The Indianapolis Colts have granted Jonathan Taylor permission to speak with other teams regarding a trade, a change in their posture since Taylor's trade request a few weeks back, and a sign that the star running back could finally be on the move.
Taylor requested a trade from the Colts after the team refused to engage in discussions on a contract extension, and while owner Jim Irsay initially publicly said the team would not trade Taylor, they appear to have softened their stance. According to multiple reports, the Colts will be looking for a first-round pick or a package that "equates" to a first-rounder, though that isn't the only hurdle to getting a deal done.
Taylor is presumably still looking for a big extension from whichever team trades for him, which would significantly dampen the enthusiasm for him in any trade discussions. If it was just a question of football fit, every single team in the league would probably love to have a player like Taylor on their roster – remember, he led the league in rushing yards and touchdowns in 2021 and is just 24. However, Taylor is coming off a down season and offseason ankle surgery for which he hasn't yet been cleared to participate in training camp – though something tells me clearance would come fairly quickly in the event of a trade or new contract.
Finding a team that would be willing to give up a significant package for Taylor is tough enough; finding one that would be willing to give him an extension on top of that might be impossible. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the bet the Colts are making here.
Still, if they are serious about trading Taylor, it could finally bring this saga to an end, and that would be great news for Fantasy – Taylor was a top-10 player in my rankings before his trade request/hold-in/training camp absence. If Taylor announced he was willing to play for the Colts right now, I'd move him back into my top 10, but the range of potential outcomes is a bit wider if he were to be traded.
So, let's look at five potential landing spots for Taylor that make sense from a real NFL perspective, and then try to figure out where he'd rank in Fantasy with those new squads.
Miami Dolphins
I talked myself into the Dolphins as a logical landing spot for Taylor for a lot of reasons. For one, it's just a good football fit – Taylor is an explosive runner who would give Miami another sub-4.40 40-yard dash guy for defenses to have to contend with. The Dolphins have emphasized speed all over the offense, and that's been true at running back. Taylor would fit in well while giving them a true Alpha No. 1 RB, just like Mike McDaniel's former boss Kyle Shanahan went out and got in Christian McCaffrey a year ago.
It also makes sense given how Miami approaches team building – while they haven't invested much in the RB position specifically, this is a team that wants to make a splash. We saw it with the acquisition of Tyreek Hill last offseason, obviously, but they also gave up a first-round pick for Bradley Chubb and gave him a massive extension at the deadline last year. There's precedent for this kind of move in Miami, and with Tua Tagovailoa on his rookie contract for another year after this one, the Dolphins could view this as a chance to push their chips all-in and make a real run.
I'm not sure this would be the best landing spot for Taylor for Fantasy, but it's the one that might make the most sense from a real football perspective – and the Dolphins are reportedly expected to look into the trade, at least. And Taylor would still be a clear RB1 and a likely second-round pick for Fantasy in Miami.
Washington Commanders
I hadn't really considered the Commanders as a possible landing spot until talking it over in our Fantasy Football Slack, but it makes sense. The Commanders have a new owner who might be looking to make a splash to get the fan base excited, and Ron Rivera has talked about wanting a run-first offense – something that would make sense given Sam Howell's lack of experience. Brian Robinson and Antonio Gibson are a decent combination, but Taylor is a difference maker that neither can really compete with.
New offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy comes from the pass-first-second-and-third Chiefs, but he's also a former running back himself, so he'd likely relish the opportunity to coach a player like Taylor. This is one situation where it wouldn't be hard to see Taylor getting to 300-plus carries as an offensive focal point, and they've got the cap flexibility to potentially take on a Taylor extension without regretting it too much. It's not a great offense, but Taylor's thrived in not-great offenses before. He'd probably go back to being a top-10 pick for me here.
Chicago Bears
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this one, but it would certainly be fun to watch opposing defenses try to handle Taylor and Justin Fields in the same backfield. The Bears have a ton of cap flexibility with Fields still on his rookie contract, and Taylor would give them another explosive playmaker, something that was an obvious priority for them this offseason as they try to give Fields the tools he needs to thrive.
The only issue here would be a lack of pass-catching upside for Taylor, as the Bears threw just 61 passes to their backs last season, the lowest number in the NFL. Fields is much more likely to take off and scramble than dump it off to a running back, so Taylor would have to be an elite runner on huge volume to be an elite Fantasy RB ... you know, like he did in 2021. Taylor might be able to repeat 2021's 5.5 yards per carry playing next to Fields, and he'd be the unquestioned lead runner – all that talk about the Bears wanting to use multiple backs would go away if they acquired Taylor. With fourth-rounder Roschon Johnson around as potential trade bait for the Colts, there could be a fit here, and I think Taylor would be back in the Round 1 conversation for me here.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs don't have much cap space right now, but they could come up with some fairly easily if they needed to – Patrick Mahomes' contract gives them a lot of flexibility when it comes to restructuring, given how long it is. The question here is whether they'd want to make a big splash on a running back. Again.
Remember, the Chiefs actually passed on Taylor in the 2020 NFL Draft, opting to take Clyde Edwards-Helaire with the last pick of the first round instead coming off their first Super Bowl win. That shows that they have viewed the RB position as one worth investing in recently, though their success despite getting almost nothing noteworthy out of Edwards-Helaire over the past three seasons might have proven that they don't need much from their running backs to succeed.
I lean toward this not being an especially great fit from a football perspective, though if they did decide to go through with it, it's not hard to see how Taylor would be a high-end Fantasy option. They've been extremely pass-heavy over the past few years, but I think a team that figures to play from ahead as often as the Chiefs do can find 275 or so carries for a player like Taylor – and probably 45 or 50 targets, including a bunch of creative, impossible-to-stop stuff near the goal line. Taylor wouldn't be a slam-dunk first-rounder for me in KC, but he'd definitely be in the conversation.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys have less than $1 million committed to their running back room for 2024, so while this may not be the most natural landing spot for this season, you can see how it might appeal to Jerry Jones as the next great Cowboys RB. The Ezekiel Elliott era may have soured them on the idea of paying top dollar for a running back on a long-term deal, but if the Cowboys want a difference maker at the position, Taylor is that.
It would obviously complicate things from a 2023 perspective, given the presence of Tony Pollard. Of course, this is the team that gave Ezekiel Elliott 15.4 carries and 1.5 targets per game alongside Pollard last season, so they could make it work. From a Fantasy standpoint, this would probably be a pretty bad outcome for both Taylor and Pollard, though both could be efficient enough to be low-end RB1s even splitting a backfield, though it's hard to make the math work out precisely. Taylor would be a high-end RB2 and a third-round pick for me in Dallas, while Pollard would be more like a high-upside RB2, worth targeting in the fourth or fifth round.
