Doyle feeding the flames

[JAFF]

Do love the way he uses the word cahoots

INDIANAPOLIS – Jonathan Taylor is still with the Indianapolis Colts, but not really. He’s on the Physically Unable to Perform list, inactive for the first four games, which gives the Colts more time to make his dreams come true while the rest of us suffer through this nightmare of Taylor’s creation.

News: Insider Joel Erickson: Jonathan Taylor remains with Colts at roster cutdown, still on PUP

Make no mistake: A story as ugly as this must have a bad guy, and that’s Taylor. It’s also his agent, no question, but who works for whom? Taylor’s agent, who made his bones representing pro rasslin’ heels, has turned Taylor into the real thing. But only because Taylor let him.


Enough about Malki Kawa. He’s the agent, but he’s just a symptom. Jonathan Taylor is the bad guy, the disease, and unless something changes – his address, his attitude – the Colts had better hope he’s not contagious. Because Taylor is, or at least was, popular in the locker room. Before hiring Kawa earlier this year he’d been a humble superstar, a delight to have around, and maybe he remains that way in the locker room. Doubt it, but that’s the story you hear coming from various teammates.

Then again, this is a story full of liars. Taylor and the Colts can’t agree on a contract, clearly, but they’re in cahoots on one thing:

Taylor’s spot on the PUP list.

If I’m the NFL, when the 53-man roster deadline passed Tuesday at 4 p.m. and Taylor was still on the Colts – still on the PUP list – at 4:01 I’d have been calling Colts owner Jim Irsay or Colts general manager Chris Ballard. And I’d have been demanding medical records, X-rays and results of lie detector tests.


Because if I’m the NFL, I’m not convinced Taylor’s injured.

Do I know he’s not injured? No. Haven’t examined himself, have I? I’ve not examined the sun, either, and I’m here to tell you: It’s hotter than hell.

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (28) makes his way around the field Friday, July 28, 2023, during an indoor practice at Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana.
So am I, about the lies and greed at the center of the Jonathan Taylor situation. You should be hot, too, if you root for the Colts.

Because Taylor is playing for one team now, and it’s not the name on the front of his jersey.

Franchise tag, meet Jonathan Taylor

Jonathan Taylor needs to be punished. But wait, you’re saying, isn’t he already being punished?

Not. Even. Close.

Bud.

Taylor has one year remaining on his four-year rookie deal from 2020, which is worth $4.3 million this season. The Colts control his rights for two additional years thanks to the franchise tag, which would give them the option of extending Taylor in 2024 and ’25 for reasons that are complicated – but you can understand this number: $20 million. That’s how much Taylor would earn, roughly, in 2024 and ‘25.

Math made simple: If he stays healthy, Taylor stands to earn nearly $25 million in the next three seasons alone. That sentence isn’t good enough for him, for a reason we can all understand. Those first four words:

If he stays healthy.

More:Colts roster cuts tracker ahead of Tuesday’s NFL deadline

No guarantees in the NFL, three letters also short for “Not For Long.” Players get hurt. Players like Taylor, who have the ball in their hands more than 300 times a year? They get hurt a lot, whether an injury that ends their career or one that changes who they are, from NFL rushing leader making $10 million in one season to just another guy making a fraction of that.

Taylor wants security, and you understand that. But his methods are pathetic. He’s flexing and pouting and leaving camp and coming back and leaving again and refusing to play and insisting he’s injured and the Colts are playing along because, silly Colts, they still hope they can salvage this relationship.

And maybe they can. Maybe Taylor plays again for the home team at Lucas Oil Stadium, where his gigantic picture hangs from one of the stadium’s exterior walls. See that guy in the No. 28? That’s Jonathan Taylor. One day we’ll tell our kids we saw him play here, back in the day.

One day we’ll tell our kids he was a good guy, farther back in the day.

Punish him, Colts

How do the Colts punish Taylor, anyway? By placing him on the Non-Football Injury list or another such list that would allow the Colts to withhold his salary. The NFI, same as the four-year contract worth $7.8 million Taylor signed as a second-round pick in 2020 – same as the franchise tag the Colts could assign him in 2024 and ’25 – was collectively bargained by the NFL and the NFLPA.

In other words, as he tries to get what he wants, Jonathan Taylor is ignoring policies he’s agreed to uphold. Who does he think he is, the IHSAA?

Anyway.

Doyel last week: IHSAA now ignoring its own rules to stick it to kids

Putting Taylor on something like the Non-Football Injury list would be a declaration of war by the Colts – finally – after all the declarations launched by Taylor and his overmatched agent, but it would hinge on one thing: Taylor’s “injury.”

If he’s injured, truly injured, he can’t be put on that list. That wouldn’t be fair. Taylor did have surgery on his ankle on Jan. 25, but it was minor. IndyStar Colts insider Nate Atkins reports the rehabilitation takes two to four weeks. Know how long it’s been since Jan. 25?

Seven months and four days.


Either Taylor and the Colts are lying about his injury, or something terrible has gone wrong in his rehab, which we’ve seen before around here. Think Andrew Luck. Think Shaq Leonard.

Think Jonathan Taylor is going through it, too? Me neither.

We’re the ones going through it now, this interminable wait for another update, as we experienced Tuesday as 4 p.m. crept closer and we were refreshing our favorite social media feed or newspaper website – try ours – for news on Taylor.



The Colts gave Taylor and his agent that 4 p.m. deadline because it’s the only way this team, and others around the NFL, can manage the 53-man roster. But tomorrow is a new day, as is the next one, and the next one. Don’t go refreshing your favorite social media feed or newspaper website – try ours – for news on Taylor, but understand something: The trade could be announced at any moment, now that teams have their 53-man rosters set.

Watch what happens Wednesday, when the Colts and most of the other 31 teams make tweaks to their rosters based on players released around the league. Some of those players will latch on with another team, which will require that team to get rid of someone to make room. It’s a particularly cutthroat time of year in a cutthroat business, but NFL players knew what they were signing up to do.

That includes Jonathan Taylor. You signed up for this, Taylor. These are the rules negotiated by your own union. See that gigantic picture outside Lucas Oil Stadium? That’s you, from another time, when you were running wild and everyone loved you.