Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay claimed social media comments he made regarding the diminished market for NFL running backs were not directed at his team’s All-Pro back, Jonathan Taylor.
Irsay’s most recent comments on Thursday came one day after he took aim at Najee Harris following the Pittsburgh Steelers star saying the league’s top running backs were discussing the idea of altering the way salaries of franchise-tagged players are determined in a bid to make top-tier money. Irsay dismissed the notion, saying “some (a)gents are selling ‘bad faith.'”
Irsay’s comment drew the ire of Taylor’s agent Malki Kawa, who tweeted: “Bad faith is not paying your top offensive player.”
“The comment wasn’t really directed at Jonathan,” Irsay told ESPN. “We haven’t exchanged any contract numbers with each other or anything like that. So, it’s not like we’re in the midst of that. I think we had a tough season last year. Didn’t win a lot of games. This is a year about coming back together and having a great year and we’re really depending on Jonathan to team up with (quarterback) Anthony Richardson to try and pull together to have a great year.”
Taylor, 24. is entering the final season of his four-year rookie contract.
He has rushed for 3,841 yards in his career — including a league-leading 1,811 in 2021, when he was selected to the All-Pro team.
Taylor has a career 4,643 yards from scrimmage to go with 36 touchdowns since being selected by the Colts in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
–Field Level Media