The running back market has become depressed for a variety of reasons. Some wonder whether collusion resides at the heart of it.
The truth seems to be that teams simply don’t value the position as they once did, given the ready supply of younger, cheaper, and healthier players at the same position — and given the manner in which aging running backs with big contracts struggle to justify the investment.
But here’s Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, suddenly available in trade. The Colts, who don’t want to give him the contract he has earned, nevertheless value him sufficiently to expect a first-round pick for his contractual rights. Will a team that sees Taylor as a potential difference maker make the move?
The real question is whether a team will make the financial investment that could reinvigorate the market at the position. In an offseason that saw the best free-agent deal come in at $6.35 million per year (Miles Sanders, to Carolina), would a team — in late August — reset the market or come close to it for Taylor?
If someone will, there likely will be a price to pay on the back end. Look at the reaction to the contract the Browns gave quarterback Deshaun Watson as part of the trade that brought him to Cleveland. The Browns blew out the curve, prompting other owners to look disapprovingly at what Jimmy Haslam did.
At a time when the oligarchs have running backs collectively on the run thanks to the structure of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, what will be the blowback to an owner who would give Taylor a contract that resuscitates a comatose collection of contracts?
It’s one of the very real factors to consider as Taylor tries — at the eleventh hour of the offseason — to find a team that will give the Colts what they want, and that will give Taylor what he wants. Unless he’s willing to take something less than what he’d like to get, he quite possibly won’t get an offer he’d be willing to accept.
Because it’s quite possible that no owner will want to become a pariah for paying big money to a running back at a time when no one is.
