Running back Jonathan Taylor is now eligible to sign an extension with the Indianapolis Colts. What might this contract extension look like for Taylor?
Jonathan Taylor is entering the final season of his rookie contract, which means it’s time for him to get paid. In Taylor’s first three seasons, he established himself as one of the best running backs in the NFL, and set himself up for a lucrative contract extension with the Indianapolis Colts. Now, it’s just a matter of getting the deal done.
Despite how special Jonathan Taylor has proven to be, he is a running back, so there will be debates about if he should be extended, how much money he should get, and how long the extension should be. Some people may even argue that the Colts should just trade Taylor right now while his value is high.
However, that’s unlikely to happen. Chris Ballard has already said that when running backs are special, they deserve to be paid. Taylor is obviously special, so it’s not a question of if he’ll be paid, but how much.
Projecting Jonathan Taylor’s contract extension with Colts
According to Spotrac, the calculated market value for Jonathan Taylor’s extension is a four-year deal worth a little over $52 million. That would put Taylor’s average annual salary at $13 million, third-most amongst running backs, trailing only Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara.
McCaffrey is at $16 million annually and Kamara is at $15 million. The thing that will likely keep Jonathan Taylor from reaching those numbers are receiving stats. While Taylor is good catching out of the backfield, the Colts haven’t used him as a receiver the way Kamara and McCaffrey’s teams used them. Taylor doesn’t have the receiving production for it to be a factor in negotiations.
For that reason, it seems accurate that his annual salary would be the third-most amongst running backs. The expectation should be for Taylor to get anywhere between $13-14 million annually. For that to happen, the Colts will have to give Taylor a four-year contract extension in the range of $52-56 million total.
Even though Jonathan Taylor is worth it, it still may be a struggle for him and the Colts to get the extension done. That’s usually the case with big contracts, and it doesn’t help that Indianapolis has a lot of players to extend over the next year. The one benefit for Indy is that the team will likely be working with a rookie quarterback contract.