According to NFL Insider and The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero, the Indianapolis Colts will not move star running back Jonathan Taylor ahead of the league’s Tuesday 4 PM EST trade deadline:
This seems to be the recent league-wide
consensus among NFL insiders, unless Indianapolis was blown away by an offer—which likely would’ve entailed either a “Christian McCaffrey-esque” package or first round draft pick.
While the New York Giants reportedly recently offered a second round pick, plus a little more in draft pick compensation, the Colts immediately responded with a “no,” and head coach John Harbaugh’s team since withdrew the offer—although that trade negotiation likely still remained fluid the past 48 hours, subject to possible change.
On the season, Taylor has 161 carries for 656 total rushing yards and 8 rushing touchdowns, but has seen his workload limited in recent weeks, as the Colts attempted to keep him healthy for a potential trade opportunity.
Likewise, Taylor hasn’t been running like himself the past two weeks, perhaps making some “business decisions” before he would’ve imminently joined a new team.
He had an untimely red zone fumble late in last Sunday’s home loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and has lost a fumble in 3 of his last 4 games, so his ball security needs to improve.
That being said, since he’s staying in Indianapolis, I would expect to see the Colts give Taylor closer to 20 carries going forward, while having rookie running back Seth McGowan playing a more prominent role as a change-of-base rusher to keep Taylor fresher down the stretch and limit his mileage during what’s another lost season.
Taylor is one of those running backs who gets better the more touches he gets, wearing out the opposing defense with “body shots”, before a lot of times, finally breaking off a big run for the TKO. I would expect him to look more like his old self, now that he knows he’s staying in Indianapolis for the remainder of the 2026 campaign and will assume his prominent role within the Colts offense again.
