Jonathan Taylor is your 1.01 now.

[Kurt G.O.A.T.]

That wasn't so hard was it dolts.

Should have been done smoothly before the season began. To think all that drama over a few million dollars. They got him for 3 years, for a total that's cheaper than the per year amount the giants have to pay Daniel Jones. Talk about a screwed up market.

Daniel Jones hadn't played a down when all this started. I am not a DJ supporter, but that OL is a joke. For JT, it wasn't drama over a few million, some stated the Colts never wanted to pay him, and they'd just tag him, remember? Ultimately, every player, and GM who will barter over a few million, because that is how it goes. If a GM can save a few million here, a few million there, they build a better team, ad maybe secure their own job longer, as well as potentially creating more team revenue with extra games, with playoff games etc., and obviously a player, if they can get a few million more, will be better off. Negotiations are part of it, obviously.

He wanted to reset the market, the team balked, but ultimately, he wanted security beyond this season, and he likely dropped his demands, and took a deal that still gave him security for the rest of his life.

It's almost as if the team didn't want to reset the RB market on a non elite dual threat back, because he's not CMC, but still valued him as a top tier RB> We'll never know, but the fact the Colts ultimately paid him, seems to shift the narrative that in fact, they valued him, they just felt his asking price was too high. There were reports he wanted at least CMC money, that didn't happen, but he still got 26.5 guaranteed AFTER this season. That's pretty good considering the position, the injury/down year, and the work load he's had since college.

Win/Win IMO, as Richardson has a great back to help him. I just think the pitchforks and torches that some around here had, seems silly. The whole bus meeting thing, was an indication that Irsay viewed him as a star player, but paying him CMC plus money, would have been insane, IMO.

Burrow took a cart ride with the owner. I don't like Irsay, and and not a supporter of him, but when has an owner ever met privately with a RB, in this era? He clearly wanted him to be part of their build with Richardson, and this young team, and it was a case of price point. The idea JT wanted to break the RB market seems to have some relevance, and that's fine too, for him trying to push it, and ultimately, he settled on a bit less, but enough that it fits in with how the reality of the position an his skill set is, within it.

C'mon man, none of that unpleasantness needed to happen. If the drunk owner just shut the f up and didn't act like a teenage girl on social media things might have been different. Well run teams don't go through that, they get things done quietly.

[FantasyFreak]

That wasn't so hard was it dolts.

Should have been done smoothly before the season began. To think all that drama over a few million dollars. They got him for 3 years, for a total that's cheaper than the per year amount the giants have to pay Daniel Jones. Talk about a screwed up market.

Daniel Jones hadn't played a down when all this started. I am not a DJ supporter, but that OL is a joke. For JT, it wasn't drama over a few million, some stated the Colts never wanted to pay him, and they'd just tag him, remember? Ultimately, every player, and GM who will barter over a few million, because that is how it goes. If a GM can save a few million here, a few million there, they build a better team, ad maybe secure their own job longer, as well as potentially creating more team revenue with extra games, with playoff games etc., and obviously a player, if they can get a few million more, will be better off. Negotiations are part of it, obviously.

He wanted to reset the market, the team balked, but ultimately, he wanted security beyond this season, and he likely dropped his demands, and took a deal that still gave him security for the rest of his life.

It's almost as if the team didn't want to reset the RB market on a non elite dual threat back, because he's not CMC, but still valued him as a top tier RB> We'll never know, but the fact the Colts ultimately paid him, seems to shift the narrative that in fact, they valued him, they just felt his asking price was too high. There were reports he wanted at least CMC money, that didn't happen, but he still got 26.5 guaranteed AFTER this season. That's pretty good considering the position, the injury/down year, and the work load he's had since college.

Win/Win IMO, as Richardson has a great back to help him. I just think the pitchforks and torches that some around here had, seems silly. The whole bus meeting thing, was an indication that Irsay viewed him as a star player, but paying him CMC plus money, would have been insane, IMO.

Burrow took a cart ride with the owner. I don't like Irsay, and and not a supporter of him, but when has an owner ever met privately with a RB, in this era? He clearly wanted him to be part of their build with Richardson, and this young team, and it was a case of price point. The idea JT wanted to break the RB market seems to have some relevance, and that's fine too, for him trying to push it, and ultimately, he settled on a bit less, but enough that it fits in with how the reality of the position an his skill set is, within it.

C'mon man, none of that unpleasantness needed to happen. If the drunk owner just shut the f up and didn't act like a teenage girl on social media things might have been different. Well run teams don't go through that, they get things done quietly.

IDK, I just don't care at this point, appreciate the comment, but I'm moving off of this type of FF talk, it's just not part of the "hobby" for me at this point.

