Burying the NFL’s active leader in rushing yards per game on a 2-4 roster with no permanent general manager is an act of organizational malpractice. On Thursday, ESPN’s Stephen Holder reported that multiple teams are open to trading for Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor before the November 10 deadline, while the Colts are still plotting their next moves after firing general manager Chris Ballard on Monday. I look at a 27-year-old engine who has piled up 8,090 career rushing yards, trailing only Derrick Henry since entering the league in 2020, and I see a franchise about to waste the final prime seasons of an elite playmaker out of pure front-office paralysis.
Ballard spent ten seasons in Indianapolis before getting dismissed the morning after his team blew a 13-point lead at Lucas Oil Stadium to the previously winless Tennessee Titans. That collapse triggered loud booing and chants of “Fire Ballard!” from the home crowd, proving the fanbase already knows what the front office refuses to admit. When an owner fires the architect of the roster six games into a season where Carlie Irsay-Gordon put both Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen on notice, the contention window is boarded shut.
Taylor did his job at the podium on Thursday, playing the dutiful soldier while the building smolders around him. “I haven’t given any thought,” Taylor told reporters when asked about his future. “That’d be crazy right now, especially because we’ve got a great Minnesota Vikings team that we have to go against. I think it would be a discredit and a disservice to my teammates and this whole organization to think about what could, what should, what may be.”
The Schedule and Roster Math Demand a Clean Break
I respect a professional who refuses to quit on his locker room in October, even when the front office around him is in pieces. Taylor has carried the entire Indianapolis offense on his back in 2026, posting 492 rushing yards, 665 yards from scrimmage, and seven rushing touchdowns through six games, which ties him for second in the league. Even with quarterback Daniel Jones returning from a torn Achilles earlier than expected, the Colts have won two of six games because defenses know one man is doing all the heavy lifting.
Every defensive coordinator on the schedule can drop out of two-high safety shells, crowd the box with an extra linebacker to choke off Taylor’s inside-zone lanes, and dare a sputtering passing attack to beat single coverage on the outside. Yet the case for standing pat is easy to see: the Colts just signed Taylor to a contract extension before the season, and a new general manager could want a foundational centerpiece to stabilize the offense. Look at the next two weeks on the schedule, where 2-4 Indianapolis walks into a buzzsaw against Minnesota and Jacksonville, two squads holding a combined 9-2 record.
By the time November 10 arrives, the Colts are staring down the barrel of a 2-6 crater with a lame-duck coaching staff and an empty general manager’s chair. Holding a 27-year-old running back through a two-year teardown so he can absorb 300 carries against stacked eight-man fronts for a five-win team is an affront to the game itself. Every hit Taylor takes between now and January in a lost season strips tread off the tires of a three-time Pro Bowler and 2021 All-Pro who belongs on a January stage.
DeForest Buckner Already Sees the Writing on the Wall
You want to know what a veteran with a ring chase on his mind sounds like when the ship starts taking on water… listen to DeForest Buckner. The 32-year-old defensive tackle and 2020 first-team All-Pro sits in the final year of his contract, just like All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson, and his name is swirling in the same trade winds as Taylor’s. Buckner brushed off the noise at first on Thursday, saying, “I know how it works. But it’s just distractions right now.”
Then reporters pressed Buckner on how he would react if a trade actually materialized before November 10, and the mask slipped. “We’ll see,” Buckner said. “If that happens, we’ll see how it goes.”
A veteran pillar who wants to retire in blue and white squashes that question on the spot, the way Nelson reiterated his affinity for Indianapolis on Wednesday. Buckner left the door wide open because he can read a depth chart and a calendar. He knows that when a new general manager walks through the door this winter, significant organizational changes are coming, and aging veterans on expiring deals or multi-year running back extensions do not survive a full-scale demolition.
Carlie Irsay-Gordon already made the hard call on Monday when she ended Ballard’s decade in charge after that humiliating loss to Tennessee. Stopping halfway now, while contenders line up with draft capital for Taylor, Buckner, and Nelson, turns a decisive firing into a wasted autumn. If the Colts walk out of the next two weeks buried by Minnesota and Jacksonville and still refuse to pick up the phone before November 10, which prospective general manager is going to take Carlie Irsay-Gordon seriously when she claims every option is on the table to fix this franchise?
