Report: Jim Irsay says Colts have not offered contract extension to Jonathan Taylor

Colts owner Jim Irsay told ESPN’s Stephen Holder late Thursday night that the team has not offered a contract extension to running back Jonathan Taylor at all this offseason, a revelation that sheds light on Taylor’s frustrations in his desire for a contract extension.

The decision represents a significant departure from the team’s prior history under the leadership of general manager Chris Ballard.

Taylor is headed into the final season of his rookie contract.

In prior years under Ballard, the Colts have signed center Ryan Kelly, linebacker Shaquille Leonard, right tackle Braden Smith, left guard Quenton Nelson and former running back Nyheim Hines before the final year of their rookie contracts began, and the Colts signed Grover Stewart to a three-year extension during the last year of his rookie deal.

Irsay’s comments made it clear the team has no plans to handle Taylor the same way, even though the former second-round pick has rushed for 3,841 yards and 33 touchdowns in his first three seasons, including an 1,811-yard, 20-touchdown season in 2021.

“We love Jonathan, we need Jonathan," Irsay told ESPN. "Our hope is Jonathan has an outstanding year and that we have a good year as a team and then we get his next contract done. That's the hope. We think the world of him as a person, as a player. It's just timing. When your time comes to get paid, then you get paid.”

Taylor is aware that the timing has been different for other players.

The last time Taylor spoke publicly about his desire for a new contract, the Colts running back referenced the team’s recent history of retaining its own draft picks, a philosophy Ballard has repeatedly made a pillar of his tenure in Indianapolis.

“You look at the past, and guys who have shown their value on and off the field tend to stay here,” Taylor said at the team’s mandatory minicamp in June. “My goal, the first season after I got drafted, I’m like ‘I want to retire a Colt.’ Hopefully the organization sees that the same, because I do.”

But Ballard indicated in his pre-training camp press conference that the team’s calculus has changed.

“I mean, look, our history (of paying players) is really good, but saying that, we’re coming off a 4-win season, we have a new coaching staff, so we’ll kind of let it play out as it does and make those decisions when we need to make those decisions,” Ballard said.

Taylor’s desire for a contract extension has been a storyline throughout the offseason. The running back said in June that his team had approached the Colts about a contract.

Up until the beginning of training camp, it had largely played out behind the scenes but on Wednesday night, Irsay tweeted a rebuttal of the idea that running backs should be able to make changes to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, a tweet that Irsay told ESPN was not inspired by the team’s dealings with Taylor, but by Pittsburgh running back Najee Harris’s suggestion of a possible change the same day.

"The comment wasn't really directed at Jonathan," Irsay told ESPN. "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.”

Taylor’s agent, Malki Kawa, interpreted Irsay’s words as a reference to his client and fired back.

“Bad faith is not paying your top offensive player,” Kawa wrote.

Kawa followed up with another tweet Thursday, suggesting that the relationship between the two parties has become irreparable. Prompted by a national reporter’s tweet that expressed hope the two sides could find resolution, Kawa sent a short reply.

“I doubt it,” Kawa wrote.

Taylor reported to training camp Tuesday, was placed on the team’s active/physically able to perform list that afternoon and was out on the field but did not participate in the team’s first practice Wednesday.

“We will see how long it takes,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “But once he’s 100% healthy, he will be out there.”