While Jonathan Taylor has been dominating all of the contract talk with the Indianapolis Colts, several other Colts players are also entering the final season of their respective deals. One of those players is Michael Pittman Jr., who was drafted by Indianapolis the same year as Taylor, just a few spots before.
Taylor is entering his fourth season in the league, and established himself as Indy’s No. 1 wideout two years ago, in his second season. Despite being productive, Pittman hasn’t really had consistency at the quarterback spot. The Colts are hoping that’s finally the case with Anthony Richardson now at quarterback.
With a young quarterback under center, it would make sense for Indianapolis to extend Pittman, keeping the team’s most established wideout around for the developing QB. However, as the 2023 season approaches, the Colts haven’t extended Pittman yet.
The veteran wide receiver recently spoke with the media about his contract situation with Indy. Talking before practice on Thursday, Pittman explained that he’s prepared to play out his deal but like anyone, he definitely wants to get paid.
Michael Pittman Jr. says he’ll play out the final year of his deal if he doesn’t have an extension.
— Joel A. Erickson (@JoelAErickson) August 3, 2023
As to whether or not he wants one?
“I mean, I think everybody wants to get paid. … I wouldn’t mind one”
Michael Pittman Jr. wants to get paid but is prepared to play out contract
It’s unclear how negotiations are going between Pittman and the team, and if there are any negotiations at all. Earlier in the offseason, Pittman said that he was staying out of it and leaving it to his agent, because he knows how messy things can get. Knowing how the Colts have operated in the past, if an extension is going to happen, it’ll probably be towards the end of training camp, right before the start of the season.
It may seem easy to compare how Pittman is going about things with how everything is unfolding for Jonathan Taylor, but it’s important to note that they shouldn’t be compared, because the circumstances are drastically different. The only common ground is that they’re both entering the last year of their rookie deals with the Colts.
Taylor, however, has already established his name amongst the best running backs in today’s game; Pittman hasn’t done that with the receiver position. Additionally, as a running back, things are much more urgent in today’s NFL. Pittman knows that as a solid receiver, he’s about to get paid one way or another.
Possibly the biggest difference, though, is that the Colts have told Taylor that they aren’t offering him an extension this offseason; we don’t know if that’s the case with Pittman or not. Ultimately, these are two unique situations on the same team. All anyone can hope is that Indianapolis finds a way to keep them both.