Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was not traded before the deadline for roster cuts arrived Tuesday and instead was transferred to the reserve/PUP list.
That move alone will force Taylor to miss at least the first four games of the regular season. He’s eligible to return in Week 5, but Mike Chappell of Fox59 reported there could be trouble brewing due to the fact that the team reportedly believes Taylor is fully healthy and staging a hold-in.
The Colts believe Taylor is healthy and staging a “hold-in’’ to reflect his anger over not being offered a contract extension, according to a source.
Taylor has yet to pass a physical since he underwent arthroscopic debridement in January. The procedure is essentially to clean up scar tissue and any bone fragments left from the high-ankle sprain. The typical recovery time is between 4-6 weeks.
It has been going on seven months since Taylor’s procedure, and he hasn’t stepped onto the field since. He missed the entire offseason workout program and then arrived at camp only to be placed on the active/PUP list due to a failed physical.
Chappell also mentioned the course of action the Colts can take if Taylor refuses to take another physical, one that would be extremely dramatic.
At some point, the team might take the drastic step of insisting Taylor take a physical. Again, the Colts hold the stance he’s fully recovered from surgery although his conditioning isn’t where it needs to be.
If he refuses and continues to assert the ankle is not fully healed, the Colts could suspend him without pay for conduct detrimental to the team. They took that action against running back Eric Dickerson in 1991.
If that’s the end result of this entire process, then there truly will be no coming back from that. The relationship between Taylor and the Colts already is strained enough. That would be a “point-of-no-return” action. Who knows? We may already be at that point.
But if Taylor truly does want out of Indy, he will have to get on the field at some point. In order to get credit for an accrued season, he needs to be “physically able to perform by Week 6” and activated to the roster during the regular season or postseason, according to the CBA.
If he’s not, his contract will toll—essentially rollover into 2024. They would be back in the same exact situation.
He also doesn’t have the opportunity to hold out if and when he’s activated from the PUP list. Because he’s under contract, he would receive a fine of $238,888 for every game he missed.
Even though Taylor wasn’t traded before the roster cut deadline, a deal can still get done before the official Oct. 31 trade deadline.
And over those next two months, there will be plenty of speculations regarding this saga.
