Why Colts were comfortable trading Stephon Gilmore for 5th-round pick
PHOENIX — An Indianapolis Colts yard sale never materialized this offseason.
The Colts released starting quarterback Matt Ryan in an expected move, but Indianapolis held on to most of its veterans, even though the Colts could have cleared a significant amount of cap space by trading away a few established veterans.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard turned all of those suitors away ... except for one. Indianapolis traded star cornerback Stephon Gilmore to Dallas for a fifth-round pick, landing $9.92 million in cap savings.
“My relationship with Stephon, he’s a really special man, and his family,” Ballard said. “That was not easy, but to clear the cap space, and we found a good situation for him, we felt like we got fair compensation in return, so we ended up making a move.”
Gilmore, who hasn't been shy about wanting to play for a contender, is now playing for a Cowboys team that went 12-5 last season, and has its eye on challenging Philadelphia again for the NFC East crown and potentially the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
A fifth-round pick might not seem like enough for a cornerback who played at a Pro Bowl level last season, holding opponents to 54.9% completions, 6.8 yards per attempt and a 73.9 rating when targeted, according to Sports Info Solutions.
Gilmore also played a key role in sealing three of the Colts’ four wins.
But the compensation for veteran talent often isn’t commensurate with their status as players, in part because of the salary cap hit a team takes on to acquire them. For example, Miami had to give up only a third-round pick and a tight end, Hunter Long, to get Jalen Ramsey, who is still only 28 and considered one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks.
Gilmore, who will turn 33 early next season, checked in a couple of rounds lower than that.
But it’s undeniable that trading away Gilmore leaves the Colts without a clear No. 1 cornerback this season, and Indianapolis remains painfully thin at the position. The Colts also allowed veteran Brandon Facyson to leave for the Raiders in free agency, and even though Facyson struggled as a Colt, he did play a significant amount of snaps in Gus Bradley’s defense.
Ballard believes the Colts have young players ready to step into bigger roles.
“There’s some young players on the roster that we really like,” Ballard said at the owner’s meetings Monday. “Dallis Flowers, we think has got a lot of talent. Isaiah (Rodgers), who we think has a lot of talent. We still have Kenny Moore II.”
More:Colts rebuffed trades for Ryan Kelly, Kenny Moore II this offseason
Moore II is coming off one of his worst seasons in Indianapolis but has been a key member of the Colts defense for the past five seasons. Rodgers, who took over Facyson’s role as starter, held opponents to just 4.9 yards per attempt and 56.5% completions, and Flowers is an undrafted free agent who struggled in 173 defensive snaps last season but possesses the kinds of tools the coaching staff loves at the cornerback position.
“We feel like these young players can take another step,” Ballard said. “Now, are they Stephon Gilmore? No. There’s not many like Stephon Gilmore.”
But the Colts were comfortable sending Gilmore to a Cowboys team widely expected to be a playoff contender.
Even if it meant getting just a fifth-round pick back.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Why they were comfortable trading Stephon Gilmore for 5th-rounder
