stitches

I think it would be borderline malpractice to have Anthony Richardson and not use his best game breaking abilities.

The other thing I can think of is... what if it's not JT and agent that reported it(maybe they even didn't know anything about it)... what if it's the Colts that found something(on a scan) with his back and are now using it as leverage play? I'm just trying to make sense of it all... but again... this goes against Holder's report that it was Taylor that reported it.

Yeah, IMO Ballard told Taylor and his agent that they don't plan on giving him an extension right now and they want to see how he fits with the new HC and system and with AR(pretty much what he told the media). Then Taylor and agent told Ballard "if you are not paying, then trade me". Then Irsay put oil in the fire with his tweet and the agent tried to get his attention and hoped as last resort that Irsay will push Ballard to offer an extension and the meeting in the bus was the final chance for JT to meet Irsay and see where he stands and Irsay stood with his GM. JT knowing he has no more levers to pull within the organization, leaked the news that he's requested a trade right after the meeting. At least that's the timeline I think makes most sense from what I've heard and read on the situation.

Because they didn't want to escalate it and wanted to try to work through it? Why is it coming out now? Because JT and his agent are escalating and the Colts are reminding them they still have jokers to play(if it's true)... I don't know. Not much makes sense to me right now. I still have no idea how we managed to get to this point in such a short period of time.

They have plausible deniability right now. Noone has filed anything official. They are still not officially claiming Taylor reported back injury or that they found a back injury. If they do and send Taylor to the NFI list, they better have good evidence for it. But if they are lying about it right now, then I think they've crossed a line. I don't like this whole situation, but this to me will be a very low point for this franchise and we(and especially the one who's leaking this information) would deserve all the vitriol directed at them.

The only thing that makes sense to me is maybe the agent... or JT unofficially mentioned something about his back trying to hint to the Colts that he can always invent an injury and sit out the season, but didn't put in any report officially. But that doesn't jive with the report. Just listen and read to Holder's reporting. If what he's saying is true, I have hard time believing Taylor. Holder has details. He's talking about specific days, he's talking about them doing an actual exam on Taylor to confirm and he's saying what they saw was not an injury that happened during his play with the Colts... even if it is super minor... it means they saw something... Someone has to be telling a very very nasty false story for... some reason... I don't know what reason. Or Taylor just got caught trying to prime the environment for sitting instead of playing. Someone is lying here. I don't know who...

W I D E R E C E I V E R Go get Marvin Harrison. I wouldn't mind DE or CB either... depending on how Bernard Raimann does this year OT has sneaky potential to be my next position I want us to address high in the draft too... Especially in this coming draft which seems to have some good OT talent.

I watched the second game. Williams played injured for most of it... and he still looked amazing.

What's the trade package that would make you trade him? Is 2nd and 3d enough? That's basically what Achane+2nd would mean...

Yep, there was a distinct change of direction once Taylor hired his new agent. There are statements from him from APRIL... THIS APRIL... like... 3-4 months ago of Taylor saying "I have a contract and I am going to honor it" and it has now come to... whatever this current thing is... I don't blame Taylor for wanting a new contract. I just think he hasn't played his cards very well. I think he's been given really bad advice. I think the best chance he had of getting said new contract was with the Colts simply because it would have been the cheapest for the Colts to give him that contract(they would have had to only give him the contract, rather than having to give both the contract and draft picks) and both Irsay and Ballard value their own guys more than most in the league. I think the most likely scenario right now is that he comes back and plays this season. The second most likely scenario is we make a trade. The Achane + day 2 pick framework IMO is workable... the other option is something like... Chase Young for Jonathan Taylor(who says no?)... player for player type deal where we are getting a good player that is on the outs with his team similar to Taylor.

I keep coming back to Miami. That agent and Taylor have to be REALLY stupid to be pulling off this thing unless they knew someone out there would give him the contract he wants. I'm looking at Miami's salary cap sheet. They have about 13.5M of capspace available. It's very much within reach for them to extend him without even doing anything extraordinary with their contracts.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38103573/colts-rb-jonathan-taylor-reported-back-pain-pre-camp-physical-source-says This is really really specific and has details that wouldn't be known to just any insider. This must be coming directly from the team... I have no idea why they would be lying about this. If they are lying this has crossed a line IMO. I'm good with playing hardball with a player in contract dispute, but lying in order to make Taylor look bad would be horrible. And I still don't get what the Colts would gain from this report... it's not like it's giving them any leverage... If they actually want to put him on NFI, they have to actually have proof that he's injured and that it happened away from the team. I guess it can be a warning shot towards Taylor to not try doing anything stupid like trying to fake an injury... but you can do that without straight up fabricating a whole elaborate story about him reporting back pain. Taylor now refuting all those reports is weird too. Did he really report back pain and is now lying? He won't be the first player to report back pain when in contract dispute in order to avoid practicing with the team(remember Jalen Ramsey?). But did he really think the team won't call that bluff? Someone IS LYING... who? is the question?

