Jonathan Taylor is eligible to come off the Physically Unable to Perform list in just two weeks, but it doesn't appear as though the star running back is any closer to every suiting up in an Indianapolis Colts uniform again.
According to ESPN NFL Insider Dan Graziano, Taylor has no interest in a Colts return.
"I'll say yes," Graziano wrote. "From what I understand, he still doesn't want to play for the Colts, and they still don't want to give him a long-term contract.
"The time since the preseason has mellowed out the market a bit and maybe created more fertile ground for a deal. It wouldn't surprise me if his first game of the season was in a different uniform. The Browns might end up being more motivated to make a deal than they want us to believe after the Nick Chubb injury."
Taylor and the Colts have been at an impasse since before training camp began, and Indianapolis does not seem to have any desire to sign the 24-year-old to a new contract.
Unlike the summer, when multiple teams would have made sense as a trade partner for the Colts, it would seem that the current market might be limited to the likes of the Cleveland Browns (following Chubb's injury), the Pittsburgh Steelers (who have struggled mightily to establish any sort of ground game through three weeks).
But, that would require the Colts to trade Taylor within the AFC, which Indianapolis might be reluctant to do. Deadlines, though, are coming.
Not only does the NFL trade deadline, on Oct. 31, offer the first litmus test for how this saga plays out, but Taylor must play six games to accrue a season towards unrestricted free agency. That would mean he would need to be back on the field, in Indianapolis or elsewhere, before Week 12.
Regardless, as Week 4 looms, the two sides do not appear any closer to reaching any sort of resolution.
