The Indianapolis Colts‘ fire sale is well underway.
Quenton Nelson is gone, shipped to the Seattle Seahawks for a pair of draft picks. DeForest Buckner is out the door, sent to the San Francisco 49ers for another draft pick.
That has brought the rest of the NFL around to do window shopping and see what they might like from the Colts’ roster.
Three players on expiring contracts still seem like strong candidates to be dealt: Grover Stewart, Josh Downs and Keenan Allen.
But then there’s the big name looming over all of this: Jonathan Taylor.
Taylor has two years remaining on his contract after this one, so the Colts have more incentive to keep him. But he’s also a superstar running back who would bring back more draft capital than any of the other players the Colts are trading.
If a stumbling Indy team could get a first-round pick for Taylor, they’d have to at least consider it.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Matt Bowen and Jeremy Fowler came out with a trade rankings list for the NFL, and Taylor is No. 1.
They also break down his chances of getting trade and what the buzz is around the league.
ESPN’s Jonathan Taylor Update on Trade Chances
The first thing to note from the ESPN article is the chance they give of Taylor actually being traded.
They set that at a 30% chance.
That’s a lot higher than no chance, but it’s not even 50-50.
Still, for Colts fans who don’t want to see Taylor go anywhere, that’s a high enough number to be concerned. It suggests Indianapolis would consider a trade for the right offer. And losing Taylor would really be a painful blow to the Colts’ fanbase.
Insider Update on Jonathan Taylor
Fowler’s update on Taylor is at least slightly more encouraging for the fans who don’t want to lost JT.
“Teams I’ve talked to aren’t totally sold that Indianapolis will trade Taylor despite heavy interest — at least not yet,” Fowler writes. “He is signed long term and would be a boon for next year’s coaching staff, whether it’s the current group or entirely new. But what Kenneth Walker III has done for Kansas City shows how a premier running back can put on new jersey colors and immediately reimagine a team’s season. And the tenor of Indy’s season is getting ugly, which affects all key players and could spark even more movement.”
That’s the kind of update that explains the 30% verdict. There’s plenty of language that suggests this could still move further in the direction of a Taylor trade. It just hasn’t gone there yet.
Colts’ Jonathan Taylor Trade Update From ESPN Brings Real Reason to Worry