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.”

With the franchise tag extension deadline in the rearview mirror, the Colts’ negotiations with Jonathan Taylor may bring the next major checkpoint for a freefalling running back market. This partnership may be experiencing turbulence.

The Colts and the 2021 rushing champion have held extension discussions, though those did not sound especially serious. And Jim Irsay has interjected regarding the recent effort by running backs to assess their options as a group.

“We have negotiated a CBA,that took years of effort and hard work and compromise in good faith by both sides..to say now that a specific Player category wants another negotiation after the fact,is inappropriate [sic],” Irsay said (via Twitter). “Some Agents are selling ‘bad faith.'”

As the Jeff Saturday decision and recent Colts quarterback endeavors have shown, Irsay is not afraid to speak his mind and make demands of his front office. Irsay’s comments obviously carry weight, given his position as the team’s longtime owner, and Taylor’s agent has chimed in. Hired this offseason, First Round Management’s Malki Kawa replied (via Twitter) to Irsay, indicating “Bad faith is not paying your top offensive player.”

Since that response, Kawa has liked a few tweets suggesting a Colts-Taylor separation could happen and responded to a post from NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport by indicating he doubts the situation can be salvaged (Twitter link). Taylor had said in June he wanted to retire a Colt. The direction of the running back market does not provide much leverage for Taylor, whose contract expires after the season. As the Cowboys, Giants and Raiders showed, the Colts can also use a low-cost franchise tag to keep Taylor off the 2024 market.

Following last week’s tag deadline that left Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard tied to $10.1MM tenders for 2023, Taylor expressed disappointment in the state of the running back position. Although it took many years for the league to collectively catch up with the thinking Mike Shanahan showed with the Broncos in the 2000s, when the Super Bowl-winning HC responded to Terrell Davis‘ career-altering knee injury by plugging in a handful of backs in an effort that saw six players surpass 1,000 rushing yards from 1998-2006, the NFL has effectively labeled this position as disposable.

While the 2020-21 round of extensions went better for teams than the Todd Gurley–Ezekiel Elliott–David Johnson–Le’Veon Bell batch did in the late 2010s, no back has approached the Christian McCaffrey–Alvin Kamara salary tier since those contracts were agreed to in 2020. The Giants-Barkley talks settled in at barely $13MM per year and steadily decreased, as New York upped its guarantee number. Jacobs, McCaffrey, Austin Ekeler and others have joined Taylor in expressing dismay at what has happened to their position’s market. It actually cost more for the Steelers to tag Bell in 2017 ($12.1MM) than it did for the Cowboys, Giants and Raiders to cuff their top backs this year.

“The market is what the market is,” Colts GM Chris Ballard said, via The Athletic’s James Boyd (subscription required). “But saying that, like I’ve always told you, you pay good players. You pay guys that are gonna help you win, regardless of the position. We think very highly of Jonathan. … We think that’ll play out over time and work out the way it should either way.”

Taylor won the 2021 rushing title by more than 500 yards but missed six games due to injury last season. Despite Irsay saying Taylor was “healed up” from his offseason ankle surgery, the Colts stashed the fourth-year back on the active/PUP list to start camp. A big year would seemingly give Taylor some momentum to push for the McCaffrey-Kamara tier, especially as the salary cap keeps climbing, but this offseason’s wave of setbacks to the RB market presents an unstable future for the position’s veterans. This exchange between Irsay and Taylor’s agent will increase attention on how the Colts proceed with their All-Pro talent.

At what seems like a crucial point for the running back position’s value, Jonathan Taylor is now extension-eligible. The 2021 rushing champion wants to stay with the Colts, who have extended his three top blockers — Ryan Kelly, Braden Smith, Quenton Nelson — in each of the past three years.

Taylor, however, is coming off an injury-limited season. Ankle trouble kept Taylor out of six games last season, and the former second-round pick underwent surgery this offseason. No fifth-year option exists in Taylor’s rookie contract, putting both he and fellow 2020 second-rounder Michael Pittman Jr. in walk years.

[RELATED: Taylor Makes Agency Change]

While receivers’ positional value has soared in recent years, backs have seen their gradually fading statuses absorb more hits this offseason. No trade market materialized for Austin Ekeler; Saquon Barkley has voiced frustration about his talks with the Giants; the Vikings released Dalvin Cook. This comes during a year in which the Packers gave Aaron Jones a slight pay cut and the Bengals are prepared to move in this direction with Joe Mixon. Miles Sanders‘ $6.35MM-per-year Panthers deal led the way at the position this offseason.

