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Before the start of each season, Colts General Manager Chris Ballard welcomes the local media to the Colts complex when rosters are trimmed down to 53 players. Most of the time questions pertain to players that were cut or performances of players in preseason or camp.
This year was totally different. With how public Jonathan Taylor vs Colts Front Office has been, that was the topic of discussion. Other topics were woven into the press conference, by the former All-Pro was the center of the conversation.
“The situation sucks. I’m not going to sit here and give you some rosy picture like everything is okay. No, it sucks. It sucks for the Colts; it sucks for Jonathan Taylor, and it sucks for our fans. It does. It’s where we’re at and we’ve got to work through it, and we’re going to do everything we can to work through it.” Ballard stated in his opening statement Wednesday afternoon.
It was reported by ESPN’s Stephen Holder that the Green Bay Packers were the mystery team trying to acquire Taylor along with the Miami Dolphins. Those two teams have a common denominator with the Colts. Unproved quarterbacks.
- Jordan Love starting for the first time in his NFL career in year four with 10 total appearances.
- Tua Tagovailoa entering year four with 34 starts in 36 appearances out of 49-possible games.
That should send a message to the Colts GM that he needs to repair the relationship with his star running back to help his rookie quarterback that started twelve games in college.
Instead, his response to being asked why they haven’t paid JT despite being labeled as a ‘great player’ was, “We won four games last year.” Is this Chris Ballard saying that they only won 4 games last year with a ‘great player’ and that it didn’t help the team win games? Or is he meaning that they only won four games last year, so they are evaluating everything to build around their rookie QB?
Either way, the 2021 rushing champion isn’t healthy according to Ballard. “When you’re still having effects from last year’s surgery and still having pain and not 100 percent, we’re not going to put a player on the field that’s still complaining with pain in the ankle. I’m not going to do that. I wouldn’t do that to any player.”
The oddest part about that statement is that there is no mention of the training staff. Why would teams be interested in an injured RB? Why hasn’t Taylor received a clean up procedure if the ankle is still bothering him? None of this adds up, but with that statement, it hurts the stock of his trade interest with the public admittance that your best player isn’t healthy.
On Wednesday’s edition of the Query & Company with Jake Query and Jimmy Cook, they debated if Chris Ballard hurt the stock of his running back by admitting he’s not one hundred percent. To listen to their conversation, download the podcast below! You can always listen to the Query & Company from 12pm-3pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan. You can also watch and interact with the show by going to the 107.5 The Fan YouTube Channel.