9:47pm: A text from Irsay to SI’s Albert Breer reads, “We’re not trading Jonathan… end of discussion. Not now and not in October!” That comes as little surprise given the lack of value the Colts would be able to find on a deal which would see the acquiring team only have one year of play from Taylor. On that point, ESPN’s Jeff Darlington describes the potential trade market as being “minimal,” with free agency looming for Taylor and a number of other big-name backs (Twitter link). With the value of the position being what it is, it is difficult to envision the 24-year-old finding a new team willing to make a long-term financial commitment.
7:24pm: Saturday has produced the latest development in the ongoing saga between the Colts and Jonathan Taylor. The All-Pro running back has formally requested a trade, as noted (on Twitter) by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Taylor met face-to-face earlier today with owner Jim Irsay to discuss his situation. The former is entering the final year of his rookie contract, which has opened the door to the tension which has increased recently. Irsay made it clear earlier this week that no extension offer has been made yet, and that none will be made until after the 2023 season. 
Providing further clarity on the matter, ESPN’s Stephen Holder tweets that Taylor (who recently changed agents) actually asked to be moved “several days ago.” The team’s response, he adds, was not definitive in the affirmative or negative. That could add further to the drama which has been escalating, amidst a lack of interest on the team’s part to commit long-term to its most high-profile offensive player and the wider financial realities which explain why that is the case.
Taylor had expressed a desire to remain in Indianapolis before contract talks hit a wall, and Irsay fanned the flames with public remarks about the nature of the running back market. They were not aimed specifically at Taylor, but they underscore the reality that running backs have not generated financial interest from teams in the way most other positions have. That fact has been a topic of conversation amongst key active players at the position.
An ankle injury limited Taylor to 11 games in 2022, a season in which the Colts’ offense struggled mightily. He recorded a career-low 861 rushing yards (on an average of 4.5 per carry), a far cry from the previous year. The 24-year-old led the league in production on the ground (1,811 yards, 18 touchdowns) in 2021, which seemed to cement his status as a fixture in Indianapolis for years to come. He is currently on the PUP list — as Mike Chappell of Fox 59 tweets, Taylor failed his physical — and questions will be asked about his ability to return to pre-injury form this season.
Irsay has shown a willingness to invest early in serval key Colts players over the years, but the RB market has understandably influenced his stance with respect to Taylor. With teams around the league showing an aversion to signing backs to lucrative second deals, it will be interesting to see how much of a trade market develops for either a one-year rental or a club willing to part with draft and financial capital to acquire the Wisconsin alum. Irsay’s latest remarks on the matter will no doubt add fuel to the fire in this situation.
“If I die tonight and Jonathan Taylor is out of the league, no one’s gonna miss us,” Irsay said when speaking to the media on Saturday (Twitter link via James Boyd of The Athletic). “The league goes on. We know that. The National Football [League] rolls on. It doesn’t matter who comes and who goes, and it’s a privilege to be a part of it.”
C’mon man. I love JT but seriously. Dude is benched in year 1 because he doesn’t read the line blocking. Year 2 he goes off and has a great season. Year 3 he wasn’t very good and was injured for most of the season. Holding out and requesting a trade. Who is going to trade for him and then sign him to a long term deal? Whatever happened to playing your contract out and then going to the open market to get paid?
That playing your contract out is bs in regards to the NFL. Teams can cut you at any point. Every NFL player is one injury away from never getting paid again so they have to fight for every dollar. Until they change the way contracts are done this is going to be a yearly scenario with all players.
Then ask for more guaranteed cash. Why sign that 100m deal when only 40 is guaranteed. I don’t remember anyone complaining when RB’s were the top paid players on most teams years ago, the game has changed & well they need to as well.
They only signed it because it was $40M guaranteed.
I actually get the point that you’re trying to make, but if a player who was offered a $100 million deal tried to fight for more than $40 million of it being guaranteed, the same people on here would be calling them greedy and saying that they need to just take what they’re being offered
Hard to ask for more guaranteed when you’re a rookie inking your 1st contract that the NFL capped in terms of how much you’re allowed to earn.
True. But it’s negotiations. Each side tries to maximize their interests, and minimize the other parties interests. I don’t see why these teams don’t just give these high end RBs a 2 year contract with guarantees and a 3rd year option. These high end RBs are not replaceable as some think. Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Barkley, and Taylor are the hub of the entire offense. Same went with Marshawn Lynch. You can’t just plug in a 5th Rd RB and get the same results. Ridiclous.
Agree. I’d have no problem giving a RB more money. I just don’t want to commit to more than a year or two.
Every negotiation is chess. May the best man win. The off field stuff is nasty and leverage and manipulation is the game. The poles are set. On one end. Pay day and your antics work. The other end. Bell. Lol early retirement
I don’t fell bad, Reno, for someone who got $4.2m guaranteed on his rookie deal. JT also got a $3.2m signing bonus on this deal. If the team can “cut you at any point” then he’s still a rich man with more NFL opportunities. Your statement is BS.
It’s a contact sport- guaranteeing money to positions that deteriorate and are replaceable don’t make sense to guarantee money too. If the economics of the league changed to guarantees you would have teams fielding bad teams because of guaranteed contracts for useless players. Or remove the cap. Then they can guarantee whatever they want. If you produce you don’t get cut. That actually seems to be the right approach. It’s better than baseball where you produce, get a crazy contract and then never produce again and hold your team hostage for a decade while they pay you too money to be a replacement player. What the NFL needs to do is get rid of the tags. Let a guy play his 4 years and be eligible for free agency or an extension. The tag system is what ruins the NFL player market.
