REPORT: Colts RB Jonathan Taylor set to play as early as week 5

This morning Adam Schefter tweeted out that Jonathan Taylor is healthy, could pass his physical today and plans to play as early as week five:

The question many people are asking on Twitter is “but who will he play for” which is quite the silly question. He’s currently under contract with a team who refused to trade him for less than half of multiple NFL teams. It seems obvious that if he plays this season it will be for the Indianapolis Colts.

Something else to consider is where this information is coming from. 99% of all information that comes from the media, Schefter included, comes from player agents. Why has Taylor’s agent chosen to release this? Why did Schefter choose to sit on it until this morning (probably just to break a big story on kickoff weekend, but it’s possible he was asked)? Regardless there was a reason this information is coming so I presume we’ll be hearing more from Taylor’s representation very soon.

From the start it didn’t seem like Jonathan Taylor had very much leverage in the situation. He was under contract for another season. On the other hand it’s easy to see why Taylor would want an extension as soon as possible. He’s one bad injury away from never being the same player. The Colts have handed out massive contracts to players who have gone on to have severely diminished play due to injury, not to mention the fact they’re coming off a bad season with a new head coach. It makes sense the team wouldn’t want to extend players on either side of the ball at this time, too.

Both the Colts and Jonathan Taylor have logical reasons for wanting what they want. Ultimately the Colts have always held most of the leverage and it looks like Jonathan Taylor will be back in week five.