Trading your all-time rushing touchdown leader two months after handing him a $44 million contract extension belongs in the absolute hall of fame of front-office self-sabotage. When ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Saturday that the 2-5 Indianapolis Colts are actively shopping 27-year-old star Jonathan Taylor ahead of the November 10 deadline, it felt like watching a team set a pile of its own cash on fire. Indianapolis already ate the $15 million signing bonus from the two-year deal Taylor signed in August, and now the franchise wants to pay him to go win a Super Bowl for somebody else.
Look at the tear-down timeline over the last few weeks. After firing general manager Chris Ballard following a Week 6 loss to a previously winless Tennessee Titans squad, the Colts shipped Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks and Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the San Francisco 49ers for a 2027 third-round pick, a 2027 fourth-round pick, and a 2028 fifth-round pick. Wide receiver Josh Downs already requested a trade out of town, with Indianapolis valuing him around a third-rounder. Keeping an elite bell-cow back while trading away the Pro Bowl interior blocker who clears his lanes is a masterclass in Grade-A Front-Office Negligence.
“It was all speculation until stuff started happening,” Taylor told reporters via ESPN’s Stephen Holder on Thursday. “Those guys are the gold standard of the NFL. And obviously the business side of things, that’s where it sucks at. I wish some way, somehow, I could have done more, because I wanted to win for those guys. We wanted to get it done here with those guys.”
Hearing a player with 8,185 career rushing yards and a franchise-record 77 rushing touchdowns apologize for not saving a doomed roster hurts worse than any blowout loss. Taylor sits second in Colts history behind only Edgerrin James’s 9,226 rushing yards, and through seven games this season he has still piled up 587 rushing yards on 140 carries (83.9 yards per game, fifth in the NFL) and a league-tying eight rushing touchdowns despite defenses stacking the box against a shattered offense.
Carlie Irsay-Gordon Paid the Bonus So a Contender Gets the Discount
Colts owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon met with Taylor this week for an in-depth conversation about the future, and the company line out of Indianapolis is that ownership has deep affinity for him and would prefer he remain the centerpiece of the rebuild unless a team blows them away with a Christian McCaffrey-style haul of second-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-round picks. That sentimental pitch collapses the second you look at the cap mechanics and the running back aging curve. Because Indianapolis already covered that $15 million August signing bonus, any acquiring contender gets Taylor for roughly $4.4 million in remaining 2026 base salary (plus up to $1 million in incentives), followed by a manageable $15 million in 2027 and $9.46 million in 2028.
Holding onto a 27-year-old workhorse through a multi-year tear-down wastes the exact window where his contract is a bargain for a contender and turns his 140-carry midseason pace into meaningless wear and tear for a 2-5 football team. According to Tom Pelissero’s reporting, Indianapolis has already turned down at least one offer featuring a 2027 second-round pick plus additional compensation. Turning down a second-rounder-plus package after you already gutted the offensive and defensive lines is pure delusion.
“You think we’re rebuilding?” Taylor asked on Thursday. “For me, being a competitor … no one goes out there to wave the white flag. We’re going out there to compete. We’re going out there to get a W.”
I love that defiance from a former Wisconsin star who ran for 1,585 yards and an NFL-best 18 rushing touchdowns last season, yet the front office already waved the white flag the moment Nelson boarded a flight to Seattle. Taylor also acknowledged the cold reality of the situation when speaking to reporters on Thursday: “Obviously, like you guys know, I’m always proud to wear the horseshoe, proud to be here. And similar to Quenton and Buck, they were proud to wear the horseshoe. They were proud to be here. But obviously, circumstances may cause otherwise.”
Five Suitors and One Obvious NFC Heavyweight
Rapoport and Schefter named five teams showing interest in Taylor: the Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, and Seattle Seahawks. Putting the Giants on a buyer’s list is comedy, and Seattle hardly seems desperate for a running back after landing a new guard. Green Bay, Minnesota, and Denver are the real pressure points in this bidding war.
Imagine coach Shane Steichen trying to call inside zone on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars knowing every single carry risks a multimillion-dollar draft haul before November 10. If Minnesota or Green Bay steps up to add a third-round pick and a conditional fourth to that rejected second-round offer, Taylor walks into an NFC North contender where two-high safety shells force defenses to play light boxes… and where his 4.2 yards per carry against stacked fronts suddenly turns into five-plus yards a pop.
Whether Taylor even finishes Sunday’s game against Jacksonville in a Colts uniform is the first domino, and whichever general manager blinks before the November 10 deadline will buy a three-time Pro Bowler in his prime while Indianapolis pays the $15 million cover charge.