The Colts are not trying to not pay Taylor this year. They are trying to protect themselves against frivolous (*cough* fake *cough*) claims of injuries by Taylor so he would sit instead of play. The Colts wish now and even from before this dispute has been that Taylor shows up healthy and plays. If he does, the Colts would be happy with it.

IMO most probably what happened is 1. Ballard told Taylor and his agent about their decision to not offer an extension at this point because they want to see him healthy and they want to see how he fits in with the new HC and in the new offense with AR. Probably told him an extension during the season is not out of the question ( pretty much what he told the media) 2. Agent and Taylor then told Ballard if he's not getting paid he wants out. He fakes not being physically ready and is put on PUP so he won't practice. 3. Irsay tweets about RBs. Agent trying to catch the owner's attention on Twitter with hopes Irsay puts his thumb on the scale and influences Ballard to give Taylor a new contract. 4. Taylor and Irsay meet in the trailer at training camp and Irsay probably told Taylor that he's behind Ballard in his decision to hold off on extension talks. 5. Taylor has no more levers to pull with the Colts, so they leak to Schefter and Rapoport that he's requested a trade.

I don't think they make that call until at the very least the first joint practices are over and he's looked solid against another team too. But so far so good. He's been checking all the boxes since he's been in the building. If you told all those "AR is the rawest prospect in history" draft experts after the draft that AR would be splitting QB1 reps and looking like he belongs, not overwhelmed, making plays, having good command of the offense by training camp, they would have thought you are crazy. He's progressing well. Hope it continues not just during training camp, but during the season and in the following years

Seems like we wanted to keep the trade request on the down low and put him on PUP. I guess that wasn't enough for JT and his agent. I think it's time to activate him and start fining him for every missed practice.

I doubt it. There are diminishing returns after some point. And his best attribute is his speed and athleticism at this size. I don't agree. After some point, adding more weight becomes a negative. He was plenty big enough already.

Honestly... I don't think I love this. He doesn't need to get bigger and heavier.

I continue returning to this Dolphins thing... that agent is either really stupid and reckless or he's conniving and reckless... It's really really weird seeing his likes of suggestions for JT getting traded to the Dolphins. Those are ALL tweets that Malki Kawa has liked since this whole fiasco started. He has not liked any tweets suggesting any other team trade for him. We know the Dolphins tampered with Brady before. Is it really beyond belief they would do it again? If I'm the Colts I would be monitoring this one.

He's well on his way to join that law suit in a year time...

Even if the Colts are willing to trade Taylor, the best posture right now is to project that we are not willing to trade him. You win nothing by telling everyone you can't wait to satisfy his request.

Meh, I didn't think this was a good article. Strong on pathos, very weak on substantive arguments. And there are tons of substantive arguments to be made in this whole situation.

Taylor's agent has been liking TONS AND TONS of tweets suggesting we trade him to the Dolphins. No idea if it's just where he's situated or if he has some background info about potential interest. If the Dolphins want Taylor... Get Achane + a second or a 3d and lets roll... On JT's trade request in more general terms - at least now we know where he stands. Saw Josina suggesting he has no other option since the Colts won't pay him now. I VEHEMENTLY disagree. In this market, his best option is to play this year, show he's healthy and get an offer after the season. Right now (before this trade request) the Colts were his best option to get a big payday bar none, simply because we are the team that already has him so the price for us will be the lowest - we don't need to give up significant assets in addition to giving him, reportedly, 16M a year. For any other team the price includes both money and draft compensation. Now, like with other scenarios - it only takes one team... so maybe it's possible. But the market for the RBs so far has been so dry that I doubt it... And it won't get any better in the future, like others have pointed out with a great class becoming FAs in 2024.

Yep, splitting reps...

His accuracy profile was really weird in college. You can argue he was accurate on some of the hardest throws in football, while being inaccurate on some of the easiest. The biggest problem is that usually those easier throws are the most translatable to the league. I guess we will see what happens when the real games start...