INDIANAPOLIS — Jonathan Taylor’s faith has been rewarded.
Taylor has been quietly confident, playing out his role in Colts training camp while other star running backs looking for a contract extension, Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson and Detroit’s Jahymr Gibbs, sat out practices in search of a new deal.
But the Colts have been through the turmoil of a public negotiation with their superstar back before, and this time has been the opposite. Taylor opened training camp by acknowledging negotiations with Indianapolis and professing faith that the team would work toward his goal of playing his entire career in Indianapolis.
Taylor agreed to terms on a two-year, $44 million contract extension Thursday morning, a league source told IndyStar, two days after Robinson signed a three-year deal worth $66.75 million to become the highest-paid running back in the NFL. Taylor’s $22 million-per-year average on his new deal makes him the second-highest-paid running back behind Robinson, although Gibbs is likely to surpass that mark whenever he signs in Detroit.
“I’ve got to go talk to (my agent) and see where things are at,” Taylor said after reporters told him about Robinson’s new deal. “I’ve been trying to focus on getting better and making sure I’m staying in shape. … I have faith, but I’m going to tap-in and check-in.”
Taylor locked up a contract two days later that breaks the franchise’s precedent at the running back position.
Indianapolis traded future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk to St. Louis in 1999 when Faulk was still only 25 years old, then moved on from another future Hall of Famer walk by letting Edgerrin James, the franchise’s all-time leader with 9,228 career rushing yards, leave for the Cardinals in free agency at the age of 27. Faulk’s best years were still ahead of him; James rushed for more than 1,000 yards in his first two seasons in Arizona.
Taylor’s on a similar track.
Drafted in the second round out of Wisconsin in 2020, Taylor has produced 7,598 yards in six seasons, rising to No. 2 on the franchise rushing list. Taylor’s 69 rushing touchdowns are already a franchise record, and his 76 total touchdowns rank fourth in franchise history behind Marvin Harrison, Lenny Moore and Reggie Wayne. Nationally, Taylor’s profile has been held back by the lack of team success, but unlike James, the Colts’ current superstar hasn’t played with one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks for his entire career in Indianapolis.
Because of the revolving door at quarterback, Taylor has become the face of the franchise.
“I love Jonathan,” Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon said last week. “I’m really proud of the leader that he’s become on our team. He’s one of our pillars. His picture is on the stadium for a reason. I would love it if he’d be a Colt for life.”
Indianapolis famously did not keep Faulk and James into their later years.
But there is franchise precedent for a running back producing deep into his career, albeit a player who began his career elsewhere. Eric Dickerson rushed for more than 1,000 yards three times after a midseason trade brought him to the Colts in 1987, including a league-leading 1,659 yards in 1988 when Dickerson was 28 years old. Frank Gore, who was 32 when the Colts signed him, averaged 984.3 yards in his three seasons in Indianapolis.
Taylor’s peers in the current NFL have also provided more recent examples.
When the Eagles signed former Giants running back Saquon Barkley in 2024 at the age of 27 — the same age as Taylor now — there were questions about Barkley’s longevity, given his injury history in New York. Barkley has rushed for 3,145 yards in two years in Philadelphia, including a league-leading 2,005 yards on the way to a Super Bowl in his first year with the team. Baltimore signed a 30-year-old Derrick Henry in the same offseason; Henry has produced 3,516 yards and 32 touchdowns in two seasons with the Ravens.
“Saquon isn’t as old as Derrick Henry, but Derrick’s doing something that’s crazy, and I think people need to take notice,” Taylor said at the start of training camp. “Derrick just went for 1,600, and he’s not stopping. I just think year-in and year-out, those guys you mentioned and a few others, it doesn’t matter if they’re 25 or 32, they’re still playing at a high level.”
Taylor believes he’s healthy enough to follow in their footsteps. A lingering high-ankle sprain cost Taylor 16 games from 2022 to 2024, but he has rushed for 1,431 yards and 1,585 yards in the last two seasons, respectively.
He remains the driving force in the Indianapolis offense.
“I just think we’ve continued to play at a high level – not only myself, but plenty of other backs in the league,” Taylor said. “I think they’ve played at an extremely high level at different ages.”
There might be more questions about the Colts’ staying power than Taylor’s.
Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard, the man who drafted Taylor and has now signed the running back to two extensions, is in the last year of his own contract, and he acknowledged at the beginning of training camp that the Colts need to win to avoid significant change to the direction of the organization.
With a potential franchise overhaul looming, Indianapolis might have preferred to avoid signing any new extensions this year, preserving flexibility in case of a change.
The Colts also need Taylor this season, and he had already made it clear he wanted a new deal.
“We always are working towards trying to keep our own players,” Ballard said at the beginning of training camp. “I’m always going to do the best thing for the organization.”
Taylor wants to be a Colt for life, and Indianapolis believes the running back is critical to the franchise’s future.
In Taylor’s mind, a deal like this was never in doubt.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts sign Jonathan Taylor to two-year extension, make him NFL’s second-highest paid RB
Reporting by Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
