Jonathan Taylor won’t say if wanted to stay with Colts but he’d love to talk about the Dolphins

INDIANAPOLIS – Jonathan Taylor is never going to tell us whether he truly wants to be here or if he requested a trade.

All we know is that Sunday – and for at least seven games more after that – the 2020 second-round pick will remain the focal point of a struggling Indianapolis Colts offense, after principal team owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon and assistant general manager Ed Dodds were not moved to ship Taylor to a present-day contender at the trade deadline. 

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What happens in March at the opening of free agency and is beyond anyone’s guess – even if the prevailing logic suggests holding onto a running back in his late-20s on one of the most expensive deals in the league as part of a roster being torn down to the studs is poor financial and roster management.

“What do you mean?” Taylor said to close his weekly press conference Thursday with local media, when asked whether he was willing to be part of the Colts’ impending rebuild – something he had to actively be told by the media was, indeed, beginning to take place two weeks ago. “The moves have already been made. 

“It’s time to go win versus Miami, baby.”

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See Colts RB Jonathan Taylor through the years

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See Colts RB Jonathan Taylor through the years

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See Colts RB Jonathan Taylor through the years

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See Colts RB Jonathan Taylor through the years

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See Colts RB Jonathan Taylor through the years

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See Colts RB Jonathan Taylor through the years

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Forty-eight hours removed from the deadline, Taylor said repeatedly Thursday that it’s “back to our regularly scheduled programming.” The Colts star running back did his best to portray himself as a veteran player who was so completely umoved by the trade deadline drama — even if his wife’s social media presence suggested the mood around their house was a bit different.

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“I just knew that anything could happen, so there wasn’t any thought (of it),” Taylor said of whether he was surprised he remained a Colt through the deadline and how he went about Tuesday. “It was just a regularly scheduled Tuesday with body work to just get ready for Wednesday.”

Was that hard?

“No, it’s been going on for weeks, so it’s just regularly scheduled programming on Tuesday,” Taylor repeated. 

Did you want to be traded?

“No, it’s just regularly scheduled programming. Like, it’s all water under the bridge now,” Taylor said – which of course, is not an answer either way, which has been the Colts star’s position for two weeks. “That’s why I was excited to come see you guys, ’cause I thought we were going to talk about the Miami Dolphins now, cause you were all sick of it.”

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He’s partially right, because Sunday’s home game against the lowly 1-7 Dolphins offers Indianapolis its first game as favorites in several weeks, as the Colts hope to snap a five-game losing streak as losers of 14 of 16, dating back to Week 12 of last season. And it’s that streak – just one shy of a full season – that also carries a significant streak for Taylor, who could go a full season’s worth of games without a 100-yard performance. His last came in Week 10 of last season, when he went for 244 on 32 carries against the Falcons in Germany.

In the 16 games since, Taylor has 1,102 rushing yards on 295 carries, leaving him averaging 3.7 yards per carry in the midst of a stretch the Colts began with an injured starting quarterback (followed by a quarterback carousel with Philip Rivers and Riley Leonard) and then continued this season largely without a downfield passing attack.

Taylor and the Colts will try to right the ship against a middle-of-the-road rush defense in Miami (111.8 yards per game, 17th-most in the league; 3.8 yards per carry, 25th-most in the NFL). For what it’s worth, Taylor’s 13 carries for 46 yards against the Cowboys on Sunday (3.5 yards per carry) came against the least effective unit in the league. The Colts’ 23 rushes for 105 yards in Week 9, actually moved the Cowboys up a spot to just the second-worst in the NFL this season.

In the wake of the Colts trading All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson, Taylor said he’s spent considerable time not only talking to coaches but the other offensive linemen to get on the same page of what a Nelson-less offensive line attack should and will look like. In Nelson’s stead, rookie guard Jalen Farmer has struggled at times but Taylor said he’s confident the fourth-round pick will come around.

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Whether Taylor wants to believe it or not, more rough roads – perhaps even rougher – loom on the horizon, depending on how long the 27-year-old remains on the roster. The team’s No. 1 offensive weapon said all the right things for a player willing and ready to get the Colts back where Irsay-Gordon, the coaching staff and Taylor himself wants them to be, and Taylor said he trusts the powers-that-be have a roadmap for the future – even if that hasn’t been shared with him.

“Yeah, that’s way above my paygrade. Those are some hard decisions you have to make, and I’m glad that I don’t have to make those,” Taylor said. “I’m glad I just have to come here and make sure I’m at my best every single day for my coaches and teammates.

“The best thing to help us is to go out and execute and get a win against Miami.”

Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Coltsall season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Jonathan Taylor won’t say if wanted to stay with Colts but he’d love to talk about the Dolphins

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