Saturday saw a roughly hour-long meeting between Jim Irsay and Colts star running back Jonathan Taylor, who’s in the middle of a contract situation, turn into a trade request.
Speaking on the interaction, the Indianapolis owner told WISH-TV: “I don’t need to clear the air but I just needed to remind him that no one treats his players better than this franchise.”
“I don’t need to clear the air but I just needed to remind him that no one treats his players better than this franchise.” #Colts owner Jim Irsay on the contract controversy with Jonathan Taylor @WISH_TV
— Angela Moryan (@SidelineStormer) July 29, 2023
Apparently, Taylor didn’t agree and he ended up asking to be moved according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Two seasons ago, Taylor rushed for 1,811 yards and 20 total touchdowns, but injury and overall franchise disfunction led to a drop-off in production in 2022.
Prior to the meeting, Irsay admitted to ESPN.com’s Stephen Holder that no contract offer had been made to the former All-Pro. Telling the NFL reporter:
We haven’t exchanged any contract numbers with each other or anything like that. So, it’s not like we’re in the midst of that. I think we had a tough season last year. Didn’t win a lot of games. This is a year about coming back together and having a great year and we’re really depending on Jonathan to team up with [rookie QB] Anthony Richardson to try and pull together to have a great year.
This offseason has seen a number of pro running back’s frustrations come to a head, as fewer and fewer are making it to their first big-money contracts. We’ll see where this turns soon.