Taylor, 24, will be aiming much higher. The position’s latest crisis and the ankle injury notwithstanding, Taylor and the Colts have held some extension talks, ESPN.com’s Stephen Holder writes. The fourth-year starter has approached the Colts about a deal, according to the Indianapolis Star, while also making some pointed comments about the state of the running back.

“You definitely have to pay attention, just so you know, ‘OK, what type of space are you entering into?’” Taylor said of the running back market. “And you just hope from the track record here [in Indianapolis] that things are being evaluated the right way. … You see why guys request trades. They just want to feel valued by not only their coaches, their teammates, but the organization as well.”

The Colts have an extensive track record of re-upping their own under GM Chris Ballard. In addition to the top-five positional deals for Nelson, Kelly and Smith, the Colts have paid Shaquille Leonard, Kenny Moore and Grover Stewart. Indianapolis re-signed Marlon Mack, but the Taylor predecessor’s Achilles injury crushed his value. Indy extended Nyheim Hines but traded the Taylor backup/return specialist a year later.

The New Jersey native won the ’21 rushing crown by 552 yards, powering an offense that featured inconsistent quarterback play. Taylor added 360 receiving yards that season. Unreliable QB play has been a Colts constant for much of the Ballard era, and with Anthony Richardson seemingly needing seasoning time, that might not cease this season. But Richardson’s contract does open the door to new possibilities, with the Colts having carried Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan‘s salaries on their books over the past three seasons. A lower-cost approach at quarterback opens the door for payments to Taylor and Pittman, but even though Taylor is a better player, the latter will be positioned to out-earn him due to the receiver position’s value. As such, Pittman probably profiles as Indy’s top free agent priority. Indianapolis also has Moore and safety Julian Blackmon on expiring deals.

“You look at the past, and guys who have shown their value on and off the field tend to stay here,” Taylor said. “My goal, the first season after I got drafted, I’m like ‘I want to retire a Colt.’ Hopefully the organization sees that the same, because I do. … We’ll see where things go. It’s kind of on them right now.”

Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara remain tied to $16MM and $15MM averages, respectively, having hovered atop the market since 2020. The Cowboys ditched Ezekiel Elliott‘s $15MM-AAV deal this offseason, and the Vikings moved on from the No. 4 earner at the position (Cook) last week. Mixon and Jones signed $12MM-per-year deals in 2020 and ’21, respectively, while Derrick Henry is entering the final season of his $12.5MM-AAV deal. The steadiest of the backs on big-ticket contracts, Nick Chubb remains on a $12.2MM-per-year pact.

It will be interesting to see where the Taylor talks go, and this year’s franchise-tagged trio — Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard — should have a major say in how the market looks when the Colts determine their starter’s Indy future.

Now extension-eligible, Jonathan Taylor is putting pieces in place ahead of a contract year. The Colts running back changed representation Wednesday and will now work with the First Round Management agency, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Taylor, who will be repped by Malki Kawa and Ethan Lock, became eligible for a new deal in January. The former second-round pick joined an agency that includes teammate Shaquille Leonard and Browns tight end David Njoku. Both players signed lucrative extensions in the early 2020s, with Leonard’s deal still second among off-ball linebackers.

The Colts have done well to take care of their own under GM Chris Ballard. They have authorized extensions for Leonard, Kenny Moore, Ryan Kelly, Braden Smith, Quenton Nelson. Both Leonard and Nelson broke their respective positions’ AAV records when they agreed to terms. Taylor’s April comments regarding an extension did not reveal a potentially aggressive push was ahead, but running backs have narrower windows to cash in compared to players at most other positions.

Coming off a down year — due to an ankle injury that required offseason surgery — Taylor still has an All-Pro nod on his resume and won the rushing title by a wide margin two seasons ago. The Wisconsin product’s 1,811 rushing yards in 2021 led the league by more than 500, putting him squarely on the radar for a big-ticket extension. The Colts carried veteran-QB salaries in 2021 and ’22, and although they have some Matt Ryan dead money following that short-term partnership, the franchise has shifted away from pricier passers. Anthony Richardson will soon be under contract through 2026, with a fifth-year option in place.