Ask Josh Jacobs why he playing out your contract, getting tagged, and not going to the open market is a bad idea.
It goes both ways. Sometimes the team screws the player (Josh Jacobs and the Raiders) and sometimes the player screws the team (Antonio Brown and the Raiders). The thing that remains constant is that NFL contracts are mostly meaningless because of how easy it is for the player and the team not to honor it. Players will never give up money for underperforming their deal, and teams will move on from a player the second that it is profitable to do so. The actual solution seems to be to have more ironclad, stringent deals with more guaranteed money but less overall “fluff” money. Teams and players should both be more beholden to the ink they spill, like contracts in any other non-sport business.
But, if that happens, the advertised value of these deals goes down (meaning that, say, the $45 million six year deal that is actually a $30 million four year deal gets advertised accurately), which really hurts the agents. That will never happen. So, as a result, players and teams will continue to do this dance where the uncertainty of supposed “contracts” makes parties rightfully suspicious of the other’s future intentions or production. The only people who make out better are the agents who get to advertise these big deals to draw in new clients. Easy solution, at least in my unprofessional opinion, but impossible to swallow.
It’s his new agent that’s the cause of all of this.
These RBs just simply cannot read the room, YOU ARE REPLACEABLE
Josh Jacobs had 2000 total yards and 12 TDs last year. That’s not replaceable.
Yes it is. Bum Zeke Elliott last season had 12 TDs. As long as you have a good oline you can have a good running game
Raiders don’t have the same OL as Dallas. Zeke didn’t even get to 1000 total yards LY. Jacobs has been consistent since he was drafted. 2000 total yards can’t be replaced by any RB, or else they would all be doing it. Hint, they aren’t.
Zeke’s backup had no problem replacing him either. And for a fraction of the price.
Plus3 I don’t see the consistency. Major breakout last year but the 1st 3yrs were nothing spectacular. Good yrs but not great. I don’t think you can expect him to have season 4 numbers every year. Overall, not hard to replace.
Here’s my argument. If they aren’t hard to replace, why isn’t every RB getting over 1000 yards rushing every season? Or over 1500 total yards rushing and receiving? Most can’t. I agree that JT hasn’t down the consistency and is a little late asking for more money. His timing is terrible.
Plus 3, I’m not stating that JT should get a big payday, and I’m a Colts fan. Teams use a committee approach and can get the similar production from multiple backs. No one running back should make more than 10m per yr.
RBs don’t get it, no one’s trading for you the season after 300+ touches
At least not in 2023. It’s unfair to the backs for the work they put in and the punishment that they take but the NFL is not playing a 12 game schedule anymore. It’s too much for the course of a season to pay that money, rightfully earned, to a guy who will likely struggle to have two healthy seasons starting every game.
Plus, with how the NFL has punished defenses to encourage passing, the onus is no longer on the star back to carry (no pun intended) the offense. Running backs, at least star running backs, don’t have the leverage that they used to. Teams will profit immensely from an elite back like Taylor, but they can’t ride him for a full season every year. Is it right? No. Is it correct? Unfortunately, it seems to be.
Did Irsay say this about Luck too?
Irsay hasn’t learned that saying less is the way to go.
True. Owners need to STFU and stay out of the limelight.
Said it a week ago: Low EQ Irsay + low EQ Kawa = PUP 2023 and JT on another team in 2024…
Maybe Irsay can go full-on Al Davis (his mentor) and Tag/Bench JT similar to what Davis did to Marcus Allen for a couple of years….
Dude has regressed since year one. Finish your contract out then we will see your value.
He went from 1200 yards on 5.0 yards a carry in year one to 1800 yards on 5.5 per carry in year two. But whatever you say lol
Lots of tread on JT’s tires been worn off between Wisconsin and his first couple of years. I wouldn’t pay him past 27 or 28 for any meaningful money. He isn’t known to be really good at anything overall, and his best season was behind a terrific Colts O-line.
Irsay is an ass
Let’s skip a few weeks to when irsay sobers up, realizes Taylor’s only hurting the team sitting out with “injuries” and finally decides a 6th rd pick is better then having a locker room cancer. Jk we all know irsay won’t sober up anytime soon.
The sober comments are tired. Come up with something new.
Nobody is trading for that big of a salary hit this close to the season. The die has already been cast. The teams that have the room don’t want to go back into Cap purgatory.
The less Irsay has to say on this the better off he’ll be in the long run.
Jim’s saying what the 32 GM’s are doing.
He seems to envy all the attention Jerry Jones gets and most owners need some ego gratification, so I doubt we’ve heard the last from Irsay.
Why would I trade draft picks for a RUNNING BACK when I then need to re-sign him to a large contract?
He can ask, but like Ekeler, he will be disappointed.
And Cook & the rest of the FA RB’s.
Thats not gonna work when you stink.
After the current crop of free agent running backs sign, Jonathan Taylor will be traded. The Colts already have a contract offer out there to JONATHAN TAYLOR-THOMAS. Irsay knows that fans of the Colts won’t even know the difference and the change will lead to HOME IMPROVEMENT.