[Hottoddies]

People seem to forget the Franchise tag has been around for 30 YEARS now and was a compromise to allow a form a FA in the NFL.

The NFL used the tag 6 times this season. How many FA's were signed this year? I would guess the over/under at 120. People may not like it but the Tag is working exactly as intended. The Tag for RB's will actually stabilize the price for top end RB's. Jacobs has the 3rd highest cap hit this year, while Barkley and Pollard are tied for 4th highest cap hit.

Interestingly, Taylor has the 13th highest cap hit this year at the RB position and the Colts rank 12th in RB spending.

The Tag allows for some protection against a player holding them hostage. The rules protect both the player via guarantees and the teams from losing their coveted asset while getting nothing in return.

As far as Taylor, his situation has nothing to do with the Tag. He is under contract. Next season is a long way off. No telling how his situation plays out but the team will have some protection against a protracted holdout if the sides can't come together and work out a contract or a trade.

Taylor's situation will have minimal impact on future FA's given contracts are negotiated individually. Sounds good for fans to claim this, but money talks loudly in the FA world.

No way the Tag is going away unless the players give up something big in return in 2030.

The Franchise Tag was originally intended for teams to have to ability to retain players that they deemed the most valuable to their organization; not as a technical loophole for a bargaining chip to negotiate a suboptimal contract. If RBs truly have little value to NFL teams, they have no business being handicapped with the tag. But the truth is RBs have more value to the NFL than they are being paid for. I'm watching advertisements for Giants' games with Saquon Barkley's image; putting butts in stadium seats, eyes on TV games, and money in the pockets of NFL owners. And in real football terms, you only need to look at Daniel Jones' stats with and without Barkley in the lineup. A real simple fix to this problem would be if the NFL offered a goodwill change to the CBA and restructured the FA categories to 4 groups: 1) QBs 2) OL 3) Defense and 4) WRs, TEs, & RBs. If an NFL team really deems a player to be of irreplaceable value like the Franchise Tag was intended then they should have to pay for it.

[mild]

For this particular offense I don't think there's a better RB than JT.

AR is a mobile QB who isn't going to check it down much anyway and JT is the size/speed freak that can take full advantage of the wide running lanes his mobility is going to create.

These two are going to be a nightmare for opposing LBs

I'm with you spicey Sirarcha!

It's a good first test for them, too... Tennessee can be had in the passing game (looking forward to AR's 3-5 deep prayer bombs this game)

But their DL and LB core is very stout against the run.

Will be really fun to see this beast duo put to the test immediately.

[FantasyFreak]

For this particular offense I don't think there's a better RB than JT.

AR is a mobile QB who isn't going to check it down much anyway and JT is the size/speed freak that can take full advantage of the wide running lanes his mobility is going to create.

These two are going to be a nightmare for opposing LBs

I'm with you spicey Sirarcha!

It's a good first test for them, too... Tennessee can be had in the passing game (looking forward to AR's 3-5 deep prayer bombs this game)

But their DL and LB core is very stout against the run.

Will be really fun to see this beast duo put to the test immediately.

There's likely little upside to JT's receiving stats, but there never really was. There might be a loss for both on the rushing TD's, as they will have to share the GL work, but that's likely good for Richardson's health, and what JT loses, he'll likely gain elsewhere in rushing efficiency.

Once JT is fully up to speed, I can see some 200 plus team rushing games, with no squinting.

[Two Cents]

Hard to think of a more dangerous QB/RB rushing duo, historically speaking... maybe rookie year Cam with 28 year old Deangelo Williams, or the Jonathan Stewart years? Lamar had an incredible year out of Mark Ingram in that MVP year...

I'm struggling to think of anything on this level, though. This is going to be crazy.

If only Vick and Jamal Anderson played together…… but I’ll take another swing at this

Vince Young and Chris Johnson?

Also, it may not be historical, yet. But one could argue Hurts and Swift and by one I mean all Eagles fans.

[Ice]

People seem to forget the Franchise tag has been around for 30 YEARS now and was a compromise to allow a form a FA in the NFL.

The NFL used the tag 6 times this season. How many FA's were signed this year? I would guess the over/under at 120. People may not like it but the Tag is working exactly as intended. The Tag for RB's will actually stabilize the price for top end RB's. Jacobs has the 3rd highest cap hit this year, while Barkley and Pollard are tied for 4th highest cap hit.

Interestingly, Taylor has the 13th highest cap hit this year at the RB position and the Colts rank 12th in RB spending.

The Tag allows for some protection against a player holding them hostage. The rules protect both the player via guarantees and the teams from losing their coveted asset while getting nothing in return.

As far as Taylor, his situation has nothing to do with the Tag. He is under contract. Next season is a long way off. No telling how his situation plays out but the team will have some protection against a protracted holdout if the sides can't come together and work out a contract or a trade.

