Doyel: Jonathan Taylor & his agent destroyed Colts but all is forgiven, season has ne

[JAFF]

Doyel: Jonathan Taylor & his agent destroyed Colts but all is forgiven, season has new hope

INDIANAPOLIS – Jonathan Taylor won. So did his agent, Malki Kawa. They won without reservation, without hesitation, without asterisk. They wanted money. They got money. The end.

Other winners: The Indianapolis Colts, who signed Taylor to a three-year deal worth $42 million, with $26.5 million guaranteed. The Colts have assured themselves the rights to one of the best running backs in the NFL through the 2026 season, the second half of the 1-2 punch this franchise, city and fan base have been dreaming of since the Colts selected quarterback and gonzo-athlete Anthony Richardson in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Which means Anthony Richardson won, too. He was knocked from each of his first two NFL starts by crunching hits near the goal line, and while Taylor’s presence on the field wouldn’t necessarily have prevented either from happening, his presence definitely improves the odds that Richardson survives the season. No offense to Zack Moss, the running back who performed beyond admirably – 280 yards on 66 carries in three games – in Taylor’s absence.


Which means Moss won, too. Playing so tough with a recently broken arm, he earned himself all kinds of credit here, and some money, somewhere, after the season. With Taylor back, he won’t take nearly as much damage the rest of the season. Moss will be just 26 after the season, and as they say around the NFL, he has put his talent on tape.

Insider:Jonathan Taylor signs 3-year contract extension with Indianapolis Colts




Another winner: Colts fans. One of the best running backs in the NFL is back on your team.

Another winner: Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday. Signing Taylor one day before playing the visiting Tennessee Titans – with first place in the AFC South at stake – is a master stroke of genius or luck or both. Bet the house the Colts bring out the offense this week for pregame introductions. Bet the house Jonathan Taylor will be the last one out of the tunnel.


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And playing running back, No. 28, Jona—

Not like you’ll be able to hear the rest of it.

Lots of winners here. Among the losers? Some of the winners, actually. The fans lost a little. The Colts lost a lot.

And some of us in the media, well, we need to enter the concussion tent. Because we just got knocked out cold.


OK, I did.

Doyel in July:What is Jonathan Taylor doing? His agent's a moron!

Doyel on Thursday:Jonathan Taylor doesn't want to be here anymore

Fans lost some, Colts more, Doyel a lot

How could the Colts (and their fans) possibly have lost?

By losing four games of Taylor’s services, which before the season didn’t look like much. The Colts were going to stink this season. Everyone said so, some of us more stringently than others. This roster is not good enough – these receivers, those cornerbacks, that depth – but the defensive front seven has been exceptional, the quarterback play has been solid, and kicker Matt Gay won a game all by himself.

The Colts are 2-2, but who knows what their record would be with Taylor. Would it have been 3-1, or even 4-0? If the 2023 NFL season is truly worth caring about around here – if we’re not just marking time until the 2024 NFL Draft – the Colts needed Taylor for 17 games, not 13.

Doyel was nice in 2018:Jack Doyle and other Colts throw homeless kids a magical party

And in 2019:For Colts Kenny Moore, this is a friendship, not a photo op

More in a minute on the Colts, but we’ve put this off long enough. Here goes:

The biggest losers are folks like me – was there anyone else in this market like me? – who saw what Taylor and his agent were doing it and hated it and had the gall to write those words.

We have become soft as a population, unable to handle opinions we don’t share or see objectively what is happening. For three months Jonathan Taylor has objectively been a bad teammate, unworthy of the devotion he has received in some corners. He wasn’t faking an injury – the ankle surgery was real – but he has faked the duration of rehabilitation, using 10 months to “heal” after a surgery that typically requires 2-4 weeks.


It’s despicable, what he did, and I saw it and wrote about it. Look, part of this job is to see things objectively and write exactly what I think. Sometimes, objectively speaking, I greatly admire Kenny Moore II and Jack Doyle and the way the Colts show up in droves for community service each Monday. Sometimes I think Chris Ballard is doing a great job and Shane Steichen has coaching charisma for days and Jim Irsay and his daughters are heroes for the way they’ve gone public with the family’s mental health history. I wrote all of that.

Doyel in 2022:Irsay family shares mental health story to heal, and to help

Doyel last month:City falling in love with Shane Steichen, and the city isn't wrong

Taylor was a jerk.

I wrote it, and if this story had gone another way – if he’d held out some more or faked his rehab longer and eventually forced his way out of town – then history would’ve shown I was right the whole time. It’s possible I would’ve used the next decade to remind you of that, but I like to think I’ve matured after gloating for years BECAUSE I WAS RIGHT IN 2018 ABOUT THAT WEASEL JOSH MCDANIELS.

Whatever. Taylor is sticking around. He won, which means people like me – anyone else in this market have the stones (or job description) to say what I said? – are the biggest losers. So be it.

Meanwhile, don’t look now, but I’m about to do it again. Write something less than glowing. How dare I!


Colts talked tough, then rolled over

The Colts blinked.

Hand it to Taylor and his agent, Kawa. They dared the Colts to be tough, to fine or even suspend Taylor for his blatant holdout, and the Colts wouldn’t do it.

Oh, the Colts talked a big game. Ballard mentioned his health, even the team’s losing record last season, as reasons not to give Taylor what he wanted. The Colts even used various mouthpieces in the national media to suggest they were considering placing Taylor on the Non-Football Injury list, which would’ve meant stopping his paychecks. That would’ve been a declaration of war – it would’ve won the war – but the Colts didn’t have it in them.

Meet the Colts Insiders: Talking Colts football with reporters Nate and Joel

The Colts have become the NFL Players Association’s best friend, propping up the market for positions of lesser value – offensive guard (Quenton Nelson: four years, $80 million), inside linebacker (Shaquille Leonard: five years, $98.5 million) and now running back (Taylor: three years, $42 million).

Behind closed doors, the business of the NFL is one giant game of poker, everything a negotiation, and the Colts just showed their hand: They are bluffers who will fold. Wait them out. They’ll blink. They won the rights to Taylor, but what did they lose down the road? We’ll see, because it’ll happen the next time someone wants more money than the Colts want to pay, and that someone – Michael Pittman next year? Anthony Richardson down the road? – acts tough and waits for the Colts to do what they do … fold.

This is good, you might be saying as a Colts fan. What does it matter? Pay these guys whatever they want!



Building a roster is a long game, with too many holes for any team to completely fill, but the Colts will always have one or two more holes than necessary because they’ve overpaid, well, everyone.

Nelson, Leonard, Taylor … that’s almost 21% of the Colts’ salary cap for the 2024 season, and while those are premium players, those aren’t premium positions. Can the Colts seriously contend for a deep playoff run? The math doesn’t work, but having a franchise quarterback on a rookie deal helps. And if Anthony Richardson is as good as we all hope he is, well, the math doesn’t need to work. As I’ve written, Richardson’s fabulously unique game already defies arithmetic.

As for what the Colts look like in 2024 and beyond, well, we’ll just have to see. What do I think? I don’t. My soothsaying button is broken. It’s in the concussion tent, along with the rest of me, after losing the Jonathan Taylor story by knockout.

Besides, I’m going to be like you on Sunday – approaching the Colts game with enhanced interest bordering on fascination, and listening as the sellout crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium welcomes Jonathan Taylor back into its heart.