The Indianapolis Colts are now willing to trade their star running back Jonathan Taylor, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, and a lot of New England Patriots fans on social media are clamoring for the team to trade for him.
This would be a great acquisition for the Patriots. They need an upgrade in the backfield (no offense to Rhamondre Stevenson, slight offense to TreVeyon Henderson). Taylor is one of the best running backs in the NFL (he led the league with 18 rushing touchdowns last season and leads so far this season with eight), and the Colts have already traded Quenton Nelson (to the Seattle Seahawks) and De'Forest Buckner (to the San Francisco 49ers), so they're clearly going in a direction that's built to help them more in the long term.
However, this is more of a pipe dream at this point. As great as it would be, the Patriots are most likely not going to trade for Taylor, as they won't have enough to make a deal happen (even setting draft assets aside, they don't realistically have any young players worth including in a potential deal, outside of maybe Henderson, but that won't be enough to do it), and fans shouldn't get their hopes up.
The Patriots can't afford to trade for Jonathan Taylor
The problem with all of this is that New England probably won't have the assets to trade for him (it already traded its 2028 first-round pick in the deal for A.J. Brown). Indianapolis is in rebuild mode, and it's going to want as many draft picks as possible. And realistically, the Patriots aren't going to have enough to trade a premium price for Taylor, especially since other teams will likely be in the mix for him and raise the bidding.
On Saturday, Mike Florio of NBC Sports reported that the Colts are seeking a similar package to what the Carolina Panthers got from the 49ers in the Christian McCaffrey trade in 2022, and it's hard to imagine the Patriots being able to give them what they're looking for (especially if they don't want to drain their draft capital anyway).
"The Colts reportedly are looking for a package similar to what the 49ers sent to the Panthers in 2022 for running back Christian McCaffrey: a second-round pick, a third-round pick, and a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft," Florio wrote.
Plus, the 27-year-old has a $16.2 million cap hit (the Patriots have roughly $8.5 million in available cap space) and just signed a two-year, $44 million contract extension this past offseason. For context, he would be the Patriots' fourth-highest-paid player next season (behind Milton Williams, Christian Gonzalez, Christian Barmore, and Carlton Davis; and remember that Drake Maye is eligible for a contract extension after this season).
It's not technically impossible, but it would be incredibly difficult for New England to outbid teams like the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, New York Giants, etc., who are also all in need of more running-back help and have reportedly expressed interest in Taylor. And unless something crazy happens, nobody should expect to spot Taylor at the Logan Airport anytime soon.
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