The Indianapolis Colts faced their fair share of injuries last season, both before the year began and during the year.
One position where they were hit hard? Cornerback. Prior to the year, the Colts saw Justin Walley suffer a torn ACL, while Jaylon Jones had a hamstring injury. Add in the fact that Charvarius Ward suffered three concussions and Sauce Gardner dealt with a calf strain after his arrival, and that’s quite the group of injuries.
That made the trade for Mekhi Blackmon prior to the 2025 season all that more important, as the cornerback ended up playing in all 17 games for the Colts.
With the 2026 NFL Draft in the books, let’s revisit the Blackmon trade and see how it fared for both sides.
After starting only three games for the Vikings in a reserve role in 2023 and missing the entire 2024 season, the former third-round pick had his breakout campaign in 2025, playing in all 17 games for the Colts and starting 11.
Blackmon finished the year with 64 tackles, seven pass breakups, and two interceptions.
There were ups and downs, as Blackmon saw some struggles in coverage, but he stepped up for the Colts when needed after their slew of unexpected injuries.
Overall, Blackmon was targeted 66 times, the most of any Colts cornerback according to PFF, and allowed a completion rate of 63.6 percent. He also gave up a passer rating of 93.2, while committing eight penalties.
He also missed 10 tackles and had a missed tackle rate of 13.3 percent. So, there were some ups and downs, but Indianapolis found itself a serviceable depth cornerback who was thrown to the fire in 2025.
The Vikings packaged pick 196 alongside 49 in a small move down with the Carolina Panthers to 51 and 159,
They took Michigan FB Max Bredeson at 159 and Cincinnati LB Jake Golday at 51.
Well, given their injuries, the Colts did get a good amount of production for a sixth-round pick. Blackmon played a key role with his availability in 2025 and gave the Colts a cheap cornerback to rely on for depth in 2026 in the final year of his rookie contract.
Now, with Gardner and Ward in the fold for 2026, it’s unclear what role that Blackmon will have next season, but this was a quality trade from the Colts, who needed depth at cornerback.