GM's latest comments hint Colts are fine holding Jonathan Taylor hostage
There doesn’t appear to be a peaceful solution in sight for the Indianapolis Colts and running back Jonathan Taylor.
As general manager Chris Ballard spoke Wednesday about Taylor’s status and him still being on the team’s roster after Indy’s team-imposed deadline to trade him by Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, the seventh-year GM tried to make a case for repairing the team’s relationship with the star running back.
“The running back market is what it is, but great players are who they are and we always pay our great players,” Ballard told reporters.
Moments later, Ballard was asked if that’s true, then why haven’t the Colts haven’t paid Taylor yet?
“We won four games last year,” he answered. “We won four games.”
While Ballard’s second statement is factually correct, it really has nothing to do with Taylor’s contract situation. The Colts have approximately $19.38 million in cap space, and they’re projected to have more than $79 million in cap space in 2024, per Over the Cap, so the team isn’t exactly tight on funds.
Multiple reports indicated the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers made offers to the Colts to acquire Taylor before Tuesday’s deadline, and both offers were rebuffed. The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported that the Colts sent the Dolphins some outrageous counteroffers, including asking for former sixth overall pick Jaylen Waddle.
Indy’s initial ask of a first-round pick or a package of picks that equaled the value of a first-rounder was already believed to be a little rich for most teams. But asking for Waddle — a 24-year-old budding star who set the NFL record for receptions as a rookie a year ago then followed it up with the seventh-most receiving yards in the NFL last year — appears to be proof the Colts have no intention of actually letting Taylor go before his contract expires.
“Jonathan is valuable,” Ballard said. “At the end of the day, I’m not just going to let him walk out the building. That’s not the best thing for the Colts.”
Taylor was left on the physically unable to perform list prior to the Colts submitting their 53-man roster to the NFL on Tuesday, meaning Taylor will miss the first four games of the 2023 season, regardless of which team he’s on.
Unless the Colts come back down to earth in what they’re realistically asking for in return for Taylor, he will likely continue to be held hostage by a team that’s essentially said on multiple occasions that the former All-Pro rusher isn’t worth as much as the going rate for many third-string receivers.
"I'm not going to sit here and give you a rosy picture," Ballard added. "It sucks. It sucks for the Colts and it sucks for Jonathan Taylor and it sucks for our fans. It just does. It's where we're at, and we've got to work through it and we’re going to do everything we can to work through it. Relationships are repairable. … We’ve got work to do to find a solution to the problem.”
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