Kudos to Ballard.
 

Obviously, he never had any intention of letting Taylor walk away as a free agent. He recognized Taylor’s talent, how valuable he was to the team, and how crucial he was to their future. He simply preferred to wait until the end of the season before pulling the trigger.

Events of the past few months upset that applecart, and he found himself drawn into an increasingly acrimonious showdown. Kudos to him for not letting the vituperation and frustration overwhelm common sense. How many times have we seen teams in similar situations shoot themselves in the foot, throw up their hands, and ship players off for little or nothing in return?

Chris Ballard didn’t make the same mistake, he didn’t cut off his nose to spite his face. He didn’t break the bank, didn’t make Taylor the highest paid RB in NFL history. He simply paid him a few months earlier than he’d planned.

He avoided any more antagonism, avoided forcing a disgruntled player back into the locker room, avoided the nasty prospect of forcing Taylor to play under a franchise tag, avoided a bidding war in free agency, and held onto, arguably, the best RB in the game.

Give Jim Irsay some credit as well. He set the tone, he defended the front office, and didnt get into a pissing contest. Letting it play out, he cements Ballards authority without humiliating Taylor. Every body got what they wanted.

Ive been on employee bargaining committees, and the best agreements made were when everybody got something, and everybody had to give something up.

When was the last time we actually franchised someone?

Nobody said there was going to be a quiz! :eek:

Without looking it up, I believe the answer is Pat McAfee.

Here are all the players who have been tagged over the last decade. The only Colt on this list is McAfee.

2013
Branden Albert, T (Chiefs): No extension reached; signed with Dolphins in 2014
Jairus Byrd, S (Bills): No extension; signed with Saints in 2014
Ryan Clady, T (Broncos): Signed five-year, $52.5MM extension
Michael Johnson, DE (Bengals): No extension; signed with Buccaneers in 2014 (re-signed with Bengals in 2015)
Pat McAfee, P (Colts): No extension; re-signed with Colts in 2014
Henry Melton, DT (Bears): No extension; signed with Cowboys in 2014
Anthony Spencer, DE (Cowboys): No extension; after two tags, Cowboys re-signed Spencer in 2014
Randy Starks, DT (Dolphins): No extension; re-signed with Dolphins in 2014

2014
Nick Folk, K (Jets): Signed four-year, $12MM extension
Jimmy Graham, TE (Saints): Signed four-year, $40MM extension
Greg Hardy, DE (Panthers): No extension; signed with Cowboys in 2015

2015
Dez Bryant, WR (Cowboys): Signed five-year, $70MM extension
Stephen Gostkowski, K (Patriots): Signed four-year, $17.2MM extension
Justin Houston, OLB (Chiefs): Signed six-year, $101MM extension
Jason Pierre-Paul, DE (Giants): No extension reached; re-signed with Giants in 2016
Demaryius Thomas, WR (Broncos): Signed five-year, $70MM extension
Given transition tag: TE Charles Clay; Dolphins did not match Bills‘ five-year, $38MM offer sheet

2016
Eric Berry, S (Chiefs): No extension; re-signed with Chiefs in 2017
Kirk Cousins, QB (Washington): No extension reached
Cordy Glenn, T (Bills): Signed five-year, $60MM extension
Alshon Jeffery, WR (Bears): No extension; signed with Eagles in 2017
Trumaine Johnson, CB (Rams): No extension reached
Von Miller, LB (Broncos): Signed six-year, $114.1MM extension
Josh Norman, CB (Panthers): Tag rescinded; signed five-year, $75MM deal with Washington
Justin Tucker, K (Ravens): Signed four-year, $16.8MM extension
Muhammad Wilkerson, DL (Jets): Signed five-year, $86MM extension
Given transition tag: DE Olivier Vernon; Dolphins rescinded tag, leading to five-year, $85MM Giants deal

2017
Le’Veon Bell, RB (Steelers): No extension
Kirk Cousins, QB (Washington): No extension; signed with Vikings in 2018
Melvin Ingram, DE (Chargers): Signed four-year, $64MM extension
Trumaine Johnson, CB (Rams): No extension; signed with Jets in 2018
Chandler Jones, OLB (Cardinals): Signed five-year, $82.5MM extension
Kawann Short, DT (Panthers): Signed five-year, $80.5MM extension

2018
Ezekiel Ansah, DE (Lions): No extension; signed with Seahawks in 2019
Le’Veon Bell, RB (Steelers): No extension; sat out season. Signed with Jets in 2019
Lamarcus Joyner, S (Rams): No extension; signed with Raiders in 2019
Jarvis Landry, WR (Dolphins): Traded to Browns; signed five-year, $75.5MM extension
DeMarcus Lawrence, DE (Cowboys): No extension reached
Given transition tag: CB Kyle Fuller (Bears); Chicago matched four-year, $56MM Packers offer sheet

