The Indianapolis Colts are on the verge of having to at least consider a trade of Jonathan Taylor.
They lost to the previously winless Titans on Sunday, then fired GM Chris Ballard on Monday. They sit at 2-4 with a few weeks to go until the NFL trade deadline.
Taylor isn’t on an expiring contract, but for a superstar, he’s got a rather tradeable deal. And if the Colts decide to start trading away expiring deals like DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, Quenton Nelson and Josh Downs, they may be best served entering into a full rebuild.
Indy’s draft capital is quite depleted from the Sauce Gardner trade, and the most obvious trade candidate on their roster who could help remedy that would be Taylor.
That doesn’t mean he’s getting moved, but it means the rumors have arrived and the questions have started to be asked.
In fact, on Thursday, Taylor was asked during his media availability about what he thinks about the prospect of being traded.
Jonathan Taylor Speaks About Trade Rumors
Taylor was asked during his press conference about his future and how it relates to the trade deadline, but his answer pretty much pushed aside the idea.
“I haven’t given it any thought,” Taylor said, via The Athletic’s James Boyd. “That’d be crazy right now. Especially we’ve got a great Minnesota Vikings team that we have to go against. It would be a discredit, a disservice to my teammates and this whole organization to think about what could, what should, what may be. It’s what’s happening right now. Right now it’s a Thursday. We’ve got there and we’ve got to focus on third down. It’s not gonna get any easier. No one’s gonna feel sorry for us. Oh, our general manager is gone. No one’s gonna feel sorry for us. They’re gonna say, let’s try to kick them while they’re down. So we’ve gotta pull ourselves up and we’ve gotta fight.”
There’s definitely some cliche athlete-speak in there, but Taylor also provides an honest look into where his head is, too.
The reality is that athletes in the middle of the season have to focus on what’s ahead of them. That’s how they’re built. That’s how they’ve gotten to this point.
Taylor probably hears some of the noise, but it’s not up to him to make a trade, so if he can avoid thinking about it, that makes sense.
Colts Pivot Point
Week 7 against the Vikings is the first pivot point for the Colts and Taylor.
If Indy can win, and potentially use that as a springboard to keep winning, Taylor might be able to stay. Since he’ll be back for another couple seasons, the Colts don’t have to trade him now even if they’re struggling.
But it sure would feel a lot more logical to keep the stud running back around if the Colts are winning. If they fall most of the way out of the race in the next couple weeks, though, then it might be hard to justify keeping Taylor.
Colts’ Jonathan Taylor Breaks Silence on Trade Rumors