Jonathan Taylor is entering the final season of his three-year, $42 million contract, and the Indianapolis Colts have yet to move on a new deal. ESPN lists Taylor among three cornerstone Colts — along with Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner — heading into contract years with unsettled futures.
The numbers explain why Taylor’s side would want to talk. His $14 million average annual value sat at the top of the running back market when he signed in October 2023, but several backs have passed him since. He has also answered the durability question that shadowed that negotiation, stacking consecutive seasons of 300-plus carries without the soft-tissue interruptions that once dotted his file.
Indianapolis has spent this offseason’s money elsewhere. The front office committed a two-year, $88 million contract to quarterback Daniel Jones as he works back from a torn Achilles, re-signed receiver Alec Pierce to a long-term extension, and has shown little public urgency on the veterans whose deals run out after 2026.
My evaluation: this is the roster decision that tells you what kind of team Indianapolis believes it is. A club betting on a quarterback coming off an Achilles tear needs its run game to hold the floor every week, and Taylor is the floor. The counterweight is real — he turns 28 in January, and the same 300-carry seasons that prove his durability also spend his tread. The pragmatic path is a shorter deal that pays him above his current number without chasing the top of the market, done before the season starts. Contract years for franchise backs rarely get quieter as the calendar turns; they get louder.
The window to settle it quietly is short. Colts rookies report to Grand Park on July 27, veterans follow July 28, and camp opens July 29 — the team’s final summer in Westfield before training camp moves to Indianapolis in 2027.
