Shive

I don't think Ballard is the problem. Irsay staying out of it and letting Ballard and Steichen work things out with JT is the only way things get patched up, in my opinion.

I think there's a possibility that the Saturday pressuring JT narrative can be true, even with JT's initial comments about wanting to retire here. He's always been a guy that "says the right things", almost to a fault. I see that as the JT we've known since drafting him. It's absolutely possible that he wasn't happy about the events with Saturday, but kept "saying the right things" hoping he would get his extension like he's seen all of the other all-pros get from Ballard. When he was told that wasn't happening, he had had enough and we saw what happened. This is all hearsay and conjecture, so I don't want to present it as fact. In my opinion, this has felt like more than just a dispute over the contract, so that's where I can see this narrative as a possibility. I honestly think the narrative paints Saturday in a poor light and not necessarily the organization as a whole. The local guys that have been talking about this narrative haven't been talking about it in a way that makes the organization look bad. The national media talking have absolutely been doing that though, especially with the "wild" trade asks Ballard made, aka if you make me an offer I can't refuse, we can make a deal. The two guys that have talked about this haven't done it in a way that is clickbaity or trying to get attention. I'm actually a bit shocked at how low key they've been about it. They had a few tweets talking about it and Shaad mentioned it during his usual live stream on YT, but that's about it. They've also both been consistent with backing the Colts on not paying JT this season and why it makes sense for the team.

Glad we got Agim on the PS. He looked good in the preseason.

You don't have to, but all of the local beat writers have been saying that its not just the contract and that the issues run deeper and further back than this past spring. I imagine the truth will eventually come out, but for now, we'll all be believing the narrative that makes sense for us.

The assertions I've seen have been that Saturday pressured Taylor into playing when he wasn't ready, Taylor ended up playing (nobody made him, but guilt tripping someone into doing something is a real thing), made his ankle worse, then when he wanted to start talking contract extension, the same team says "sorry, not with your hurt ankle". That's paraphrasing a bit, but in essence that's where this all started. Saturday trying to get some wins to get the full-time job... Its not verified fact, but from an individual that has been consistent with sources inside the organization. I think it also explains why things escalated the way they did.

The corresponding moves.

I remember him being pretty explosive off the line. Not a bad pickup, even if it's for depth.

And there it is.

Its all about the timing of events and when you can place someone on IR with the designation to return. They had to have the 3 roster cuts to make room for the waiver claims before that designation could be made.

Expectations/thoughts seem to be that McKenzie will be resigned after Woods goes on IR today.

He technically can be traded while on PUP, but since he'd be out the first 4 games, he would take up an active roster spot until he could play, which lessens the chance another team would want to trade for him while on the PUP. I think she was referring to a prior tweet about the Colts potentially being able to use the "conduct detrimental to the team" hammer if Taylor doesn't get a physical by the end of the 4 weeks on PUP.

Pride? Bad advice? His camp pretty much got their bluff called and has no leverage at all right now. I'm hoping the next 4ish weeks on PUP will give him some time to reflect and make a decision on how he wants to proceed. I think that's the basics of it for sure, but I think the tactics and PR along the way have largely been driven by his agent.

He chose the agent, but I also believe part of that was the agent's connection to one of his teammates that just got a large contract. If he wasn't satisfied with the agent he had, why not switch to one that your friend trusts and you saw get a sizeable contract for. The message he was most likely being told was "even with the injury, you're one of the top RBs in the league and deserve to be paid like one with a market-setting contract". That would be enough for a lot of people in that position.

Some people take their sports teams personally and want to be able to justify their personal frustration/hatred towards a player. I think that narrative is just a way for people to justify blaming solely JT in this whole thing. He would have to be a legitimate sociopath to be able to fake it consistently for years. There wasn't the faintest whisper of an attitude issue with JT, even in college.

I'd agree if this was FA, but he likes the waiver wire, especially with the weak depth we have.

I don't think that's exactly true. With the abrupt 180 immediately after changing agents, I can't help but believe he's the one mostly responsible for this. Since he was already Leonard's agent, there's an easier buy-in for JT having seen this agent get his buddy the contract he did. Not to mention that there's a lot of power in creating an "us vs them" scenario. Again, JT is a smart guy, but smart people aren't immune from being manipulated.

If he's on PUP at the end of week 6, his contract gets tolled, meaning he starts the next season with the same number of years left on his rookie contract. The best thing JT can do at this point is suck up his pride, report when healthy, and ball out to earn a new contract. The way he's headed could spell the end of his career, or at least ruin any chance he has at landing a sizeable contract.

He had a hip injury coming out of the Bears game. I knew the piece about having to go straight to the 53 man roster if claimed, but didn't consider the injury possibly deterring other teams. Here's hoping we can stash him.

There were a lot of projections that had him going that high. Just have to hope he makes it through to the PS now.

I still wonder if this plays out the same way if that RB call never happens, although the switch in agent seems to have been the main catalyst. JT is a really intelligent guy and sometimes even the smartest people can get manipulated by hearing someone tell them what they want to hear.

1. I'm thinking it's the latter. We knew he'd need a few years of development based on the jump in level of competition, although he looked decent in the preseason. 2. 100%. 3. I think Brown has the ST advantage over Lammons, but who knows which they'll be prioritizing. 4. Not at all. He really earned that spot. 5. Shocked. As much as they talked him up in the offseason, I expected him to make the 53. He's a guy that I could see getting snatched up off the waiver wire. 6. A LOT

Tomorrow at 12pm ET, which is also when the waiver claims are awarded.