Of course, running back payments have become more complicated in recent years. While the wave of late-2010s backfield deals largely burned teams, clubs have received better returns from early-2020s payments. Despite the eight-figure deals given to many 2017 draftees, this year’s free agency-eligible backs either received the $10.1MM franchise tag or settled for lower-end contracts. Among the latter contingent, only Miles Sanders scored a deal north of $6MM per year. Taylor displayed special abilities in 2021, but his 2022 slate (861 rushing yards, six missed games) shows the durability issues that cause hesitation from teams regarding extensions.

Indianapolis has both Taylor and top wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. entering contract years. The 2024 franchise tag will be an option for one of the two, and the running back tag will be much cheaper. Teams utilized that tool this year, with Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard tied to tags. Less than a year away from that potential reality, Taylor has new representation to navigate this rocky terrain.

The 2022 season was one to forget for the Colts, especially on the offensive side of the ball. An underwhelming year from running back Jonathan Taylor has led to questions about his standing with the team beyond 2023, but he remains squarely focused on the immediate future.

The 24-year-old was limited to 11 games this past season and ended the year on IR due to an ankle injury. He underwent surgery to address the issue, which should help his chances of rebounding in 2023. Taylor posted 1,004 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns in his relatively brief action in 2022, but he was held to a career-worst 4.5 yards per carry.

That marked a disappointing step back from his performance the year prior. Taylor led the league in rushing yards (1,811) and touchdowns (18) in 2021, which seemed to put him on track for a major extension as early as this offseason. His inability to replicate that success – not to mention his injury problems, and the lack of positional value for tailbacks around the league – could hurt the value of his second contract, however. When asked if extension talks have taken place yet, the former second-rounder declined to get into specifics.

“I don’t even know that goes,” Taylor said, via Joel Erickson of the Indy Star, adding, “I’ll keep you posted.” The Wisconsin product has one year remaining on his rookie contract, and a fifth-year option won’t be in play since he was selected after the first round. Given his status as one the team’s best young performers, a new deal would likely be a priority, but the possibility of heading into 2023 without an extension isn’t seen as a detriment at this point.

“It wouldn’t be a distraction to me,” he said. “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.”

As expected, this year’s free agent RB class was unable to land much in the way of lucrative deals on the open market. While Taylor (when healthy) is in a class above those who didn’t receive franchise tags in March, he could be hard-pressed to secure a second contract placing him amongst the highest-paid backs in the league. In the absence of an extension, a strong 2023 campaign would help his bargaining position, something which would be possible with a return to full health.

On that point, Taylor noted that he has yet to be fully cleared to resume all football activities as his recovery continues. He described his surgery as a “perfect success,” though, and remains confident that he will be at 100% by the time the 2023 season kicks off. If the team matches that optimism, a new deal may be in place by that point keeping him on the books for years to come.

Much of the attention surrounding the Colts at the moment relates to their ongoing head coaching search. Plenty of questions remain to be answered with respect to their roster, however, including their top offensive playmaker’s health heading into 2023.

[RELATED: Colts’ HC Search May Last Until After Super Bowl]

Running back Jonathan Taylor was limited to 11 games played in 2022, the first season of his career in which he missed time due to injury. He finished the campaign on IR with an ankle injury, and put up underwhelming numbers in a year where nothing went right for the Colts. There is positive news for him on the injury front, though.

The 24-year-old underwent ankle surgery in January, as detailed by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The procedure – a arthroscopic debridement, specifically – was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson, and was described by Taylor as being “extremely successful” at cleaning out his ankle. The ailment had been affecting him since Week 4, but his outlook is looking better as a result of the surgery.

“That thing had a bunch of junk in there from a bunch of years,” the Wisconsin alum said of his ankle. “Just finally had to clean it out and make sure I’m good to go. We finally had the time to get it right, make sure I’m 100% ready to rock. That’s all you can ask.”

Taylor entered this past season with massive expectations, having led the league in rushing yards in 2021. In part due to the lingering ankle issues, along with the Colts’ overall struggles on offense, however, he was held to 861 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Those figures, along with his 4.5 yards per carry average, were career lows, and could put a damper on his potential value on a new deal.

Eligible for an extension this offseason, Taylor is likely to once again operate as the focal point of the Colts’ run game in 2023, but the team could be weary of committing to a big-money deal given his underwhelming campaign. His market value could also fluctuate significantly given the plethora of high-profile backs set to hit the open market (or sign long-term deals of their own with their respective teams). Regardless of what happens from a financial standpoint, Taylor added that he expects to be fully recovered in time for training camp, which will be a welcomed development in Indianapolis.