Hoose

I agree. Buck is the Colts’ best player. And they’ll need him Sunday to win.

This is truly Taylor’s best option. Any more shenanigans and he’s permanently damaged his reputation. No one wants to give a guy feigning injury a large contract. Nor, I’m assuming, would the owners want to reward this tactic. But if JT shows up to play, and produces, his leverage gets dramatically better. You’d have to figure that he now gets this. Let’s hope.

Very true. The Secondary is far from a finished product. Safeties especially. Let’s hope it gets better over the course of the season. I suspect it will.

Let’s see what Pierce’s stats look like about 6 weeks from now. We’ll have a better picture of how he’s doing then. Just too early to make any judgment calls on him. As a reminder, Richardson has played two pro games. Two. Six games from now, the playbook should have expanded significantly and that should help Pierce.

Lots of great stats in this thread. But in the end, whether Pitt is a 1 or a 1.5, he’s the Colts’ #1 guy and likely will be for the foreseeable future. He’ll get paid $20+m per year. That’s the market. I too would like to see a superstar, speed demon WR on the field for the Colts….. maybe next year’s #1 pick. That’s a key missing piece for this Offense. Having that guy, Pittman, Downs and a healthy Jelani Woods would be a formidable group.

That would be a mistake I doubt the Colts would make. If Taylor won’t play or is causing problems you suspend him. What the Colts should NOT do is send the message that being a trouble maker or an unreasonable holdout gets rewarded. Trading Taylor for whatever you can get at this point is rewarding him. Ain’t happening. Contrast Taylor with Pittman. He’s in the same contractural situation, and is balling. He’ll get rewarded as he should. That’s the message to send.

And some VERY poor coverage by a CB who is no longer starting.

The market for RBs has changed as has been said ad nauseum in this thread. JT’s contract, as well as any RB not named McCaffrey, will never reflect what they do for the team. In an NFL offense, the passing game is now king. That’s where the money will and should go. It’s the harsh reality of the marketplace when there is a limited pile of cash to go around.

He’s gonna have to play to get paid. Period. And at first, for the Colts. Nobody is trading for a guy with a balky ankle. And Taylor can’t prove he’s healthy unless he plays. He’s in a no win situation for this year. He put himself there with his holdout and faux ankle injury. Now he has to play to show he’s healthy. And it’s getting to the stage of the season where a team trading for him cannot expect a productive player for several weeks after making a trade (get into game shape and learn the system). That’s a full 1/3+ of the season already lost. I don’t see a trade happening at this point unless the Colts decide to give him away. And they won’t do that, if for no other reason than to show they will stand their ground on contracts. Meaning Taylor is a Colt for this season like it or not. If he underproduces he kills his market. So he has to ball out and show he’s worth a big contract. With Moss now the starter, Taylor will likely be in a backfield by committee situation the rest of the year even if he gets more snaps than Moss. So…. Taylor will need to play his tail off every chance he gets. He can’t afford to be injured; he can’t afford bad games. He’s put himself in a tough spot with the Colts holding all the cards. The next few weeks will be fascinating to watch…. in a morbid sort of way.

Moss has been a life saver for this team….. so far. Will Taylor return? I think so. Only a desperate team would trade for him now. He can only cash in if he shows he still has the juice. And that means playing for the Colts. So I expect a shared backfield between Moss and Taylor once Taylor gets into playing shape. Will the Colts keep Moss as the lead back? So long as he keeps producing, I’ll bet they do. He’s earned it. The Colts’ backfield is gonna get interesting real fast after this week!

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They don’t trust DJ with a potential monsoon and his recent fumbling issues. They’ll most likely resign him to the PS and keep him around for insurance.

If he suits up and plays, the Colts will know very quickly what he has in the tank. His best hope is a trade once he’s active and has shown he’s back to full speed or close to it. Barring that, he needs to play lights out to rebuild his brand and open the door to a bigger payday from either the Colts or a team to which he gets traded. Either way, he will likely share touches with Moss via the committee approach. No more one man show.

You’re supporting the potential “running back by committee” approach that the coaching staff would prefer. If Moss holds up and performs well over the next few weeks, you’ve got an argument that paying JT a whopping sum of money isn’t worth it vs upgrading elsewhere. We’ll see what happens in Baltimore, which will be a far tougher test for the running game. But I tend to agree with you…… JT is a top notch running back, but the team can better spend its limited resources elsewhere.

I think he just tossed that out there to stir things up. Mission accomplished.

All true. However, you have to have a competent running game or AR is going to struggle. My guess is they don’t want to commit to anything until the Taylor situation becomes clearer. If Taylor and Hull return Week 5-6, and no further injuries occur, your RB problem is solved. For now.

It’s not a longshot if their record is terrible. You’re assuming the Colts aren’t one of the three worst teams in the NFL. I’m not hoping or advocating for another 4-13 season, but it could easily happen. And if it does, they may well have a shot at drafting Harrison without giving up a thing.

I don’t think this proves anything but that Taylor has used the ruse of an injured ankle to hold out this far. Now he knows that to get a trade orchestrated, he has to show teams he is healthy. Thus the “I can pass a physical tomorrow” leak to the media. If the Colts running back by committee is working after the first four weeks, I expect the Colts to be open to a trade. With perhaps a larger group of interested teams out there, which increases the potential return. Sadly, I doubt Taylor plays another game for the Colts.

Which won’t help his cause for a big contract. Most will correctly assume that he’s faking it. Who wants a guy like that on your team? Especially at a high price?

I think that is called market value. Other positions have become more important and you MUST reserve the $ for those slots. You can’t pay everyone and we all know that. It’s not a league-wide conspiracy…. Just a day of reckoning for RBs in the modern NFL.

I expect the Colts to be entertaining but not a serious threat to anyone until late in the season. AR will struggle early. That’s inevitable. But he’s a talent and a student of the game and he’ll start to figure it out by Season’s end. Until then, just enjoy watching the young guys get better. They will. They have a new coach too…. that fact alone is a reason for optimism. This team is a marathon, not a sprint. But next year will be better, and after that, I have very high hopes.

There will be movement by the Colts here. Either a pickup from cuts or a free agent still out there. Or both. If the Oline goes into this season as is, and Richardson is running for his life from Day one as he might well be, Chris Ballard’s head will be squarely placed upon the guillotine. Absolutely no excuse for not improving this line after last year’s terrible performance. I just can’t see Ballard not being aggressive here after being so passive up until now.

The answer is a resounding no. This is a team that, barring major injuries, should improve through the year. Lots of young talent that will have a big learning curve but should get better with each game. Hang in there; it’s gonna be a bumpy but most interesting ride.

I know the typical approach is to play no starters, thus avoiding injuries, but…….. 1. Our new QB badly needs the real game reps. The idea of making him starter is to get him ramped up as quickly as possible. He has to play a bit. 2. With Richardson on the field, the O line needs to be good enough to keep him from getting killed. That means starters out there with him. I expect to see the starting offense out there for the first quarter. They need the work.

Great gunners don’t grow on trees. Dulin is a pro bowler. He’ll be missed. But I do think the team can replace him as a receiver. He’s a decent #5; I suspect they can find a better one.