{"id":795510,"date":"2026-03-06T06:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T06:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/795510\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T06:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T06:34:20","slug":"why-indianapolis-is-looking-to-trade-pro-bowl-linebacker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/795510\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Indianapolis is looking to trade Pro Bowl linebacker"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indianapolis Colts\u2019 offseason has seen some interesting twists<\/a>, and one player sees the value of keeping their premier free agent<\/a>. But a teammate who may not be around is a former Pro Bowl linebacker that the Colts are rumored to be looking to trade.<\/p>\n

Active talks are in progress<\/a>, according to a post on X by Adam Schefter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Colts are speaking with teams about a trade for their former Pro Bowl LB Zaire Franklin as they look to get under the salary cap by next week, per sources. Franklin led the NFL in tackles in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colts should have suitors for LB Zaire Franklin<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t be hard to find interest for the eight-year veteran. He had his first Pro Bowl season in 2024, totaling 173 tackles with 11 for loss. Also, he chipped in with 3.5 sacks.<\/p>\n

Things didn\u2019t go as well last year. Franklin managed his lowest tackle total (125) since 2021. So there could be speculation that his talents are dropping off.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s all about the bottom line for the Colts, according to coltswire.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Colts can find a trade partner, moving on from Franklin would help them get under the salary cap,\u201d Paul Bretl wrote. \u201cAfter using the transition tag on Daniel Jones, they are currently $4.7 million over and must be under by March 11th when the new league year begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Colts did trade Franklin, that would open up $5.75 million in salary cap space for the 2026 season, per Over the Cap.\u201d<\/p>\n

General manager Chris Ballard acknowledged it would be a tough move<\/a>, according to coltswire.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you guys all know my feelings for Zaire Franklin,\u201d Ballard said. \u201cWe have a very close relationship. I thought he played good football. And the addition of (Germaine) Pratt, when we got him into the mix. He ended up adding a much-needed will that we needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future, we\u2019ll see. Pratt\u2019s up. Zaire\u2019s under contract, so we\u2019ll see how that ends up playing out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indianapolis Colts\u2019 offseason has seen some interesting twists, and one player sees the value of keeping their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,4995],"class_list":{"0":"post-795510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-colts","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indianapolis","11":"tag-indianapolis-colts","12":"tag-indianapoliscolts","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-zaire-franklin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116180842300275683","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}