INDIANAPOLIS — Josh Downs got what he wanted in the end.
Indianapolis has dealt Downs to the Kansas City Chiefs with a 2027 seventh-round pick for 2027 fourth- and fifth-round picks in the final hour before the NFL trade deadline, according to reports, granting the slot receiver’s request for a deal.
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Downs requested a trade shortly after the team decided to deal left guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, and he openly acknowledged that he was comfortable with the idea of playing elsewhere.
“I’m open to whatever comes my way,” Downs said at the time.
The slot receiver’s performance since he made the trade request has been erratic, matching a disappointing season for the fourth-year player overall.
Downs has caught 33 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown this season, failing to live to former general manager Chris Ballard’s predictions that he would take advantage of the opportunity opened by trading Michael Pittman Jr. this offseason.
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Opponents have frequently double-teamed Downs in the absence of Alec Pierce.
Downs hasn’t been able to regularly beat those coverages, and he has played a key role in each of the team’s last two home losses.
Downs dropped three key passes in the team’s shocking loss to the Titans, the game that precipitated Ballard’s firing and set the wheels in motion for the team’s rebuild, and on Sunday, he dropped two more passes, including a third-down throw that could have allowed Indianapolis to play for the game-winning field goal without giving the ball back to the Cowboys at all.
“I stunk today, but it’s the game of football sometimes. I didn’t catch those passes when I should have, and that’s that,” Downs said after Sunday’s loss. “I dropped a couple against Tennessee as well. I don’t really know what it was. I just gotta focus on the ball, make a couple good catches. I dropped simple ones.”
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Downs’ future in Indianapolis was already cloudy.
Drafted in the third round in 2023, Downs has 231 catches for 2,494 yards and 12 touchdowns in three and a half years as a Colt. Before the season, there were questions about whether the Colts would sign Downs to an extension, but he pushed back on the idea that he was seeking an extension in Indianapolis coming into the season.
“If it came my way, it came my way, but I wouldn’t say that,” Downs said.
When the Colts traded Nelson and Buckner to the Seahawks and 49ers, respectively, the franchise indicated that they were willing to deal almost any piece in exchange for future assets. Indianapolis also traded veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen to San Francisco for a sixth-round pick on Tuesday.
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The moves sent a message to the rest of the NFL that the Colts are entering a deep rebuild, the kind that will leave the team out of competition for a couple of seasons.
It also sent a message that any player in the locker room might be available.
For weeks now, Downs has sounded like a man comfortable with the possibility of change.
“It is what it is,” Downs said. “I’m here today, but whatever comes my way, comes my way, and I’ll go from there.”
He gets the change of scenery he wanted.
The Colts take another step into the future.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Coltsall season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Josh Downs is latest Colt to be dealt at NFL trade deadline; here’s what we know
