The idea has plenty of appeal, but the Patriots should probably pump the brakes on the Jonathan Taylor chatter.
Once word got out that the Indianapolis Colts were open to moving their star running back, a lot of New England fans immediately started connecting the dots. ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport both reported that Taylor is available, and on paper he looks like exactly the kind of backfield jolt the Patriots could use.
He’s coming off a season in which he led the league with 18 rushing touchdowns, and he’s leading again this year with eight. For a team looking for more punch on the ground, that’s an obvious temptation.
But the gap between “makes sense” and “actually happens” is huge here.
The Patriots are not in a great position to strike a deal. Even before you get to the price tag, they don’t really have the kind of young player package that would make Indianapolis stop and listen, with maybe TreVeyon Henderson as the lone name that comes to mind.
And even that likely wouldn’t be enough. New England also already sent its 2028 first-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks in the A.J.
Brown deal, which makes draft-pick flexibility a real issue.
That matters because the Colts are in rebuild mode and, naturally, they want picks. Lots of them.
On Saturday, Mike Florio of NBC Sports reported that Indianapolis is looking for a return similar to what the Carolina Panthers got from the San Francisco 49ers in the Christian McCaffrey trade in 2022. As Florio wrote, "The Colts reportedly are looking for a package similar to what the 49ers sent to the Panthers in 2022 for running back Christian McCaffrey: a second-round pick, a third-round pick, and a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft."
That kind of asking price is a tough fit for New England, especially with other teams expected to jump in and push the bidding higher.
The money side makes it even harder. Taylor, 27, carries a $16.2 million cap hit, while the Patriots have roughly $8.5 million in available cap space.
He also just signed a two-year, $44 million extension this offseason. If he somehow landed in New England, he’d be the team’s fourth-highest-paid player next season, behind Milton Williams, Christian Gonzalez, Christian Barmore, and Carlton Davis.
And with Drake Maye eligible for a contract extension after this season, that kind of financial commitment becomes even trickier.
So while the fit is easy to imagine, the deal itself is another story. The Patriots would have to outbid teams such as the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, and New York Giants, all of whom reportedly have interest and all of whom need help at running back. Unless something wild happens, Taylor is not the guy you should expect to see at Logan Airport.
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Among the newcomers, Jacas has become the name drawing the loudest buzz, which makes sense given how often he has been on the field and how disruptive he has been off the edge. A recent fan survey reflected that momentum, with Jacas emerging as the clear favorite over the other two rookies, and the split says plenty about how quickly this class has earned trust in New England. [Read more 🡒]