Upon my perusing of NFL content on Sunday afternoon, I came across an article that actually suggested the Tennessee Titans as a potential landing spot for Indianapolis Colts running back, Jonathan Taylor, who recently requested a trade as things continue to go south between he and the Colts.
And the situation took yet another wild turn on Sunday night, when it was reported by Mike Chappell of FOX59 that Taylor, who is currently on the PUP list, might be moved to the non-football injury list thanks to a back injury suffered while working out on his own.
As if we needed another reason for the Titans to never want to trade for him, but I digress.
Before I get into why the notion that the Titans might trade for Taylor is absurd, here’s the write-up from Dalton Miller of Pro Football Network:
An intra-divisional trade with the Tennessee Titans seems like an insane proposition, but let’s think about it for a second. If you’re the Colts, and you don’t believe that paying a runner is worth it and the production you get from them is relatively replaceable, a divisional opponent is exactly who you’d want to trade that player to.
Paying an RB what the organization would deem an extortionate amount of money would handicap their ability to pay positions elsewhere. Additionally, they’d be giving their draft picks(s) to a division rival — essentially, it’d be a double whammy.
But why does this make sense for the Titans? The timing would be perfect. Derrick Henry’s contract expires after the 2023 NFL season, as does veteran QB Ryan Tannehill’s. Paying a runner makes more sense when the organization isn’t paying a significant portion of the salary cap to a quarterback.
Will Levis will likely take over next season, and the Titans won’t have much money wrapped up in the position. But their run and play-action-heavy offensive structure also makes sense for a player like Taylor, who is probably the closest thing we have in the NFL to Henry, who he’ll be replacing.
For starters, there is no way the Colts would trade their best player to a division rival, even if the Titans were interested, which they won’t be, especially given what the Colts will likely want in return.
And, Irsay has made it clear he has no intention of trading Taylor in the first place. Whether you believe that or not, it’s another thing to add to the mountain of logical reasons this will never happen.
Further, the Titans have this guy named Derrick Henry, who dominates touches, leaving zero room for another bellcow back like Taylor. Not to mention, Henry is also one of the best in the business.
Granted, Henry is set to hit free agency next offseason, but that doesn’t mean the Titans won’t bring him back. Sure, a lot of people think Henry is on the decline, but the numbers say otherwise.
Taylor will also be hitting free agency barring a franchise tag, which means he might end up being a one-year rental.
One way or the other, Taylor will cost a lot of money and chances are that’s not something the Titans will want to get involved in after subtracting another big-money running back off their books, a lot of cap space or not.
As if all that wasn’t enough, the Titans have invested a pair of mid-round picks in running backs the past two years in Hassan Haskins and Tyjae Spears, both of whom would likely cover if Henry doesn’t return —and for cheap, I might add.
Take one of those reasons, some of them, or all of them, but it all leads to the same conclusion: this will never, ever happen.
