Dolphins, Colts continue Taylor talks: ‘This is a guy that could put them over the top’
The Dolphins and Colts have continued discussions on a Jonathan Taylor trade, with at least one other team also believed to have made a serious offer to acquire the 2021 All Pro running back.
Miami has made at least one offer, that was not accepted, and continues to engage the Colts in negotiations, according to a source.
Denver and Chicago are among other teams that reportedly have expressed interest.
As of Thursday morning, no team was believed to have met Indianapolis’ request for a first-round pick or something comparable in value.
Taylor has a home in South Florida and trains here in the offseason and would be happy with a trade to Miami, according to a source. But he also would be happy with a trade to several other teams.
Taylor is due to make $4.3 million this season, in the final year of his rookie contract, and would like a trade because the Colts have refused to give him a new deal. Indianapolis has given Taylor and his agent, Malki Kawa, permission to seek a trade.
The Colts would prefer to trade him before that loose Tuesday deadline, according to a source. Former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum said on ESPN that he believes a trade is “very, very unlikely” by Tuesday.
But NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said: “I’ll be surprised if he plays for them. It is possible; I just don’t know it will happen. This is a relationship that is not good, not good. It’s hard for me to imagine he just comes back and everything is fine.”
Taylor is on the Colts’ PUP list and traveled with the team to Philadelphia for a preseason game on Thursday night.
ESPN’s Louis Riddick, the former Eagles personnel executive, said of the Dolphins and Taylor: “This is a guy that could put them over the top as far as his ability to be an inside/outside home run threat in that offense that will pose a problem for defenses that not many offenses do because of their speed and ability to defend every blade of grass. [It] forces you as a defense to play with light boxes because you’re so scared to death of them going over the top.
“Jonathan Taylor is a difference-maker. If you put him in Dallas, Buffalo, Miami, he is going to be someone at the end of the year that you’re going to say, ‘That was the difference.’ He’s that kind of player. He’s [the Colts’] best player and best person.”
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky said the Dolphins should make the trade if it’s “reasonable. The Dolphins are a Super Bowl contender. This would be a luxury, not a need. They’re a very good football team. This does help their team, no question about it.
“When you look at the space that’s going to be created by the offensive personnel they have, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, the way Mike McDaniel calls plays, the motion that you’ll use, this will only help their offense. Does it vault them into being a Super Bowl contender? No, because they already are. But it definitely improves it.”
Tannenbaum said if he were Taylor’s agent, he would be “pissed. I’m saying, ‘you put me in the worst situation possible. You gave me permission around this time of year?! If you had given me permission in March when there’s the most amount of cap room, the most amount of draft choices, I’m going to be, whatever, a Dolphin, a Bill, a Cowboy. But to do this to me now is unfair.’”
Tannenbaum said Colts owner “Jim Irsay is a smart and calculating albeit eccentric owner. He knows exactly what he’s doing. What he wants to say on Tuesday is, ‘Look, the market is the market; you didn’t get what you wanted.’ [But] that’s not the case. It’s the timing of it and Taylor is going to have to decide, am I going to play or have a hold in?”
Though it’s possible the Colts could keep him beyond Tuesday, they have been serious in exploring trade possibilities over the past two days, according to a source.