The 2026 season has gotten off to a disappointing start for the Indianapolis Colts. They're 0-2, and it feels like the team is just barely staying afloat right now. It wouldn't be surprising if the Colts struggled to dig themselves out of this 0-2 hole, and if that ends up being the case, they won't even get the benefits of being one of the NFL's worst teams.
That's because the Colts, while riding high on their 7-2 start to the season last year, traded a first-round pick to the New York Jets to acquire Sauce Gardner. While the Colts' downfall pretty much ever since isn't exactly Gardner's fault, it's safe to say that the trade has not gone according to plan for either side.
The Colts have won just one game since then, and Gardner has been fine but nothing special. Meanwhile, the Jets got Adonai Mitchell in the deal, and he's been awesome in the Big Apple. The Jets will also get Indy's first-rounder, and that means if the Colts finish with a top pick in the 2027 draft, they won't even get to capitalize on it.
Arch Manning won't be an option for the Indianapolis Colts, even if they continue to struggle
The absolute worst-case scenario is if the Colts finished with a bad enough record to be in the running to draft Arch Manning and couldn't because they didn't own the pick. Seeing Arch, the nephew of Colts legend Peyton Manning, end up in New York with the Jets because of a trade that went nowhere would be the ultimate gut punch for Colts fans.
The Colts have had a hard time finding a consistent quarterback since Andrew Luck suddenly retired weeks before the 2019 season. Before that, they had the luxury of having Manning as their starter for 13 years and then landed Luck with the top pick in 2012, gifting them another elite signal-caller.
It hasn't been great since Luck walked away, though, and if any good could come out of a bad year, it's sucking enough to land a top pick and a potential future franchise quarterback.
Underachieving, but then having the ability to potentially take Peyton's nephew with that pick would have been a nice consolation prize. Unfortunately, it can't happen now that Indy's pick belongs to the Jets.
The good news is that the Colts being bad enough to be in a position to take Arch in the first place seems unlikely. Sure, they're 0-2, but they lost to a good Ravens team in Week 1 and took the Chiefs to the wire in Week 2. They're going to win enough games to take them out of the conversation of NFL basement dwellers.
Will they win enough games to save Chris Ballard and/or Shane Steichen's jobs? That remains to be seen, but the whole worst-case scenario of Arch Manning ending up with the Jets because of a bad trade is probably something Colts fans don't need to worry about. Let's hope not, anyway.
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