It is a catch 22.

The Colts would be foolish in the extreme in choosing to pay JT more money prior to seeing if he is still the back that he was pre-injury.

My guess is that JT will not want to play at all until he is guarenteed more money.

Which side breaks first?

I'd just waive him if it gets to that point. Having him would help Richardson, sure. But odds are we're going to stink while Richardson learns. Other RBs are out there. Don't need a cancer around.

Zero upsides in waiving him, let him hold out, he doesn't get paid and doesn't accrue a year towards unrestricted free agency.

I wouldn't offer him anything till
A: He gets healthy and shows he is healthy.
B: Is willing to show he will play and play hard.

I don't know who is going to trade for him AND then pay him top dollar when he is hurt and completely toxic.

There should be a compromise solution between trade me and sign me long term. Something to make him okay with playing this year. I'd offer him a bonus for this year and a promise to give him a decent second contract or trade him if he proves he's still a solid RB. I hated losing Faulk and I'd hate losing Taylor.

We'd all hate to lose Taylor, but he can't do this shit.

There's already a compromise between trade me and sign me long term... play out your fucking contract for $4.3m.

You don't give a kid extra cherries on his sundae for cleaning his room because he's threatening to throw a shit fit in public.

You then risk having an angry malcontent hanging around the locker room poisoning the minds of the other players and causing a huge distraction. I'd waive him before I'd allow that to happen. Just my opinion though.

Only thing worse than him poisoning the locker room would be to give in and teach players if you aren’t happy with your contract make a big deal about it and we’ll let you out of it. Team needs to be both fair and firm. They aren’t screwing JT, so let him whine. If they franchise him next year and never offer a reasonable contract then I may have sympathy for JT. Until then, he needs to shut the fuck up and show why he’s supposedly worth all the money he wants. And if he wants to be a cancer, send his ass home to sit. But you don’t reward him by waiving him.

I agree with you, but I'm of the idea that if he's on the waiver wire, he'll find out from 31 other teams that he's actually worth around $8-10M tops. Nowhere near the $16M he wants now. Maybe he'd come back down to Earth.

Worst thing the Colts could do is cave in and pay him.