Chris Ballard was never really known as an aggressive general manager for the Indianapolis Colts, and it kind of plagued his tenure for years. He constantly stashed the cap space away, even while the roof leaked and the plumbing was beginning to fail, but you could tell that he felt the heat last offseason.
He made two bold signings in the secondary, took a gamble on Daniel Jones, and most recently swung what could go down as one of the more notable trades in the history of the league with Sauce Gardner. Overall, Indy has done a good job at the roster-building side of things, but you would have liked to have seen more aggression from Ballard before this past offseason.
With the way things are trending, Indy is going to see this window remain open for multiple years, and they should have some cap space to spend as well. Things could be lining up perfectly for RB Jonathan Taylor to get another sizeable payday from the front office.
Colts' Jonathan Taylor is running toward a ton of awards, and more money...
Jonathan Taylor will have one more year remaining on the three-year extension he signed with the Colts back in 2023, but with the way he's played this year and only having one more season left on the deal, it's obvious that he could be a logical extension candidate next offseason.
Furthermore, the Colts are projected to have around $47.5 million in cap space next offseason, according to Over The Cap. Not only will they have money to sign some external free agents, but they should be able to take care of some of their own.
Jonathan Taylor is on pace for an all-time season at the position, so he'd have every single reason to ask for a raise, and the newly-aggressive Chris Ballard would have every single reason to give him that raise.
Currently, Taylor's deal pays him an average of $14 million per year. That only trails Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffrey, and Saquon Barkley. His current contract also pays him just over $19 million in guaranteed money, which trails Bijan Robinson, McCaffrey, Henry, Ashton Jeanty, and Barkley.
While Taylor is paid like an elite running back, Ballard should re-up his deal for another year or two, as the Colts need to ensure they keep Taylor around for the rest of his prime. Adding a two-year extension to Taylor's deal could keep him in Indy through the 2028 NFL Season, which would be his age-29 season.
That deal could be structured in a way to create an 'out' after the first two seasons, which is very common in the NFL. Many of the free agent contracts you see signed could be four years in length, but a majority of them can be ripped up after three years.
Anyway, everything is lining up for Jonathan Taylor to ink another extension with the Colts, and it would be much-deserved.