Taylor's situation will have minimal impact on future FA's given contracts are negotiated individually. Sounds good for fans to claim this, but money talks loudly in the FA world.

No way the Tag is going away unless the players give up something big in return in 2030.

The Franchise Tag was originally intended for teams to have to ability to retain players that they deemed the most valuable to their organization; not as a technical loophole for a bargaining chip to negotiate a suboptimal contract. If RBs truly have little value to NFL teams, they have no business being handicapped with the tag. But the truth is RBs have more value to the NFL than they are being paid for. I'm watching advertisements for Giants' games with Saquon Barkley's image; putting butts in stadium seats, eyes on TV games, and money in the pockets of NFL owners. And in real football terms, you only need to look at Daniel Jones' stats with and without Barkley in the lineup. A real simple fix to this problem would be if the NFL offered a goodwill change to the CBA and restructured the FA categories to 4 groups: 1) QBs 2) OL 3) Defense and 4) WRs, TEs, & RBs. If an NFL team really deems a player to be of irreplaceable value like the Franchise Tag was intended then they should have to pay for it.

So are you trying to convince me Jacobs, Barkley and Pollard are not exactly the type of player their teams should keep as one of the best players on their respective rosters?

1) They are
2) It is not your call to determine who is the best player
3) All three were the best player at their position

They are all now top 5 RB's CAP HITS at their position this season yet only 1 of those 3 are actually playing under a TAG contract.

The Tag is working precisely as intended. The 3 teams in this example all got to keep one of the best players on their roster.

The other 3 got excellent new contracts due to the tag.

Just because you don't like the rule, it has been around for 30 years and the players got a HUGE win called FA by agreeing to one tag the team could, for the most part, use on ANY PLAYER annually.

This Year QB, DT, TE, and RB positions were tagged. 5 of those 6 players signed new Contracts.

Not sure what you are implying but the Tag is not setting the RB market, it is paying Tag Players already at near the top of the established market.

The Goodwill argument is pure fantasy.
A good friend of mine had a dog named TINSTAAFL... Very appropriate in that "There is no such thing as a free lunch" .

[Ice]

As what should be a surprise to no one, Taylor signs a new contract for 26.5 million guaranteed to stay with Indy and will paid near the top of the market for the next 3 years but Indy does have an easy out after 2025.

Taylor didn't test the Tag possibilities next season but interesting from the team's perspective is his Cap hit next season will be less than the projected tag which will increase from this year.

This is further evidence the tag concept is working to keep the better players with the team that drafted them.

The Colts organization is a bit smarter than many gave them credit for as they keep the talented Taylor to compete and can eject about the time Richardson's contract is up for renewal.

[FantasyFreak]

JT appears to be in a time share, a ceding GL touches from the 1. Not a pass catcher. IDK, but I'd rather 2 years of JT with 300 carries a year than 4 with him at 220, as a FF player.

This is without a running QB that will throw to RB's less. Moss looks good. This is perhaps a lost year for JT as a RB1, in terms off FF. Even high end RB2?

This is worrisome, for FF. Without Richardson, they have little incentive to give him a work horse role, but....you can't not start him.

Brutal.

[hoos89]

He was playing very well too...no idea why they gave him a bag just to stick him in a time share.

On the pass catching point - in weeks 6 & 7 he had 8 catches for 91 yards so I don't think it's fair to say he's not a pass catcher. He's no Ekeler, but he can clearly be effective running routes out of the backfield. His usage this week was just baffling though, especially in the 2nd half (1 carry).

Also I will say - I think 2021 JT scores on that long run. He never really reached that next gear...might have been because he was a bit off balance after almost getting tripped up though.

[CGW]

I'm starting JT anywhere I have him. He still put up 120 and 97 total scrimmage yards the past two weeks as he's being eased in. Yes, it looks like a timeshare, but ultimately he is a better back than Moss and JT is getting more and more of the snaps weekly. Moss has dropped from 80%, to 50%, to 39% since JT came back. Curious to see where the ultimate split ends up.

[Jigga94]

I'm starting JT anywhere I have him. He still put up 120 and 97 total scrimmage yards the past two weeks as he's being eased in. Yes, it looks like a timeshare, but ultimately he is a better back than Moss and JT is getting more and more of the snaps weekly. Moss has dropped from 80%, to 50%, to 39% since JT came back. Curious to see where the ultimate split ends up.

I would guess they want it to be anywhere from 60-40 to 70-30. Maybe more JT if the game is close, like the Browns game. Or more Moss in big blowouts.

The big point is the new contract for JT. They probably won't run him into the ground now that he's sticking around for a bit. HE can still be a very good fantasy RB with those opportunities though