As the Houston Texans are still licking their wounds after crumbling to a dismal 2-5 record to begin the 2026 campaign, a fellow AFC South team might have just given Houston the nudge needed to at least consider a potential roster purge at the November 10th NFL Trade deadline.
According to ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter, the Indianapolis Colts have just unloaded a franchise great in eight-time Pro Bowler and six-time All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick. The Colts drafted Nelson out of Notre Dame at sixth-overall ahead of the 2018 season, and since then has lived up to the "Perennial All-Pro" label that was handed to him coming out of college.
At a time where Indianapolis is also sitting at a despicable 2-5 mark—along with just firing their longtime general manager in Chris Ballard just last week—the Colts are now seemingly open for business as they navigate what appears to be a roster teardown in the coming weeks. This is surely an admission of defeat for a Colts team that came into 2026 in just as much of a "win-now" situation as the Texans did.
With that said, now that Houston is stuck wondering where it all went wrong on their once-promising 25th anniversary campaign, some have begun to speculate that maybe they ought to make plans to part with players of their own by the trade deadline.
The Houston Texans might need to consider roster changes of their own at the NFL trade deadline
At the moment, the players that most realistically could be dealt by the November 10th trading endpoint would be names like:
- Defensive end, Danielle Hunter: Currently carries a $16.14 million cap hit in 2026, and a $45.04 million cap hit in 2027
- Cornerback, Kamari Lassiter: Currently carries a $2.46 million cap hit in 2026, and a $2.86 million cap hit in 2027
- Guard, Wyatt Teller: Currently carries a $3.57 million cap hit in 2026, and a $9.43 million cap hit in 2027
Hunter—a multi-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro himself—would most likely be the most appetizing of the three, as his elite pass rushing potential—even at 31 years old—would electrify any serious Super Bowl contender for the stretch run and beyond. Although, there could be some considerable salary cap implications if the decision was culminated.
Lassiter and Teller would be a bit trickier. For, even though Lassiter is playing the worst football of his career in 2026 so far, he's still not even 25 years old yet and has shown premium playmaking ability just as recently as last season. On the other hand, Teller is fully healthy in spite of not playing for the majority of the season (beat out by competition at the position). However, his age and previous injury history might make interested teams pause before executing a move for the former Cleveland Brown.
Regardless, these are some of the tough conversations that could become the norm around Reliant Stadium if things don't turn around soon (if they haven't begun already behind the scenes).
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