Colts have best odds to land Lamar Jackson, but is Indy willing to trade for him?

With Lamar Jackson making it clear that he’s ready to move on from the Baltimore Ravens, the Indianapolis Colts have emerged as his likely next team.

On Monday, Lamar Jackson took to social media to finally provide some clarity to his situation with the Baltimore Ravens. Jackson revealed that he officially requested a trade from the Ravens back on March 2 because the team “has not been interested in meeting [Jackson’s] value.” Jackson explained that while he’ll always have love for Baltimore, he’s ready to dedeicate himself to another franchise in pursuit of a Super Bowl.

Of course, this set the NFL world ablaze. It was known that Jackson could potentially be on the move since Baltimore gave him the non-exclusive franchise tag, but knowing that Lamar actually wants to leave the Ravens is another element to this saga. Following the release of his statement, the fans of quarterback-starved franchises immediately started to fantasize about the possibility of Lamar Jackson taking snaps for their team.

The Indianapolis Colts are one of those teams whose fans made their desire for Jackson known. All across social media are edited images of Lamar Jackson in a Colts uniform. The good news for fans is that Indianapolis actually has the best odds to be Jackson’s next team according to PointsBet.

Colts are the favorite to land Lamar Jackson

Indianapolis has significantly better odds to land Jackson for good reason. Indy makes the most sense. The Colts have been desperately trying to find a franchise quarterback since Andrew Luck retried in 2019. The team has cycled through veterans and still hasn’t found an answer. Now, they have the No. 4 pick in the draft and could gamble on a rookie QB, or Indy could just trade for a proven player like Jackson.

Obviously, acquiring Jackson will be much more expensive than selecting a quarterback in the draft. Is Indianapolis genuinely interested in Lamar Jackson knowing it’ll cost the team a lot? Head coach Shane Steichen spoke on the possibility and this week’s league meeting.

Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard talk about Colts considering Lamar Jackson

When asked if Indianapolis had any conversations about going after Lamar Jackson, Steichen did what coaches do: gave a generic answer. He responded, “We do our due diligence on every player, whether it’s in free agency or the draft.” When asked again about Jackson, Steichen said, “I'm not going to make any comments on that.”

General manager Chris Ballard was a little bit more revealing. Ballard told the media, “Anytime a special player is available, which he is, you've got to do the work. I'm not gonna get into deep discussions on where it's at or what we're doing or what we might do.”

These type of responses are expected; the Colts will certainly try to be discrete as possible until a move is imminent, or they’re completely out of the race. With Chris Ballard and Jim Irsay also expected to talk throughout the week, there’s a chance Indy’s plans could be revealed, but it’s more likely that everyone will just have to wait and see what moves the Colts make.

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