2019
Frank Clark, DE (Seahawks): Traded to Chiefs; signed five-year, $105.5MM extension
Jadeveon Clowney, DE (Texans): Traded to Seahawks; signed with Titans in 2020
Dee Ford, DE (Chiefs): Traded to 49ers; signed five-year, $85.5MM extension
Robbie Gould, K (49ers): Signed four-year, $19MM extension
Grady Jarrett, DT (Falcons): Signed four-year, $68MM extension
DeMarcus Lawrence, DE (Cowboys): Signed five-year, $105MM extension

2020
Shaquil Barrett, OLB (Buccaneers): No extension; re-signed with Bucs in 2021
Bud Dupree, OLB (Steelers): No extension; signed with Titans in 2021
A.J. Green, WR (Bengals): No extension; signed with Cardinals in 2021
Anthony Harris, S (Vikings): No extension; signed with Eagles in 2021
Derrick Henry, RB (Titans): Signed four-year, $50MM extension
Hunter Henry, TE (Chargers): No extension; signed with Patriots in 2021
Chris Jones, DT (Chiefs): Signed four-year, $80MM extension
Matt Judon, OLB (Ravens): No extension; signed with Patriots in 2021
Yannick Ngakoue, DE (Jaguars): Traded to Vikings, who later traded him to Ravens
Dak Prescott, QB (Cowboys): No extension
Brandon Scherff, G (Washington): No extension
Justin Simmons, S (Broncos): No extension
Joe Thuney, G (Patriots): No extension; signed with Chiefs in 2021
Leonard Williams, DL (Giants): No extension
Given transition tag: RB Kenyan Drake (Cardinals); signed with Raiders in 2021

2021
Chris Godwin, WR (Buccaneers): No extension reached
Marcus Maye, S (Jets): No extension reached; signed with Saints in 2022
Taylor Moton, T (Panthers): Signed four-year, $71.2MM extension
Dak Prescott, QB (Cowboys): Tagged for procedural purposes; signed four-year, $160MM extension
Allen Robinson, WR (Bears): No extension reached; signed with Rams in 2022
Cam Robinson, T (Jaguars): No extension reached
Brandon Scherff, G (Washington): No extension; signed with Jaguars in 2022
Justin Simmons, S (Broncos): Signed four-year, $61MM extension
Leonard Williams, DL (Giants): Signed three-year, $63MM extension
Marcus Williams, S (Saints): No extension agreement; signed with Ravens in 2022

2022
Davante Adams, WR (Packers): Traded to Raiders; signed five-year, $140MM deal
Jessie Bates, S (Bengals): No extension reached; signed with Falcons in 2023
Orlando Brown Jr., T (Chiefs): No extension reached; signed with Bengals in 2023
Mike Gesicki, TE (Dolphins): No extension reached; signed with Patriots in 2023
Chris Godwin, WR (Buccaneers): Signed three-year, $60MM extension
David Njoku, TE (Browns): Signed to four-year, $54.75MM extension
Cam Robinson, T (Jaguars): Signed to three-year, $52.75MM extension
Dalton Schultz, TE (Cowboys): No extension reached; signed with Texans in 2023

2023
Saquon Barkley, RB (Giants): No extension reached
Evan Engram, TE (Jaguars): Signed to three-year, $41.25MM extension
Lamar Jackson, QB (Ravens): Signed to five-year, $260MM extension
Josh Jacobs, RB (Raiders): No extension reached
Daron Payne, DT (Commanders): Signed to four-year, $90MM extension
Tony Pollard, RB (Cowboys): No extension reached

Shit, I would have said Marcus Pollard.

Still not sure why it took a hold out and an embarrassing public pissing contest to get this deal done? If the Jaguars are 4-0 and we are 0-4 I wonder if they make this offer? It's obvious at this point that the Colts, with a healthy JT have a legitimate shot at winning the South! Did that play into this? If the Colts always intended on extending JT and allowed all this drama to play out, then while I'm glad the deal got done and Ballard deserves some credit...I'm hesitant to heap too much praise on him!

Maybe they wanted to be sure this was a promising year for AR before pulling the trigger. We have been snakebit at QB for some time.

So Ballard is thinking if AR has a slow start we don't need the only playmaker that we would then have on offense? It happened for the reason it always happens. Employee wants a raise (in this case a long term contract). He/she asks for it. Employer says no. As a doc I say fuck you and just go get a new job. Did it multiple times before I said fuck it and worked for the best boss I ever had, myself. NFL players don't have that ability most of the time, especially if they are really good at what they do, so he has the choice of saying ok and taking the chance he gets hurt (I think having his first real injury made the proposition of getting hurt bad and never getting a big payday real to the man) or being what fans would consider an ass in some way. He did it for his future and his family, something everyone here who isn't a psychopath should understand. It was his only play (yes it could have been done in a way that ruffled less feathers but like JT gives a shit-it worked so good for him). It is capitalism working like it should. I'm not giving Ballard that much praise for doing what a 'normal' GM should do and not acting like a total asshole.

My point was probably not clear. We won four games last year, and have no faith that a rookie coach and a rookie QB will be the right picks. We also have no idea if the OLine will return to form, or if the defense will be as good. When we got those answers, it made more sense to get Taylor signed to an extension.

That was the position of the Colts and from their perspective it made total sense. I guess the problem was there was more than one perspective.