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Indystar 8/22 What's next for Jonathan Taylor
INDIANAPOLIS — The standoff between Jonathan Taylor and the Colts has reached a potential breaking point.
Three weeks after Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay said the team would not honor Taylor’s request to be traded, the Colts have reportedly given the running back permission to seek a trade, a significant move that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Either the Colts have decided they’re better off without their star running back, or the team is hoping Taylor will get a firsthand glimpse at the crumbling running back market and decide he’s better off swallowing his desire for a contract extension and accept the risk of playing out the season without hope of the extension he wants. For weeks, the two sides have been circling the trade request, little happening other than Taylor leaving the team twice, once for rehabilitation and once because of a personal matter. But the NFL’s roster reduction to 53 players looms in a week, placing a deadline on the Colts and Taylor to resolve their dispute, one way or the other. With that in mind, here’s a look at what comes next. Can Taylor find a trade partner? The NFL has issued a resounding message this offseason. NFL teams no longer value running backs, and they’re no longer willing to pay the position a lucrative second contract. Minnesota released Dalvin Cook rather than trading (or playing) him. Las Vegas, Dallas and New York placed the franchise tag on Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard and Saquon Barkley, although Barkley later agreed to a slight adjustment, signing a one-year deal worth roughly the same as the tag. Cook and Ezekiel Elliott, a pair of former stars, had to wait until three weeks into training camp to sign incentive-laden deals with the Jets and Patriots, respectively. The last big-name running back to be traded was Christian McCaffrey; San Francisco ponied up a second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023, plus a fifth-rounder in 2024, to land the former Carolina star, who remains under contract through the 2025 season. Indianapolis reportedly wants any package for Taylor to be bigger than the one the Panthers got for McCaffrey. But it’s still possible that some team ponies up enough to get Taylor. Taylor, 24, is only three seasons into his career; McCaffrey, 26 at the time of the trade, was in his sixth, and Cook, 28, had already played six years in Minnesota. Taylor is coming off an injury, but his medical history is also cleaner than McCaffrey’s or Cook's; the Panthers running back played in just 10 games over the course of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, and Cook has a torn ACL in his past. The contract hurdle might also be cleared if a team wants Taylor bad enough. Indianapolis has not offered a contract to Taylor at all, preferring to discuss an extension only after the season is over. If Taylor is willing to take a high-salary, short-term extension, something like the three-year, $36.6 million extension Nick Chubb signed in Cleveland in 2021, Taylor's new team could feel like it's minimizing long-term risk, and Taylor could feel like he'd been rewarded for his production so far. And it sounds like there will be at least a few teams that think long and hard about bringing in the running back who set the Colts’ single-season rushing record with 1,811 yards and 20 touchdowns in an All-Pro 2021 season. The Miami Herald reported Monday night that the Dolphins will explore a trade for Taylor, and there could be other suitors. All it takes is one. What if Taylor can’t find a suitor? If no trade partner materializes, the 4 p.m. deadline to reduce the roster to 53 players on Aug. 29 represents the next potential breaking point for the Colts and their disgruntled running back. Taylor has spent all training camp on the active/physically unable to perform list because of the ankle injury he had surgically repaired in January, according to Indianapolis coach Shane Steichen. The Colts must decide by the deadline whether they will place Taylor on the reserve/PUP list, a significant move that would require Taylor to miss at least the first four games of the season. A player on the reserve/PUP list is paid his entire base salary — Taylor’s is $4,304,000 — and his contract can only be tolled (suspended until the following season) if “he is in the last year of his deal and he is both not able to perform football services as of the sixth regular season game and is not activated during (the) regular season or postseason,” according to the NFL. If Indianapolis does not place Taylor on the reserve/PUP list, he would take up a spot on the 53-man roster and be available to play as soon as he’s healthy, the outcome the Colts said they preferred earlier this month and as recently as Steichen’s press conference on Sunday. Who’s the next man up? Taylor’s primary backup, Zack Moss, has missed most of training camp with a broken arm suffered in the early days at Grand Park, but he’s expected to be cleared right around the start of the regular season. Third-year back Deon Jackson, rookie Evan Hull and veteran Kenyan Drake have shared snaps in camp in the absence of Taylor and Moss. Indianapolis could also sign a veteran back. The Colts brought in Kareem Hunt, a veteran of the Chiefs and Browns, for a visit a week ago, and Hunt still has not signed with a team after visiting Indianapolis, New Orleans and Minnesota. The Colts also have the No. 4 position in waiver priority, and Indianapolis could add a back from another roster after teams trim down to 53. |
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Racehorse (08-22-2023) |
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Two surgeries, three teams later, James Washington makes big play on first day with C
Two surgeries, three teams later, James Washington makes big play on first day with Colts
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What Colts QB Anthony Richardson had to say about not playing vs. Bears, starting Thursday
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