On Saturday, July 29, Indianapolis Colts’ superstar running back Jonathan Taylor requested a trade from the team. Following a chaotic contract extension period where no running back was able to agree on a deal with their team, Taylor began to question his place in the league.
He only became more conflicted when the Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay tweeted out in bad faith, a statement that supported the owners’ stance of not paying running backs.
While Taylor battled injuries this previous season, the year prior he ran for over 1,800 and had 18 rushing touchdowns. Knowing his worth to the team and knowing the state of the running back market, Taylor met with Irsay privately Saturday to discuss a contract extension.
Long story short, Irsay refused to offer Taylor a new contract and clearly this rubbed him the wrong way as he requested a trade almost immediately.
Just hours later another bombshell report was released. Irsay texted NFL reporter Albert Breer and said they are “not trading Jonathan... End of discussion. Not now and not in October (the NFL trade deadline)!”
The very next day there were reports that Taylor reported to camp with a lingering back injury. The ESPN report suggested that the Colts would be considering placing him on the NFI (Non-Football Injury) list to avoid paying his salary for this season.
Shortly after those reports, Taylor fired back on Twitter, shooting down any suspicion that he has a back injury or that he even reported feeling pain. It sounds like this could be a leverage play by Indianapolis to avoid having to pay him now and in the future.
Both sides appear to be dug into their position on a contract extension. By the looks of it, this could be one of the ugliest contract disputes in NFL history. There are often holdouts by players for a new deal, but rarely do you see the back-and-forth media jabs and public leverage plays transpire so quickly and rapidly between both sides. While the NFL season is fast approaching, a resolution to this situation happening any time soon sounds nearly impossible.
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