Colts Keep Jonathan Taylor, and Your Trade Dreams Go Home

The Colts looked at a pile of trade offers for Jonathan Taylor, shuffled them like a bad poker hand, and said the one thing a negotiating partner hates: no thanks, he's ours. Somewhere a general manager is staring at a phone like it owes him a running back.

#The deal that wasn't

The news is short. The Colts informed Taylor he won't be traded before Tuesday's deadline, per Tom Pelissero¹. ProFootballTalk's version is even more concise: "It turns out Jonathan Taylor will not be on the move."² Pro Football Rumors adds that he had drawn significant interest ahead of the 3 p.m. CT deadline³. Multiple offers came in, and the Colts treated them like timeshare pitches at an airport².

That's the whole reporting. None of the sources say who called or what was offered, so this column won't invent a bidding war with a villain and a mustache.

#What you're keeping

Taylor is in year 8 and still the Colts' back^{our data}. He's RB12 of 71 by PPR per game, at 17.1 across nine games^{our data}. That's a good player, not a cheat code. Think of a reliable pickup truck: nobody posts it on a group chat, but it starts every morning.

The recent games show the wobble. Week 7 was the peak: 18 carries for 95 yards and a score, plus 2 catches, 19.0 PPR^{our data}. Then Week 8 gave 8 carries for 23 yards, 4 catches, and a lost fumble, good for 6.7^{our data}. Week 9 was 13 for 46, 5 catches, and another lost fumble, 9.4^{our data}. Two fumbles in two weeks is a man handling the ball like a wet bar of soap. The Colts shut down the trade talk anyway, which reads like confidence in him.

The usage is the better argument. Snap share ran 78%, 67%, 62%, 69% across the last four games, and target share climbed from 11% to 16%^{our data}. Touches went 23, 20, 12, 18^{our data}. Week 8's 12 is the outlier you can circle, and Week 9's 18 suggests the role didn't leave.

#Fantasy angle

Hold him. He's not leaving a backfield that just refused to let him leave, and the offers that went nowhere don't change his role. The projections agree he's a solid starter: ESPN and Sleeper both have 14.9 for Week 10^{our data}, which is a lean, not a promise. Compare that to his 17.1 average^{our data} and you get a play that's fine and not a lock for a ceiling game.

If you were hoping a trade would send him somewhere with a better offense, the deadline closed that door. If you were hoping to buy low off the two fumbles, the Colts' refusal is a strong hint he's not cheap in their building. A manager with a roster full of backs could test the market, but selling a top-12 PPR back after a no-trade is like returning a sandwich because the deli declined to move.

The fumbles are the one real watch item. Ball security can cost a back snaps if it turns into a pattern, though the sources here say nothing of the sort, and his Week 9 snap share was 69%^{our data}. Opinion: it's noise until the snap count says otherwise.