Back to the Indianapolis Colts Newsfeed

Insider: What life is really like at the bottom of an NFL roster

The Indianapolis Colts say they are staying positive despite dropping three games in a row. Clark Wade/IndyStar, Clark Wade/IndyStar

INDIANAPOLIS — Life in NFL limbo is a brutal existence, fleeting and restless and exasperating. It is cold and humbling. At its cruelest, it turns players into commodities, their statuses shuffled as kickoff nears and needs are addressed.

Dreams can die in an instant, and they often do. They can be resuscitated, too. What’s often overlooked: The real-life emotional roller coaster that comes with it.

For one Indianapolis Colt, it looks like this: Getting yanked from a team meeting in Green Bay one afternoon and being told you’ve been traded, given hours to pack your life into a single suitcase, a physical the minute you get off the plane, two pink slips in 20 days, a contract signed hours before kickoff, a 10 p.