What could the Colts realistically get for Jonathan Taylor?
The running back world in the NFL is a crazy place right now. Just last week several of the leagues top running backs had a meeting to discuss the recent undervaluing of their talents. Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was a part of that meeting. The Colts star has been outspoken about the whole […]
The running back world in the NFL is a crazy place right now. Just last week several of the leagues top running backs had a meeting to discuss the recent undervaluing of their talents. Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was a part of that meeting.
The Colts star has been outspoken about the whole situation as of late on social media and on Saturday, things got taken to the next step. Taylor has formally requested a trade from the Colts after a private meeting with team owner Jim Irsay.
There's going to be plenty of potential suitors for one of the games best backs, but in a world where the position is so undervalued, what can the Colts realistically get for Taylor? Let's take a look at some recent trends and see if we can find an answer.
There's two big running back trades that have happened recently. One is huge and the other one just seems big from the outside. First there's the huge one. The 49ers sent the Panthers a second, third, fourth and a future fifth for Christian McCaffrey in November. This is likely to be a starting point for what the Colts want to get back.
The huge difference here is that the 49ers doled out a lot of assets for a guy that they that had already signed a new contract with his previous team. The 49ers are getting a guy that they know they're scheduled to have under contract until 2025.
Taylor is a free agent after this season. Trading for him more than likely means you have to give up assets and then make sure you sign him to the big deal that he's going to want to have. That's not only going to limit the teams that could be interested and have the right cap situation to pull it off, but it might give some teams pause on the idea of shipping over half their draft haul for an undervalued position and a guy that only played 11 games in 2022.
The other trade I was referring to was the Lions recent move that saw them trade D'Andre Swift to the Eagles for a future fifth round pick and 2023 seventh round pick.
Swift isn't the player that Taylor is. That's evident. But I think the answer to what the Colts can get for Taylor is still going to be somewhere in the middle of these two polar opposites.
I think a safe bet would be to assume the Colts could get something in the ball park of a 2024 second round pick and a future third. That's not a bad deal for the Colts. They get to get in on the new trend of drafting a running back high and paying him a rookie salary while Taylor get's to go somewhere and get the payday he believes he deserves. It should be interesting to see what teams try to make a deal happen.
Jonathan Taylor requests to be traded; 4 teams that could deal for the Colts RB
Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor has reportedly requested to be traded out of Indy
Featured image by The Indianapolis Star-USA TODAY NETWORK
