When the Indianapolis Colts traded a package that included two first-round picks to the New York Jets for cornerback Sauce Gardner at last season's NFL trade deadline, they likely envisioned the 2027 selection would be one of modest value.
Perhaps a mid-first-round choice. Or, with any luck, it would be a late-first-round selection if the Colts finished with a strong record in 2026.
Now, with the 2-7 Colts on track to have one of the NFL's worst records, the Jets could be in line to receive one of the 2027 draft's top picks via the second of the two first-rounders they received from Indy.
But what if the Colts could have made the deal with a caveat?
After all, NBA teams do it routinely. They trade top picks with so-called protections, meaning the draft pick is not conveyed to the other team if it falls into a particular range, say, the top five or top 10.
But in the NFL, it's practically unheard of. Why is that?
The reasons, league officials said, are mostly related to the contrasting rules governing how many years in advance draft picks may be traded. Also at play are the differences in how draft picks are valued in football versus basketball.
These kinds of provisions are not prohibited in the NFL. They're just rarely broached in trade discussions.
But protected picks did come up recently in a very notable trade.
Protected draft picks were discussed during trade talks between the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns in negotiations that produced this year's Myles Garrett trade, according to a league source. But, as is usually the case, the inclusion of protected picks did not come to fruition.
This is usually the outcome when these conversations occur, sources said, because the mechanics are just too difficult to figure out. In the NBA, draft picks may be exchanged up to seven years into the future. But in the NFL, picks may be traded just three years down the line.
"It's just really hard to pull off," one NFL executive said.
In the NBA, protecting picks in trades can have massive impact. Take the 2020 trade that sent forward Al Horford and other assets from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Included in the deal was a first-round pick that was top-six protected in 2025.
Midway through the 2024-25 season, it appeared as if the Thunder -- in a season when they won a championship -- would receive a likely lottery pick in the deal. But that was before the 76ers went 4-24 after the All-Star break, allowing them to wind up with the No. 3 pick, which they used on VJ Edgecombe.
He's now a full-time starter for Philadelphia and was averaging 13.2 points entering Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the Thunder ended up with the eventual 17th pick in the 2026 draft, which was traded away in a draft-night deal. The whole saga took six years to come to its conclusion.
Further complicating the use of protected picks in the NFL is the difference in the value of draft selections. Applying NBA draft logic to the NFL draft just doesn't work, one league executive said. Even a late-first-round selection in the NFL is seen as quite valuable, whereas a late-first-round NBA selection is often a developmental player.
"In the NBA, the top six picks are the first round, the next six picks are the second round and so forth," according to an NFL executive. "In the NFL, pick 20 is still pretty valuable, so the acquiring team isn't as mad about receiving it."
One NFL executive added that NFL teams are more active in the trade market today. That means teams can usually find a trade partner without having to settle for a deal that includes protected picks.
But that doesn't mean NFL teams don't use other creative provisions in trades. In fact, the Garrett trade is a prime example of a deal that includes some quirky language. Conditional trades have been used for years by NFL teams, and the Rams and Browns included a provision in their deal that reportedly states that the 2029 third-round choice owed by the Rams will become a first-round choice if the Rams trade Garrett to one of the Browns' AFC North foes.
That sort of condition is hardly the first of its kind.
In 2008, the deal that sent quarterback Brett Favre from the Green Bay Packers to the Jets included a condition that the Jets would owe the Packers three first-round picks if Favre were traded from New York to one of the Packers' NFC North rivals. Favre famously retired after one season in New York and was released from his contract by the Jets, allowing him to ultimately come out of retirement to join the Minnesota Vikings as a free agent.
More conventional trade conditions are used all the time, such as those tied to a player's snap counts. The second-round choice the Colts traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for quarterback Carson Wentz in 2021 upgraded to a first-round selection because Wentz played at least 75% of the Colts' offensive snaps that season.
But this time around, it's pretty clear cut for the Colts. They will be handing over their 2027 first-round choice to the Jets -- likely a much higher pick than they ever imagined.