To Sell or Not to Sell? Rich on Which NFL Teams Should Part with Players at NFL Trade Deadline

The Indianapolis Colts have started selling, and Rich thinks that is exactly why a lot of other bad teams should sit tight.

A fire sale began at the end of hour one of Tuesday's show, when Quenton Nelson went from the Colts to the Seahawks for a third-round pick this year and a fifth next year. With Nelson one year from free agency, Rich called the third "slightly better" than the compensatory pick the Colts would have gotten for losing him, plus "a fifth on top of it." Later that day, DeForest Buckner went back to San Francisco.

"So, the Indianapolis Colts may not be a factor in the AFC South, but they're a factor in the NFC West," Rich said.

He tied it back to the Rams landing Myles Garrett at the top of June. Part of what made that deal great, he said, was the timing: it came so late that the Seahawks and Niners couldn't answer it. "Who are you going to get in the middle of the summer to counteract the acquisition of Myles Garrett? The answer is nobody." Now Seattle has Nelson and the Niners have Buckner, and the Rams are 3-4 entering this stretch.

Rich gave the Colts credit for doing the best they can "under some really extreme unfortunate circumstances," including the fact that they can't even improve their own first-round pick because they flipped it to New York for Sauce Gardner.

With a host of teams sitting at 2-5 and the trade deadline two weeks out, the crew rolled out a brand new segment, created "out of whole cloth about 45 minutes ago": To Sell or Not to Sell. TJ played the Shakespearean herald, Chris Brockman read the teams, and Rich made the calls.

First up, the 2-5 New York Jets, and Rich was emphatic that they should not sell. "Because the Indianapolis Colts are selling," Rich said. "Let them sell." The Jets hold three first-round picks, and Rich wants Garrett Wilson kept for whoever the quarterback turns out to be, floating Trinidad Chambliss, Drew Mestemaker, CJ Carr and Arch Manning. He ran through the young core, from Adonai Mitchell and Omar Cooper to Mason Taylor, Kenyon Sadiq, Braelon Allen and Breece Hall. "Hang on to everybody. Hang on for dear life." His advice: let the Colts put you in the top five, not yourself.

Houston, also 2-5, got the same answer. Rich still sees a path to the playoffs, especially after the Texans just added Marvin Harrison Jr. "They got a Maserati in the garage." Coming off the bye, he would actually buy, maybe on the offensive line, because "the run game is stinking on ice." Jonathan Taylor in the division? Rich said the Colts would have to double the price, and "that ain't happening."

Philadelphia, sitting at 2-5 after Monday night, got a pin instead of a verdict. The Eagles were reportedly in on Nelson, which tells Rich where Howie Roseman's head is. Lose to Washington and the Giants, fall to 2-7, and now you sell. Win both and they're 4-5 in a packed division. "This is Philadelphia for crying out loud."

Tampa Bay stays put at 2-5. "This division is open," Rich said, and the Bucs have Vita Vea, Baker Mayfield and young receivers who are going to grow. If there is one name worth moving, it's Kenneth Gainwell, who has gone from the man in Pittsburgh's offense to a barely used third-down back. The suggested buyer: Philadelphia.

New Orleans is not selling either. The studio's running joke was that Mickey Loomis probably doesn't even have a garage sale. The crew dug up the Jimmy Graham trade from 2015, and Rich passed. Same division logic as Tampa.

Arizona, at 2-5, is the first team Rich would actually sell. Tyler Allgeier is the obvious chip, and the consensus was that teams should be calling. Budda Baker came up as another piece. "Sell them all before they play Dallas," one voice added.

For the 0-6 Los Angeles Chargers, the answer is also sell, starting with Khalil Mack, who the studio agreed "should be on a team by now." The offense is off limits, though. Nobody wanted to cut and run on Omarion Hampton, and a hypothetical Derwin James offer got shut down fast. "No way. I don't touch him. No chance."

One last idea came from the studio: New England should call Indianapolis about Jonathan Taylor, with TreVeyon Henderson and a couple of picks going the other way. Rich closed by promising the next edition would come with more than an hour of prep, and that he would know the name of the segment.