No Jonathan Taylor trade took place Tuesday. The Colts had set today as a loose deadline to deal their disgruntled running back, but they have not liked an offer enough to move him.
Not only will Taylor stay in Indianapolis, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports the former rushing champion is set to begin the season on the reserve/PUP list. This will sideline Taylor for at least four games. The Colts technically have until the October 31 trade deadline to move Taylor, but they had set today as a temporary endpoint. As a result, this impasse has reached gridlock.
Two teams showed significant interest, but Colts GM Chris Ballard did not view the offers as fair, per Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter. This saga has lasted for more than a month now, with Taylor making his trade request in late July.
The Colts opened the market last week, allowing Taylor’s camp to find a trade partner. No first-round pick was believed to have been offered. Considering no team has traded a first-rounder for a running back since the Colts sent the Browns one for Trent Richardson 10 years ago, it is certainly not surprising the Colts’ asking price has not been met. Indianapolis has sought a first-rounder or an equivalent package of picks, but in a year in which RB value has tanked, the team is stuck for the time being.
Jim Irsay led the way in alienating Taylor and leading this relationship to this point, sending a much-discussed tweet about the state of the running back market and then not helping matters with more comments on the situation after a one-on-one meeting with the team’s would-be starter. Taylor, 24, had said earlier this year he wanted to retire a Colt. This situation has deteriorated in the months since that remark. Irsay had said the Colts were not trading Taylor, and while the Colts have backtracked on that a bit, the saga will now lead to the team playing four games without the former All-Pro.
Inquiring on just about every high-profile running back potentially available this year, the Dolphins have been in the mix since the Colts gave the green light for teams to send offers. It is safe to assume the Dolphins are one of the two teams to express serious interest; talks with Miami were believed to have taken place over a several-day period. But the Dolphins, as they did with Dalvin Cook, continue to stand down. As of Monday, it sounded like the Dolphins would still look into Taylor after this Colts-imposed deadline.
This certainly is not a good look for the Colts, who will begin Shane Steichen’s tenure with their best skill-position player out of the mix despite probably being healthy. This also will lead to a delay in Taylor’s bounce-back opportunity. Taylor suffered an ankle injury — his first notable malady during his pro or college tenures — last season, costing him six games, but underwent surgery in January. Irsay pronounced Taylor ready to go for camp, and while rumors of the fourth-year back needing more treatment ahead of camp surfaced (before Taylor left camp for reported ankle treatment), this should be considered a hold-in of sorts.
The Colts are not planning to extend Taylor’s contract this year, refusing a request from the running back during the offseason. Other teams’ unwillingness to both trade high-value compensation for Taylor and give him an upper-crust contract has led this drama to a standstill. With the team keeping Taylor on the PUP list, this pause could last a while.
Irsay is a moron lmao
Just figuring that out Sentinel? He is a drunk and an idiot.
But he’s a rich ass moron so he’s way better off than I but good savior he’s dense. Like really dense lmao
Idiots. Active him or trade him. Keeping a clearly healthy player on PUP is an idiotic move
Clearly healthy is a major stretch!
Peyton Manning sure did a great job of masking how much of an idiot Jim Irsay is. That franchise went from a model of consistency to a joke pretty quickly. Even Andrew Luck had enough after just a handful of years.
“considering no team has traded a 1st rd pick for a RB since the Colts sent the Browns one for Trent Richardson…”
That was F-ing beautiful, Sam Robinson.
Tell me twice that Irsay is an idiot without even telling me once that Irsay is an idiot.
Perfect (chef’s kiss)
At least, at the time, Irsay could certainly say that he wasn’t the most incompetent person in the room. He got a long vacation while Ryan Grigson actively torpedo’d any chance the Colts had at getting better for those years. Perhaps that’s why he kept him employed for so long.
That was a good team that got purposefully sabotaged by its idiotic GM at every opportunity. I say without doubt that Grigson was truly the worst GM I’ve ever seen in all my time watching football.
Waiting to see if a trade partner emerges in the first 4 weeks. Placing him on the PUP List will protect him from any injuries and give potential trade partners confidence in his health knowing that he is just waiting around. Odd play but if no one is offering anything of value right now it is hard to let him walk for peanuts.
And what happens when no one offers a first rounder for Taylor in those first four weeks?
