Taylor Trade Rumor Creates Awkward Questions

There’s no room for hurt feelings in the NFL, though some might have been created with a report of the Packers’ interest in acquiring Jonathan Taylor from the Colts

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When he was coach of the Green Bay Packers, one of Mike McCarthy’s goals during his frequent conversations with reporters was to not create questions the locker room had to answer.

“Boring by design,” McCarthy called it.

Someone, perhaps a member of the Indianapolis Colts’ front office, created questions that Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst had to answer in the wake of an ESPN report about the Packers’ interest in acquiring star running back Jonathan Taylor.

Following the trade of Aaron Rodgers, running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon became the faces of the franchise. That’s not a real title, of course, but Jones is the team’s annual candidate for the Walter Payton Man of the Year and Dillon has embraced Green Bay and Northeast Wisconsin unlike any recent player. They are good players and pillars of the community, a dream combination.

With the transition to Jordan Love, Jones and Dillon are supposed to be the starting points of the offense. They’re high-quality, experienced players on the field and leaders in the locker room.

Imagine waking up and finding out the Packers were trying to acquire Taylor, the University of Wisconsin legend and 2021 NFL rushing champion.

Presumably, Jones or – perhaps more likely – Dillon would have been a featured part of the trade. With rookie Anthony Richardson set to start at quarterback, the Colts couldn’t go through the season with Zack Moss, Deon Jackson or Evan Hull as their running backs. They’d need Jones or Dillon to carry the load in the backfield.

The leak of Green Bay’s interest no doubt created an uncomfortable moment at 1265 Lombardi Ave. Now, to be sure, the NFL is a big-boy business. The cruel reality is players are expendable assets, ready to be replaced by someone younger, better and cheaper at a moment’s notice.

Jonathan Taylor vs. the Packers in 2020 (Photo by Trevor Ruszkowski/USA Today Sports Images)

Everyone knows the reality. The Packers traded Rodgers and Davante Adams. They released Charles Woodson and Jordy Nelson. They let beloved Jamaal Williams go for Dillon.

There’s no room for hurt feelings, though they are inevitable, especially when you go to bed thinking you’re a focal point of a team and you wake up being the focal point of a rumored trade.

Set those realities aside, this was a mess that Gutekunst shouldn’t have had to clean up. Whether it was Colts owner Jim Irsay or one of Taylor’s agents, what was the point of throwing Green Bay’s name out there?

“I don’t know how these things get out there. I don’t particularly care,” Gutekunst said. “You guys know how we do business around here. That’s just not how we do them, and I don’t really want to react to them.”

Not for a second did Gutekunst deny that the Packers were interested in Taylor, a sharp contrast to him nuking the possibility of trading David Bakhtiari a couple weeks ago.

Nonetheless, if Dillon was wondering about his place in Green Bay following the ESPN report, well, sorry-not sorry.

“We have conversations about players throughout the National Football League, players on our team, with other teams, all the time,” Gutekunst continued. “People ask about our guys all the time. That’s just part of it.

“I can’t be running or worried about what our players think every time somebody calls and asks us just because it might get out in the media. Not really too consumed with that. We have a great running back room. Really excited about it. I think they’re a strength of our football team. Again, we have a lot of conversations. If people perceive it’s one thing or another, I can’t control that.”

The Colts set a deadline of Tuesday for Taylor to find a trade that was agreeable to all parties. That deadline passed, with the Colts making “wild” demands, according to The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. However, the real trade deadline is on Oct. 31 – exactly two months from today. That means the speculation will continue to simmer.

With a smile, Gutekunst took out his “checklist” of talking points when asked specifically about his interest in Taylor. He’s not allowed to talk about players from another team. He tries to be part of “every conversation” about a player who can help the team. Personnel-building is a 365-day process.

“There’s a lot of conversations,” Gutekunst said. “We are used at times for leverage situations, as well. But we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing if we’re not investigating these things, at least listening to things.”

Presumably, Gutekunst had to listen to Dillon, too. It’s only human nature to wonder where you fit in any organization, especially when you’ve been led to believe you’re an incredibly valued asset.

“I think the whole idea of not wanting a player, I don't know if that's really ever the case,” Gutekunst said. “You’ve got to make the best decisions for your football team and, sometimes when you go through those things, it's not that you don't want players, it's just that you can only have so many.”

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Jonathan Taylor to the #Packers? Makes sense to one high-ranking executive, who even came up with a trade scenario.https://t.co/0AJjpwxq1X

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