Colts RB Jonathan Taylor on not getting contract done: 'It wouldn’t be a distraction to me'

INDIANAPOLIS — From what the Colts front office has said this offseason, the team wants to keep superstar running back Jonathan Taylor as long as possible.

That means a new contract could be on its way.

Taylor is headed into the final year of his rookie contract, and under general manager Chris Ballard, the Colts have traditionally locked up players before that final contract season begins, typically finalizing those extensions during training camp.

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If there has been any momentum towards a new deal, though, Taylor isn’t going to get into the details, at least not publicly. Asked directly on Wednesday if the team has begun negotiating a new deal with his agent, Taylor sidestepped the question as quickly as he darts past linebackers in the hole.

“I don’t even know that goes,” Taylor said. “You always just see that, but not until you’re really in that situation, to where you’re like, ‘OK, (this) is what happens.’ … I’ll keep you posted.”

A lot of players in Taylor’s situation want a contract extension finalized before the start of the season, both to focus on the task at hand and to lock in the big money before undergoing the rigors of another season.

And a lot of those players aren’t afraid to voice that desire publicly.

Taylor took a different approach.

“It wouldn’t be a distraction to me,” Taylor said. “I’m under contract here for four years, I put the pen to the paper, so that’s where I’m at right now. I have an obligation to them, and an obligation to me, but things will happen naturally.”

The tricky part with Taylor is the position he plays.

Handing out big money to a running back in a second contract is often a risky proposition, given the injury risks that come with handling the football in traffic 300 times per season. Taylor had to deal with a taste of that risk for the first time last season, missing six games due to a high ankle sprain that needed surgery to correct.

Taylor finished the season with 861 rushing yards, a respectable number given that he only played in 11 games but far from the 1,811 he posted to lead the NFL in 2021.

The season ended up reminding the Colts how devastating Taylor can be when he’s healthy.

“You want Jonathan Taylor back 100%,” Colts owner Jim Irsay said. “Obviously, Jonathan’s special."

Frustrated by a high ankle sprain that kept lingering, Taylor underwent a surgery that he called a “perfect success” in Wednesday’s meeting with the media, the running back’s first since last season. Taylor was not visibly wearing a brace or wrap of any kind Wednesday, but he’s not quite cleared in his rehabilitation yet.

“Not everything right now,” Taylor said. “But we’re rolling.”

From the sounds of it, the Colts are confident enough in Taylor’s rehabilitation that the team plans to lean on him again, and possibly to pay him before next season, a deal that would likely require a lot of money, although the length of the contract might be shorter, given his position.

From what Ballard has said, the Colts aren’t afraid to give a running back a second contract if they believe the juice is worth the squeeze.

“When they’re great players it is,” Ballard said. ‘When they’re a special playmaker it is.”

Both the Colts and Taylor are hoping the team’s superstar running back is back to that kind of player this season.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: What RB Jonathan Taylor said about his contract talks with team