes the rebuild talk complicated, and Taylor bristled at the word. “For me, being a competitor … no one goes out there to wave the white flag,” he said. “We’re going out there to compete. We’re going out there to get a W.”
With no top-10 pick to chase, winning games while collecting future picks from the Nelson and Buckner deals is the only path that helps Indianapolis on both fronts.
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