masterlock

Nah, they can franchise him two more years.

If only there were a team that was a good fit for Taylor, could afford him, and didn't have to give up 1st round (or equivalent) compensation. Oh that's right...

Leo and Winfree looking like playmakers--at least as far as preseason goes. Leo has been a tackling machine, and Winfree seems to have good receiving skills.

Good move! I never bought the let-him-watch-from-the-sidelines mentality. He seems to have the right mental make-up and emotional maturity to handle adversity, so no need to delay the learning process. Throw him into live action and let him develop. Whatever happens this year, at least the Colts won't be boring!

Yes, playing in a "pro-style" offense. ;-)

Yep, ESPECIALLY when it's based on a massive sample size consisting of 13 college games and 1 NFL pre-season game.

That's a valid question. Only the Colts and Taylor know for sure. It's not hard to imagine that the ankle is close to healed, but neither Colts nor Taylor want to risk a setback. Or maybe as long as the contract issue is unresolved Taylor will continue to feel twinges of pain (wink wink). Maybe the continued rehab is a proxy for a holdout, or a convenient way of expressing his displeasure with the contract situation?

Why offer ANY player before you have to? Depends on what assumptions you make. A high ankle sprain isn't usually considered a career-altering injury like an ACL or ruptured Achilles, where you're wondering if the player will every be the same again. Taylor ran for 861 yards and 4.5 yards/carry in 2022 DESPITE the injury and missing 6 games. So I don't think there's a question of whether he can return to form. If the Colts' plan is to pay him $4M this year, $11M next year, and then $12M the following year on the franchise tag, then why not do right by him and at least offer that same amount as a guarantee on a new contract?

He also seemed on-point about the situation with Taylor. Colts need to show some love and pay the guy. At least offer him SOMETHING.

The whale will be a 'free agent' soon. (Couldn't resist.) Anyway, as someone who is anti-animal exploitation, this is great news.

I can understand Taylor wanting a new contract. He sees what's on the horizon. The Colts can ride him hard for another year, tag him the 5th, tag him a 6th, and then say, "You're 28 and past your prime, so we can't offer you a big deal." This seems to be what the NFL is moving towards when it comes to running backs. That's one side. The other side of the equation is that the NFL has evolved into a pass-first league, and it just doesn't make sense to pay big bucks to a running back. Jim Irsay is a businessman and realizes he holds all the cards, thanks to the CBA. My feeling is that the two should meet somewhere in the middle. Taylor is a rare talent and has been a good teammate. But he needs to realize that the market for running backs is what it is. And Irsay needs to reward good players. Something in the neighborhood of 4 years/$32 million sounds reasonable.

I've always enjoyed Bob's perspective down through the years, and his writing was one of the reasons I subscribed to the Athletic. It's sad to see him go. Maybe he'll find a better opportunity on some other platform, like Medium.

I'm also thinking that maybe betting on your own team should be considered some type of criminal offense, especially if you are playing in a game. It is akin to insider trading.

IMO, if an NFL player bets on his own team, he should banned from the league. Players need to understand what their giving up.

Yeah, a horseshoe is a horseshoe. Not much you can really do to change it or make it "cooler". It's time-tested.

The horse is cool, but it doesn't work with the horseshoe. It's too busy.

Unless we tie all 17 regular season games and somehow miss the playoffs. ;-)

It wasn't JUST a coaching problem, but I don't see how coaching can be ruled out as PART of the problem. Quentin Nelson, for example, didn't become less talented. A good coach brings out the talent in players, and that didn't happen last year. But as you say, it couldn't have be only problem. O-linemen constantly say that the line plays as a unit, and when any of the pieces are subpar it hurts the performance of the entire unit. If that's true, then the two rookies + Pryor hurt the unit as a whole. I don't think those same rookies are going to be worse this year, although they might not be good ENOUGH. Anyway, it's hard to imagine the line could be worse than it was last year, simply because it was SO bad last year. Combine that with a healthy Taylor and a freak-of-nature quarterback, and I expect the offense to be markedly better this year compared to last year.

This guy is impressive. I can't believe how quick and twitchy he is for his size! How does a 280- guy run as fast as most receivers and running backs? He could be special.

In the press conference, Steichen said he believes player development is tied to experience and reps, and he specifically mentioned game reps. So I think the Colts are of the mindset that, for better or worse, the only way a player gets better is by playing, and so I expect Richardson to be the game-1 starter. But I also don't think they're going to just throw him to the wolves without having a game plan designed around his strengths and weaknesses. They'll use Taylor to take some of the pressure off.

Right...unless your habits are bad, in which case breaking them is a good thing.

I'm stoked!!!

I hear what you're saying. My thinking is that progress can be hard to judge in just 1 year. If they take Anthony Richardson, for example, a quarterback with just 13 college starts, I wouldn't see them reaching any conclusions in just 1 year. Hendon Hooker, another very real possibility, is coming off an ACL, and so I don't see them reaching any conclusions about his full potential until that is fully healed. It's possible they could trade down and take a QB towards the bottom of the first, or even the 2nd round. But then you really have to be prepared to coach the guy and let him develop,

How could they make an assessment one way or another if we assume the QB they draft will have just one year of experience come 2024? Josh Allen, for example, didn't get really good until his 3rd year. Same for Jalen Hurts. If you're drafting a QB in the first round, and you're already in the market for a QB the following year, then you probably wasted a high pick.

So you think the Colts won't select a quarterback? Or you think they'll select one and then give up on him after 1 year?