The Colts gave cornerback Stephon Gilmore a two-year, $23 million deal last April. He did not make the Pro Bowl for the first time since 2017, and the Colts won only four games.
Indianapolis unloaded his contract to the Cowboys for a fifth-round pick last month.
Few trades are win-wins, but Colts General Manager Chris Ballard believes his team’s trade of Gilmore could prove to be one.
“I think it was good for both of us,” Ballard said, via NFL Media. “He’s just at a point in his career that, he’s at the end of his career. I thought he was a decent fit for the defense. But a chance to get a pick for him in the last year of his deal, shed a little bit of the contract money off. I thought it was good for both of us, to be able to send him to Dallas, which is a good spot and a good fit defensively for him. That kind of went into it.”
The Colts, who could draft a quarterback in the top five, appear in a rebuild.
Gilmore, 32, isn’t the same player he was when he won defensive player of the year in 2019, but he can help a veteran team like the Cowboys. He is a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro and made 66 tackles, 11 passes defended and two interceptions last season.
Paired with Trevon Diggs, Gilmore could find a second wind to his career.
His departure leaves the Colts in need of help at the position.
“I think it’s always a position that, you know you want to have as many cover guys as you can,” Ballard said. “But yeah, that’s a position we got an eye on. Both — and we think there’s still some free agents out there, too, that could help us if needed.”
Chris Ballard on the trade of Stephon Gilmore: It was good for both of us originally appeared on Pro Football Talk