After a blockbuster trade to land CB Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets, the Indianapolis Colts are currently without a first-round pick for the next two NFL Drafts.
General manager Chris Ballard and his team will have to wait until Day 2 to draft their first young talent to join the squad. However, they do have a pick in every round succeeding the first, so they do still have the potential to trade up at any time.
Despite starting off the 2025 season with a 7-1 record through eight weeks, the Colts lost eight of their remaining nine games to finish with a mediocre 8-9 record. A large impetus for the lackluster finish was QB Daniel Jones rupturing his Achilles tendon and ending his season. The Colts could play the 2026 Draft safe and take a flyer on a young QB, but time will tell.
Here’s a recap of why the Colts don’t have a Day 1 draft pick, along with their recent draft capital changes.
NFL DRAFT RANKINGS 2026: QBs | WRs | TEs | EDGE | RBs
Colts draft picks 2026
The Colts have seven picks in the 2026 Draft:
| Round | Pick |
| 2 | 47 |
| 3 | 78 |
| 4 | 113 |
| 5 | 156 |
| 6 | 214 (from PIT) |
| 7 | 249 (compensatory) |
| 7 | 254 (compensatory) |
Despite not having a first-round selection, Colts fans should still be satisfied with their current draft capital. General manager Chris Ballard does have some flexibility to make trades with their remaining draft picks if the team so desires.
In the past, Indianapolis has had some success drafting in the second round. Jonathan Taylor (2020), Michael Pittman (2020), and Alec Pierce (2022) were all taken in Round 2.
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Why don’t the Colts have a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft?
In November 2025, the Colts landed star CB Sauce Gardner in a trade with the Jets. Here is the full trade package:
- Indianapolis Colts received: Sauce Gardner
- New York Jets received: 2026 first-round pick (No. 11), 2027 Round 1 pick, and WR Adonai Mitchell
The former No. 4 pick in the 2022 Draft accumulated 16 tackles across four games with the Colts before his season was shortened with a calf strain.
The Jets will now possess their own No. 2 pick in the 2026 Draft, along with Indianapolis’ No. 16 pick. It is still unclear what New York will do when it’s their turn to make their second selection, but Vinnie Iyer predicts they will take Indiana WR Omar Cooper in his latest three-round mock draft.
This will be the Colts’ first time since 2022 that they did not own a first-round selection. That year, they took WR Alec Pierce, which proved to be a good decision after a strong 2025 campaign. This offseason, the team re-signed him to a four-year, $114 million contract extension.
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When is the Colts’ first draft pick?
The Colts are slotted to make their first selection in the 2026 NFL Draft at No. 47. That pick is still in the first half of selections of the second round, so Indianapolis still has a decent chance of landing a legitimate talent. The last time the Colts picked at No. 47 came in the 1986 Draft, when they selected Illinois QB Jack Trudeau.
Indianapolis still holds at least one draft pick in every round except the first, so the team does still have the option to trade up or down in this year’s draft.