NewColtsFan

Reminder…. JT is not on the same clock as Barkley, Jacob’s, Pollard…. They had to have their deals done by today. Taylor did not. The Colts can still sign him or tag him next year and the year after if need be.

The Raiders and Giants agree? Both teams tried to sign their RB to a multi-year deal. They wanted to but couldn’t come to terms. How is that agreeing?

Thanks, I have not seen that before. With RB salaries either flat lining or going down, it’s hard to wrap my mind around the tag going up from $10.1 to $13.1. I wonder if this will hold? Wonder if/when it will get updated? Anyway, thanks for the good 411.

“Tag him at $13 mill in 24” ??? Sorry, you lost me. Everything I’ve read projects the tag for JT in 24 will be $10.1, the same as the RB tag this year. Then a second tag in 25 would be $12.2, with the 20 percent bump. I’ve seen that in multiple stories. But you’ve written a $13 mill tag for 24. Is that a typo, or do you see another way to calculate?

I suspect Hopkins is going to Tenn because they’re offering the most money, perhaps by a wide margin. Pure and simple.

I recognize that JT does most of his damage between the tackles. But I also have strong memories of the first two years of sweeps left and right behind pulling lineman like Nelson and AC and Smith. So Taylor can go wide. The Colts did less of that last year, but as Superman noted the Colts OL was a hot mess, and the entire offense lacked basic coordination. I’m cautiously hopeful that things have to get better this year.

Likely somewhere in the middle… The first month or two will probably have a lot of growing pains. And the last half of the year will hopefully show good progress. I don’t know how competitive the Colts will be in the first half, but I hope they’ll be much more competitive in the second half of the season. Last year we were a joke. This year we’re rebuilding. That’s not the same. Better days should be ahead, but patience will be important.

I think Jonathan Taylor is capable of being any type of runner he wants to be. He can be a straight line down hill runner, and he can also be a zone runner capable of hitting any hole the blocking gives him. I don’t think there are any restrictions to what JT can do.

To be clear…. The Colts don’t want a high touchback rate. They want the ball kicked somewhere between the 5 and the goal line. The Colts want to force a return. They believe they can stop the return before the 25 yard line and gain a competitive advantage — even if it seems slight. And before his injury, Sanchez was really good at placing the ball where the opponents were forced to return. We’ll soon find out if he has that gift.

I hate to break it to you….. This is at least the second time, maybe even the third time this off-season you’ve written that statement. Careful! A few more like that and it could ruin your reputation!

I think Steichen would LOVE to sign Taylor. He is BY FAR our best offensive weapon. A weapon the defense must account for on every play he’s on the field. You don’t get rid of guys like that easily unless you stumble into a very good replacement. The Colts have no one on the roster anywhere near as good. You cannot replace Taylor easily. There are two issues. Talent and salary. Each has to be considered. Remember, Ballard says he and Steichen share many viewpoints, so I’m not sure if your view of Steichen wanting to shed Taylor like unwanted baggage holds much water. The Colts could offer JT a contract much bigger than you’d like, but Taylor and his agent could still reject it as unacceptable. Odds are none of us will know about the offer unless the two sides agree to a contract.

The report says the deal will be 2-years with the first year worth a minimum of $13 mill which could become $15 mill. Not many other details. I’m sure they’ll come out in the next few days.

The person who wrote this projection used to be a regular here. I don’t believe he’s a regular here anymore. Not sure if he ever posts here at all. Back then, he wanted to be a journalist so he could cover the NFL. He was a teenager when he was here.., 15 and 16. I’d guess he’s roughly 25 now. Andrew writes for Stampede on a variety of topics ranging for the draft, free agency and contracts. I’ll try to be diplomatic in case he lurks here…. I don’t find him to be a very effective writer. And we’ll leave it at that. By the way, for the record…. I’m on record as saying I’m fine if we tag Taylor twice if need be. But if we hope to sign him, I’d try for 3 years, $40 mill…. $13.3 mill per, which would make him the 3rd highest paid RB. The bigger question is…. How much would be guaranteed? That’s typically the biggest hurdle in negotiations.

Ballard doesn’t have to tag Taylor this year. His rookie contract has one more year, this year. JT is not on the same clock as Barkley. Ballard can tag Taylor in 24, and again in 25. I don’t believe there’s any deadline pressure for Ballard to get a deal done quickly. Maybe there is for Taylor, but I don’t think there is for Ballard.

And for my money, here’s todays winner for Best Post of the Day!

That’s your opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. Some might agree, others would not.

Please stop while you’re behind. Way way behind. I’ve been dealing with you because you asked why I gave you a sad emoji. That launched this ridiculous exchange. I expect more from you than I do from the other poster. That was par for the course from him. But your posts weren’t much better. And if you think otherwise, you’re kidding yourself. This nonsense is exhausting…..