Option 1: A team loses their star RB for the season and they pay a 1st for JT.
Option 2: Same as option 1 but they only offer a 2024 Round 2 and 2025 Round 3.
Option 3: The Colts win a couple games early and think they have a real chance this season and decide that JT would be better off on the field. So they PAY THE MAN.
Option 4: No one comes calling, so JT decides he wants to play for the $4.3 million he was set to make this year.
Option 5: JT sits out the season. (NOT LIKELY)
Option 6: Whatever Irsay wants to do. (LIKELY)
Anyone who can reel off 6 options is either a lawyer, a politician or someone trying very hard to impress Roger Goodell…lol.
Interesting. We want fair market value for an asset we don’t want to pay fair market value.
Well said.
Not really interesting.
It’s the rookie pay scale, bargained for with the NFLPA. What good is a CBA if the expectation is that ONLY the NFLPA abides by the the bits that benefit them? He is getting exactly his fair market value based on the CBA.
Interesting. I’m under contract yet I refuse to play unless you give me more money.
In a country where “at will” employment is the law of the land, it’s easy to forget that no one can be forced to work. Just like everyone else, if Jonathan Taylor doesn’t like the terms of his employment, he is free to stay home.
Sure he can…but the Colts aren’t required to trade him either if they don’t want to pay him what he wants. Bill Jasper implies the Colts should trade him for less than what they want
Ah, the Raiders Doctrine.
I do think, as I did at the start, that the Colts never intended on trading Taylor. This was all a tactic on their part to negotiate without negotiating for Taylor by letting him see his low the offers were for him. More importantly than that, it made him see that the offers did have to impress HIM, they had to impress the Colts. It sounds like the Dolphins probably made some kind of preliminary offer or indicated that they could offer something that was slightly intriguing that Indianapolis had to investigate, which I imagine was not the original plan, but you’d have to check it out. I don’t think that Ballard and Irsay are necessarily in lockstep, but Irsay will ultimately get what he wants in Indy at the end of the day. If that’s to show Taylor that he really does not have any options, that’s what he’ll do.
I think a lot of this nonsense is just egotistical owners trying to impress each other in a game of one upmanship. Irsay sees that the Giants and Mark Davis are playing hard ball with their star RBs so he decides he has to give Taylor the business in order not to appear weak. Of course Jerry Jones hates being left out of the kiddie sandbox games so he decides he can look like a tough guy too by giving his All-Pro guard a hard time.
Irsay is the new Jerry Jones who was the new Ford (former Lions owner).
When do auditions begin to see who can be the new Irsay?
Putting him on the PUP list seems foolish, as all it does is kick the can down the road – unless Taylor is still not recovered from his injury.
That’s a big question: is he healthy?
“I’m under contract here for four years, I put the pen to the paper, so that’s where I’m at right now. I have an obligation to them, and an obligation to me, but things will happen naturally.”
This was a Taylor quote right after surgery. Obligation smobligation!
What’s the message to the rest of the team? Can’t believe Colts players are happy about this at all
Irsay IDOLIZED Al Davis and his hands-on style…
When Marcus Allen had a similar contract dispute with the Raiders, Davis called Allen “a cancer to the team” and ordered him benched for two years, eating the cost ! Irsay may be willing to do similar….
Every day that passes is a new day….. that Irsay looks more and more like white privilege poster boy. This can’t be good for their future. The team. The young men just drafted. Especially at RB. Why would you want anything from this guy if you play as his publicly devalued toy. I’m not mad he doesn’t want to pay him. I’m mad that he wants trade comp like he’s already been paid…. played your bluff Jim…. now look at your cards
How can you blame it on the owner. Taylor under contract. Do you realize Taylor can be a free agent next year .but if he not back by week 7 and playing he won’t be a free agent next year or he can be tagged. So how is the owner and gm the looser here?
Most folks seems to side with players in cases like this. I want players to earn their money but contracts are contracts. Fulfill your duty and then get rewarded. The colts have done this with many players on this roster and in the past.
Taylor was a very likable player who the fans loved.
Now he keeps a hoodie on and snarls constantly. He changed his whole demeanor when he changed agents.
Apparently the colts wanted Jaylen waddle and draft picks. That’s the most absurd thing I’ve heard in a while.