When the dust settled on the trade deadline, the Colts still had running back Jonathan Taylor under contract. It was not the result that most in the league expected. All signs pointed to the Colts accepting the best offer at 3:45 p.m. ET and processing the paperwork before the deadline. Whatever was the best offer. But that’s what a functional organization would have done. The Colts currently are not. The Giants were willing to give up a second-round pick and a fifth-round pick for Taylor. For now it is not clear if anyone else was willing to do better. Meanwhile, Taylor spent two weeks not knowing what would happen. He didn’t receive assurances that he wouldn’t be traded until about an hour before the window closed. (Even then, the leak felt more like a “last call” for interested suitors.) Fans spent that same period of time wondering what the Colts were doing. And Taylor had just eight carries in a 42-7 loss to Jacksonville, at a time when it seemed like a trade was imminent. So what happens next for Taylor? If they try to trade him in the offseason, they will do no better than they would have done when a contender was willing to pay a premium in a win-now effort. And if they don’t get at least as much as they could have gotten on Tuesday, will they refuse to trade it again? Taylor could end up stuck with the Colts during an obvious rebuild. So by the time it’s rebuilt (if it ever is), Taylor will be past his prime. The simplest explanation is that the Colts fell into dysfunction in this case. And it’s no surprise. Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon is still fairly new on the job. The CEO has been fired. And coach Shane Steichen hopes to win enough games to have a chance to keep his job; surely he wasn’t pushing to lose his best player. So what should the Colts have done? When they were making deals for guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, they should have asked Taylor’s various suitors to make their last and best offers. And the Colts should have made a final decision at that time on whether he would be traded or retained. Instead, they decided to wait and see if the offers would improve. Taylor was left wondering about her future. After the Week 9 loss to the Cowboys, he basically said goodbye to Indianapolis. The Eagles didn’t play that way with running back Saquon Barkley. They knew what was out there, decided not to accept the best offer and informed Barkley that he would not be changing teams. Instead, the Colts kicked the can down the road, not accepting the best offer and hoping he would get better. That gave Taylor two weeks to consider playing for a contender before the Colts decided not to pull the trigger on a trade. They’ll never admit it, but the Colts will regret not taking the better deal. Because the deals won’t get better after the season. At some point, Taylor will realize that it is in his best interest to request a trade. That will be an issue for the next general manager to address. And that detail won’t make the job more attractive to a candidate who has options.
