The running back market is in a peculiar state right now. The last two rushing leaders are trying to get new deals, and their teams will not hand them out. Josh Jacobs with the Raiders and Jonathan Taylor with the Colts. On Monday evening the Colts granted Jonathan Taylor’s camp permission to seek out a trade. Since then more reports have surfaced that the Colts are looking for a 1st round pick for Taylor. Which makes absolutely zero sense. How can you tell a guy through the media that he could leave the league tomorrow and nobody would care, but then say he’s worth a 1st round pick. The logic is simply not there. NFL teams will recognize that and I’m sure if Taylor does get dealt it won’t be for a 1st round pick. But there a definitely teams that should trade for Jonathan Taylor.
The Colts have botched the Jonathan Taylor situation every step of the way. And new they are going to pay the price by either trading away their best offensive weapon, seeing him walk out the door for nothing next year, or franchise tag him. We’ve seen the way the running back’s hate being franchise tagged this offseason. So if that is the end result, Colts fans can expect a summer of drama next season. Should the Colts move on from Jonathan Taylor there will be plenty of teams that kick the tires on the All-Pro back. He only carries a cap hit of $5.12 million this season, making him an option for a lot of teams. But what are the teams that should trade for Jonathan Taylor?
1. Chicago Bears
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The Chicago Bears make the most sense. They have 2 1st round picks in next April’s draft. They are 1 of only 2 teams with multiple 1st round picks in 2024 (Houston is the other one).They also have the salary cap space this year and moving forward to lock up Taylor long term. Khalil Herbert and D’Onta Foreman are the top two backs on the depth chart… I’m sure Jonathan Taylor would go straight to the top.
2. Miami Dolphins
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The Dolphins were flirting with Dalvin Cook all offseason before he signed with the Jets. Although Miami has the cap space to make Taylor work for this season, they’ve got a bunch of young talent looking to get paid (Tua Tagovialoa, Jalen Phillips, Christian Wilkins to name a few). It might be higher priority to get a deal done for Christian Wilkins. But Jonathan Taylor in this offense with all the weapons in the passing game would make life for opposing defensive coordinators hell. GM Chris Grier has also shown he does not value the running back position enough to sign a player to a long term deal. The asking price might be too high for Miami to rent Taylor for this season.
3. Cincinnati Bengals
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Everything I said about Miami’s offense adding an elite running back applies for the Bengals as well. But also like the Fins, Cincy has some big contracts they need to get worked out. Most notably Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. So their $18.7 million cap space could get gobbled up quickly. A 1-2 punch of Jonathan Taylor-joe Mixon would be one of the best dues in the league to compliment one of the best passing attacks in the league.
4. Buffalo Bills
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Bills fans are probably sick of hearing about their rushing attack, but it’s still a problem. James Cook is unproven and brining in Jonathan Taylor would immediately improve their ground game. The big hang up for the Bills is the salary cap situation. They’ve only got $2.2 million in cap space right now, which is not enough to bring in Taylor. They would need to rework some deals, but it should be easy enough to do since they only need to clear up just over 3 million. It would be a great product on the field, but I don’t know if it makes financial sense.
5. Dallas Cowboys
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Dallas has the most cap space of any team on this list. But they also have Tony Pollard who had a very good 2022. Now, he is coming off a leg injury, so there is a question mark there. Dallas is always about the splash move, but this isn’t just a splash move. It would give Mike McCarthy the ability to run the ball the way he is saying he wants to this offseason.
