To the surprise of no one, the freakish season-ending ACL injury to Indianapolis Colts running back Vick Ballard has owner Jim Irsay updating his ever-jocund Twitter feed, and general manager Ryan Grigson reaching for his phone.
Perhaps the NFL's top wheeler-and-dealer since taking the reins from Bill Polian one and half years ago, Grigson already has engineered 15 trades with the Colts.
Irsay's tweet made it clear that the Colts are not content to sift through street free agents and damaged goods, such as Willis McGahee and Beanie Wells, with only seventh-round draft pick Kerwynn Williams behind the durability-challenged duo of Ahmad Bradshaw and Donald Brown on the depth chart.
The challenge facing Grigson is to find a team willing to trade a tailback of high enough quality to provide an upgrade on Williams as the third-stringer.
The premier backups are untouchable even at an inflated price, leaving established mediocrities (Lions' Mikel Leshoure?) and unproven preseason stars (Saints' Khiry Robinson and Travaris Cadet?) as the most realistic trade targets.