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Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor will continue to be a major talking point this summer as he hopes to secure a new contract.
Despite the running back market being extremely difficult waters to navigate through, a deal is expected to get done at some point between Taylor and the Colts. When that will be is the main question.
That entire discussion is the reason why Taylor was included on Dan Graziano’s list of the most intriguing players for the 2023 season over at ESPN.
I wrestled with which running back to put here to represent the sorry state of the position’s current market. Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard are all on franchise tags. Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, Kareem Hunt and Leonard Fournette are all free agents. J.K. Dobbins is somehow upset about his contract even though he has played a total of eight games over the past two seasons. (Seriously? Read the room, dude.)
But I picked Taylor, who’s entering his fourth season with the Colts and is extension-eligible for the first time. But he is also coming off a frustrating, injury-riddled year that started with him being the consensus first overall pick in every fantasy draft and ended with just 861 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Taylor is still just 24 and scheduled to earn $4.304 million in this final year of his contract. Based on his 2022 season, when he led the league in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns, he’s worth more than that. But how much more?
Four of the top five highest-paid running backs by average annual salary signed their deals in 2020, and the other (Nick Chubb) signed his in 2021. The running back market does not move the way the market does at other positions, and teams don’t seem interested in stretching to pay running backs. If you’re Taylor, signing now at what you probably believe is a below-market number coming off your worst season doesn’t sound great. But if you play it out and look more like your 2021 self, your best-case scenario is probably a franchise tag.
It looks very unlikely that there will be a mid-July flurry of Barkley/Jacobs/Pollard deals that reset the running back market. Maybe Taylor can be the guy who does it next year. But man, a lot of stuff would have to change around the league between now and then.
We don’t know much about the negotiations between the Colts and Taylor. We do know they’ve had discussions and that both sides want a deal to get done. But it’s not always as simple as that. The Colts may want to see where the deals for Barkley, Jacobs and Pollard come in before dishing out some big money.
The Colts have not been shy about paying their own players, and they’ve made it clear they believe Taylor is a special talent at the running back position.
So this is going to be a wait-and-see situation once the middle of July rolls around.
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