Titans set up to be a big future winner in the Jets-Colts blockbuster trade on NFL Trade Deadline day

The reports are flying on trade deadline day in the NFL, and the biggest splash (at least, at the time of writing this) is what the Indianapolis Colts just agreed to do with the New York Jets.

Star Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner is heading to Indy in exchange for their next two first-round picks and WR AD Mitchell.

So the Colts are all-in, the Jets are taking on another reclamation project, and the Titans are involved in this, how exactly? Let’s talk about why the Colts may have just wired a first-round pick to Tennessee.

The AFC South leader Colts just made an insane gamble

First of all, what a fantastic haul for the Jets. I mean, great stuff. This new regime is now wonderfully positioned to dictate its own future, primarily at quarterback. More on that in a minute.

Indianapolis, GM Chris Ballard, owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon; whoever green-lit this decision, quick question. What on earth are you people thinking?

This is as aggressive as it gets, I’ll give them that. This takes real guts. They’re really going for it and announcing themselves as the win-now team, and I can always respect a team having the courage of their convictions at a fundamental level.

But Ballard just got back in the good graces of the public (and I’d imagine his ownership), and now he is completely out over his skis. This is a move that requires a Super Bowl ring to justify, period. You cannot mortgage your future like this and not at least reach the big dance in the next year or two.

The Colts must feel they’re positioned to do just that, and godspeed to them. But I’m old enough to remember back to the majority of this year, when it was utterly unclear whether Daniel Jones would even be starting over Anthony Richardson.

I’m also old enough to remember when he was on a practice squad last season, after being outright cut by the team that drafted him. He had peaked with that team as a scrappy dual-threat quarterback who won one playoff game in 2022 before getting steamrolled in the divisional round.

That’s the guy you’re pushing all the chips in on, after a mere two months of good football in an ideal situation?

That’s an extraordinarily risky bet! You’re banking on him being the rare exception to the rule on limited quarterbacks. Does anybody remember Sam Darnold’s implosion at the end of last year after winning 14 regular-season games? How will this go over in Indy if Jones does something similar? This Colts season has felt eerily similar to the magic that the 2019 Titans bottled: a retread cast-off QB in year seven, playing good ball as a pocket passer behind a great OL, with a monster RB and efficient passing game at his disposal, and a defense playing better than the sum of their parts.

Ryan Tannehill’s name was evoked unironically in MVP discussions at times. Even then, consider how it ended with him.

All I’m saying is, good luck winning that ring because that’s what you’ve got to do now. No risk it, no biscuit I guess!

Did the Colts just wire a future first-round pick to the Titans?

Now that the ranting is out of the way, what does this have to do with the Titans? Well, besides the fact that the Colts are in the AFC South and are going for the gold, I can’t help but think that at least one of those future Colts picks will end up in the hands of Tennessee.

Tennessee is tied with New Orleans atop the 2026 projected draft order (1-8 record), with the Saints holding the strength of schedule tiebreaker. But the Titans technically control their own destiny to jump them, since the two teams play each other in Nashville in Week 17. That stands to be the tank bowl to end all tank bowls.

ESPN’s Football Power Index also has the Titans as the best odds to end up with the No. 1 overall pick. I’m not saying I expect the Titans to flounder so hard that they don’t win another game all year. Cam Ward and company can, and likely will, improve down the stretch.

But interim coach Mike McCoy is doing absolutely nothing right now to inspire confidence on that front. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Titans end up with the top pick in the draft for a second year in a row.

If that’s the case, start the bidding! Because, as much as it might lead some early draft-season episodes of First Take, the Titans won’t consider moving off of Ward after his rookie year. And this draft is full of exciting QB prospects, who stand to be top-10 picks when the dust settles on the college football season.

Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza leads the pack as the likely top pick next year, followed by Alabama’s Ty Simpson and Oregon’s Dante Moore. And there are a handful of teams that will be hungry to get into position to draft these guys.

All eyes will be on the Browns and now the Jets, who will finish with top-10 picks and be in a strong position to send one (or two) of the extra first-round picks in a package to go up and get the future of their franchise.

That’s how the Colts pick could end up in the Titans’ hands in the near future, and it’s how GM Mike Borgonzi can reset the future of his own franchise.