On Tuesday, the Indianapolis Colts traded away Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner. On Wednesday, head coach Shane Steichen made his first comments since those deals were made.
"I have the ultimate respect for those two guys," Steichen said, via Kevin Bowen of 107.5 The Fan. "What they meant to this organization, this team, this city. Two of the ultimate competitors, the best to ever do it. They're the definition of the standard in what you want in a football player. Definitely going to miss those guys. Like I said, I can't say enough good things about them. Building a relationship with those guys over the past three years has been phenomenal and I know they're going to do well on their new teams. I got a lot of respect for those guys. A deep
amount of respect and I'm excited for the young guys to step up, without a doubt. Farmer's got an opportunity to step up. Tomi's been playing good ball -- he's gotta step up. But we're excited for those young guys to step up going forward."
Shane Steichen’s opening statement: pic.twitter.com/KsyhJmuHjd
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) October 28, 2026
Trading away two franchise cornerstone players like Buckner and Nelson signals the start of a rebuild in Indianapolis. At 2-5 and having also fired GM Chris Ballard, the Colts are eyeing the future, attempting to accumulate as much draft capital as possible.
That means more moves could be coming ahead of the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
Jonathan Taylor's name has been mentioned, but Steichen said that he has not requested a trade, while several NFL insiders have reported that the Colts would like to hang on to Taylor.
Josh Downs has reportedly requested a trade, while Grover Stewart and Keenan Allen are two other potential trade candidates.
In addition to boosting their draft capital with the Buckner and Nelson trades, the Colts are positioned well salary cap-wise in 2027 to help accelerate the start-over process.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Colts' Steichen addresses DeForest Buckner, Quenton Nelson trades
