Chris Ballard Speaks on Jonathan Taylor Situation: 'It Sucks'
Chris Ballard knew the questions were coming.
The general manager for the Indianapolis Colts sat down to give his annual post-cutdown press conference on Wednesday, knowing full well what the majority of the questions would center around. After about 30 seconds of open statements regarding tough roster cuts and where the Colts are currently, Ballard dove in head-first.
"All right, so now let’s address the elephant, Jonathan (Taylor)," Ballard started, mentioning the disgruntled superstar running back. "I want to talk, and I want y’all to hear it because I know you’re going to have questions."
To his credit, Ballard did not shy away from the questions. However, there was nowhere to run, either.
The Jonathan Taylor saga has cast a dark cloud over the Colts organization for over a month. The former All-Pro running back is still at odds with the team over not being offered a contract extension. Taylor's trade request from the Colts in July has been well-documented and is still outstanding.
The latest development in this soap opera happened on Tuesday when the Colts did not trade Taylor after giving the running back and his management the opportunity to seek a trade. Taylor may still be a Colt, but a solution to this problem is nowhere in sight. Things between Taylor and the Colts are as bad as ever.
"The situation sucks," Ballard said honestly. "I’m not going to sit here and give you some rosy picture like everything is OK. No, it sucks. It sucks for the Colts, it sucks for Jonathan Taylor and it sucks for our fans. It does. It’s where we’re at and we’ve got to work through it, and we’re going to do everything we can to work through it."
As Ballard enters his seventh season as the general manager of the Colts, this is a situation he has never encountered before. The Colts have certainly had contract disputes before with players since Ballard was hired in 2017, but none have played out as publicly or messily as this. These are uncharted waters for Ballard in Indy.
In his tenure, numerous players have spoken about how Ballard creates relationships with them outside of football. Ballard has shown, time and again, that he cares about the person rather than just what he can do on the field. He made that clear about Taylor as well.
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"Just so y’all know and I want everybody to know, Jonathan is a well-respected and really good human being and a damn good football player," Ballard admitted. "I think we all know this. Things like this happen. I tell every rookie that comes in here, ‘There’s going to be a point when we disagree, and it’s usually about money and it’s going to be hard. And just know that doesn’t change my care level for you.’"
He continued, "I care deeply for Jonathan Taylor. I have great respect for Jonathan Taylor. Our relationship I would tell you is – look, even when it gets hard, I won’t quit on the relationship. I won’t do it. I think too much of the young man. I think too much of what he’s given our organization and how hard he’s played for us."
Despite everything that has happened over the past few months, Ballard does not hold any animosity toward Taylor or his camp. That lack of resentment may be the only thing keeping any relationship between Taylor and the Colts alive. While the reconciliation seems bleak, Ballard is not giving up on this saga having a happy ending.
"Relationships are repairable. They’re repairable," Ballard explained. "Guys get emotional and take a stance. You’ve got to be able to work through those. Have you ever in your life had a good friend, spouse, or family member that you’ve had a disagreement with and then you draw a line in the sand and say, ‘This person is out of my life.’? No, you work through it and hopefully, you come out the other side better because of it.
"We’ve got work to do, we do. We’ve got work to do on the relationship and we’ve got work to do to find a solution to the problem, which is what we’re going to do."
How the relationship between Taylor and the Colts got to such a dismal point has multiple layers. Yes, there is the issue of the Colts not being willing to offer Taylor an extension at this time. But Taylor's frustration with the organization goes further than that and has to do with his still injured ankle.
When Taylor first injured his ankle last season, he felt the Colts pushed him to play before the ankle was ready. Taylor felt pressure from interim head coach Jeff Saturday to suit up and help his team on a bum ankle. The result was the ankle got worse, and so did the Colts.
Taylor had surgery on the ankle in January to help clean out what was ailing him in 2022. Eight months later, the ankle is still not healed, and Taylor feels the Colts are to blame. The trust Taylor had in the organization has been tarnished.
We will probably never know if the Colts and Saturday actually pushed Taylor to play before his ankle was ready to go. If they did, it is easy to see why Taylor is so upset with the organization on top of not being offered an extension. But Taylor is not absolved from blame, as he still decided to play and risk further injury to his ankle.
According to Ballard, the Colts would never push a player to play when they are still injured and do not feel comfortable doing so. That is why the Colts have placed Taylor on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, where he will be out for at least the first four games of the season as he continues to rehab the ankle.
"When you’re still having effects from last year’s surgery and still having pain and not 100 percent – we’re not going to put a player on the field that’s still complaining with pain in the ankle," Ballard stated. "I’m not going to do that. I wouldn’t do that to any player. I wouldn’t treat anybody any different. So what Jonathan will do is he will rehab his butt off and try to get himself ready to go.”
Until Taylor can get healthy, the running back and the Colts will likely remain at an impasse. A trade seems even more unlikely at this point as well. While a few teams inquired about Taylor's services, the Colts reportedly did not receive any offers close to what they were searching for.
"Jonathan is valuable and at the end of the day I’m not going to just let him walk out the door," Ballard remarked. "I’m not going to do that. That’s not the best thing for the Colts and the organization."
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The Colts were asking for a first-round pick or the equivalent of a first-round pick in exchange for Taylor. Many have asked why the Colts would ask for such a high value in return for a running back they refuse to pay at a high value. The answer is simple: The Colts never wanted to trade Taylor, and they still do not.
Ballard's goal for how this entire debacle shakes out is for Taylor and the Colts to find common ground and work something out to keep Taylor in Indy long-term.
“I sure hope so," Ballard said when asked if he views Taylor as part of the team's future. "That’s the way I look at it. I think he’s a really good player. I think he’s a great kid. I think he’s great for the community. That would be the plan. I’m not going to get into hypotheticals of yay or nay, but I don’t want the indication that we don’t want Jonathan Taylor. That is not true and not true by any – I have never once made that statement."
Then why not offer him a contract extension? The Colts have stated all offseason that they want to take a wait-and-see approach with all players up for extensions. With a new coaching staff led by Shane Steichen and a rookie quarterback in Anthony Richardson leading the offense, the Colts are trying to evaluate everyone and how they fit in the future. The evaluation includes all players in the last year of their current deals, like Michael Pittman Jr., Grover Stewart, Kenny Moore II, Julian Blackmon, and Taylor.
Unfortunately for Taylor, he is the only player out of that group who is hurt. The Colts want to ensure Taylor rebounds from the ankle and returns to normal before committing a large contract to him. With the Colts holding all the leverage, that is their prerogative.
"I think every situation is a little bit different," Ballard reiterated. "And I explained this during camp, coming off last season, it’s tough. You won four games, you’ve got a brand new coaching staff and all the circumstances surrounding it. So, I think every situation is different.”
When looking at the entire situation objectively, it is easy to see the point each side is making. The Colts want to see a healthy Taylor perform well with a new coach and quarterback before giving him a long-term, top-of-the-market extension after a painful 2022 season. Taylor feels he has proven his worth to the Colts and believes he deserves his money now, considering what he has done for the team.
At the end of the day, Ballard is correct. The situation does suck for all parties involved, and it does not feel like a resolution will be found anytime soon.
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