I’ve waited on this a few days, but it seems time to share this thought…. This interview was 18 days before the announcement. Irsay and Ballard said they didn’t hear anything from Luck about retiring until roughly 7-10 days before the announcement. So this video is NOT proof that Luck knew he was going to retire but lied about it. Hate Luck for what he did all you want, but I don’t think you have a case that he lied.

Among the worst takes you’ve ever posted. And that’s saying something. You couldn’t be more wrong.

Please don’t insult me telling me you knew all about Sayers. You made zero positive arguments in his favor and called him the most over-rated RB in the Hall. No one who knows the full Sayers story would ever write the nonsense you’ve written about Sayers. And you’ve trashed the media for what they’ve said about Sayers. More proof that you just don’t get Sayers and his legacy. Not even a little. I didn’t say anything about your 12 RB’s because it’s pointless because it’s just your opinion. It’s not fact, as much as you like to think that your opinion IS fact. You continue to judge players of eras 50 years ago by today’s modern standards. Who cares that a RB didn’t win anything? Plenty of RB’s didn’t. It doesn’t mean a thing. As for Namath, you have no idea — none — what I’m going to say. Absolutely none. As you had no idea what I’d say about Sayers. Was SB3 the highlight if his career? Of course. But there’s plenty more, and I’d bet you know little to none of it. Namath’s career isn’t only about one game, even if it’s the most important part of his career. The idea that you think the NFL passing game hasn’t changed and you can tell who was good or not by the TD/Int ratio is flat out false. You think it’s true, you’ve written that here. It’s not. The football world we all live in these days is dramatically different than the 60’s and 70’s. The performance of almost all quarterbacks back then says so. More to come, even if you won’t read it. Not surprised.

I know it wasn’t your mistake. I was simply clarifying the situation. I knew the actual game the other poster was referencing. A regular season game that featured roughly 900+ yards passing and roughly 85-90 points. A famous shootout for the ages. That’s all.

Please re-Read this post by you again. Then try to tell me how much you know and respect Gale Sayers. The answer is, almost not at all. Despite being 52, you make the same mistake that younger generations make all the time. You judge players from past generations by todays modern standard. Sayers played over 50 years ago and you have no idea how much the game has changed. None. Here's how little you know about Sayers and history. Do you know who Sayers was? He was Barry Sanders before Sanders was even born. He could do things that nobody else could, not even Jim Brown, the best RB of all-time could do. That isn’t to say Sayers was better than Brown — he clearly wasn’t. But he was different. He was shockingly fast and quick, could cut sharply at top speed like no one before him, even on a muddy field. No one had ever seen anything like Sayers. He was electrifying, eye popping and jaw dropping all at the same time. He played during an era when defenses dominated. Defense was way WAY ahead of offense back then. You’ve laughed that Sayers only had two 1,000 yard seasons. Back then, a 1,000 yard season was a huge accomplishment. The second time Sayers did it, he was the ONLY running back to do it that year. No one else. The game was drastically different way back then. The season where Sayers hurt his knee for the first time, he had over 850 yards, but in just 9 games. He was headed for 1300 yards, the type of feat only Jim Brown was doing. As for the injury…. More that you clearly don’t understand. Sayers suffered what was then a catastrophic injury. The type that would end the career for most RBs. But Sayers overcame the injury and while he was never quite the same as prior to his injury, he was still great enough to have another 1,000 yard season before he suffered a second knee injury which ultimately ended his career. The view of Sayers was nothing less than heroic. Sayers has career average per carry of 5.0. Including seasonal averages of 5.2, 5.4, 4.7 and 6.2. Those are crazy numbers. They’d be great today, but back then it was almost incomprehensible. This was at a time that anything over 4.5 almost made you great. For decades, Sayers held the record for most returns for TD with 8, even in a shortened career. He has career punt return averages of nearly 15, and kick off of nearly 31. You keep making arguments based on his career totals. You mock him for not achieving 5,000 yards. Without context (which you don’t offer) they’re almost worthless. You clearly don’t understand NFL history. You clearly don’t understand the importance of Gale Sayers. It’s why you belittle the media who rave about them. But you think they’re all wrong and you’re right. Because you do your homework. Sorry, it’s just not enough. Not even close. Apologies for how long this was. Tomorrow, an equally long post (longer?) about quarterbacks. Your view there also lacks complete context. You think the era has nothing to do with the stat totals. You couldn’t be more wrong. It has everything to do with it. Sorry.

In a regular season game. Not the Super Bowl. The game was one for the ages. Part of NFL history.

You. Don’t. Know. Your. History. Not even a little, Homer. Later, when I have more time, I’ll write a very long post explaining just how wrong you and Jared are about Sayers. Completely. Then, tomorrow, I’ll write one about how wrong you guys are about Namath. Yeah, I know, you said he belongs in the HoF for winning SB3. But his place in history is about much more than just one game.

Young or Stroud.