Chris Ballard: Colts plan to be 'active' during 2026 NFL draft

It sure sounds like the Indianapolis Colts are going to be moving around the draft board this upcoming weekend.

That's not a huge surprise, given some strong hints made earlier this offseason by GM Chris Ballard. He again made it known on Monday that the Colts are looking to make some draft-day moves.

"I just think kind of the more shots you have at the board the better," Ballard said. "And what you can't do is get so fixated on one player that you lose sight of the big picture of what you could get. I would anticipate us being pretty aggressive next week, moving around the board."

So, in an effort to be aggressive, which direction will the Colts be trading? Up or down?

While the term aggressive can be synonymous with moving up, that doesn't seem to be the direction Ballard wants to go.

"Don't construe aggressive for moving up," Ballard added. "Like to me, being aggressive can also be moving back and then moving around and acquiring more picks then moving -- like I just think we'll be active. That's probably a better word."

Trading down does make a lot of sense for the Colts. For starters, Indianapolis has a modest seven selections in total, including only two in the top 100.

In addition to that, despite being active in free agency, several position groups still need to be addressed with more immediate help, including defensive end, linebacker, and wide receiver.

Ballard also mentioned that the "real strength" of this year's draft is in the depth of the third, fourth, and fifth rounds, so it would make sense that he would want to accumulate more picks in that range.

Using the Rich Hill trade value chart as our guide, we recently took a look at what the Colts could net by trading back from pick No. 47.