The Indianapolis Colts gave Jonathan Taylor $39 million in guaranteed money on Thursday, and that figure says more than the headline number does. Taylor agreed to a two-year, $44 million extension worth up to $47 million with incentives, which slots him second among running backs at $22 million per year. Bijan Robinson beat him to the market by two days and beat him to the top of it by $250,000 annually.
The guarantee is where Taylor won. He locked in roughly 89% of the deal’s base value at 27 years old, on a third contract, at the one position where front offices normally stop writing checks. Among running backs, only Jeremiyah Love’s fully guaranteed rookie deal in Arizona carries more secured money.
Why the Jonathan Taylor Extension Is Worth It for the Colts
Taylor is coming off the most complete season of his career. He led the league with 323 carries and 18 rushing touchdowns, finished third with 1,585 rushing yards, and posted career receiving highs of 46 catches for 378 yards. PFN’s Running Back Impact metric graded him at 89.1 for 2025, first among all backs, ahead of Robinson (86.4) and Christian McCaffrey (86.2).
Jacob Infante laid out the case on the Football Debate Club.
“He’s been at his peak, extremely efficient. Just last year, he led the NFL in PFN Running Back Impact scoring. He’s done that twice over the course of his career since he’s entered the league in 2020, and he’s one of just five running backs since 1999 who’s been able to finish first in that metric twice in their career.”
Twice is the part worth sitting with. Plenty of backs put together one monster year behind the right offensive line. Taylor did it with Carson Wentz at quarterback and Frank Reich running the staff, then did it again four years later with almost nothing about the roster the same, adding 195 rushing yards over expected and a real third-down role he never had before.
“Just a hair under what [Bijan] Robinson made in his extension, which I think is fair because [Bijan]’s a little bit younger and he’s a better receiver,” Infante said, “but Taylor might just be the best pure runner in the NFL today.”
PREDICT THE NFL SEASON: PFN’s FREE NFL Playoff Predictor
Hard to argue. Robinson is the more complete football player and the better long-term asset at 24. Between the tackles, though, nobody in the league creates yards the way Taylor does, and Indianapolis locked in two more years of it for a quarter-million dollars a year less than Atlanta paid.
What Daniel Jones’ Achilles Recovery Means for the Colts Backfield
The timing matters more than the money. Indianapolis started 8-2 last season, watched Daniel Jones tear his right Achilles in Week 14 at Jacksonville, then lost seven straight and finished 8-9 with Philip Rivers pulled out of retirement to hold the thing together. Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard got another year out of it, and ownership was blunt about what that year requires.
Jones returned to 11-on-11 work on the first day of training camp and expects to start Week 1. That’s a fast recovery and a real risk. If he’s limited early, or if he goes down again, the Colts offense becomes Taylor and a prayer.
Which is the quiet tension in this deal. Steichen acknowledged the wear after Taylor’s league-leading carry total, and the smart plan involves fewer touches, not more. The roster has to cooperate first. DJ Giddens and rookie Seth McGowan are competing for the No. 2 job, neither has proven anything, and a quarterback rebuilding an Achilles is going to lean on the run game whether the staff wants him to or not.
MORE FDC: Caleb Williams Is Better Than the Analytics Want You to Believe
“I think off of that alone and how much the Colts’ offense relies on him on the ground, I think it’s definitely worth making that extension,” Infante said.
The contract runs through 2028, one year past Jones’ deal, which gives Indianapolis a defined window and Taylor a fourth trip to the negotiating table before his age-30 season. Jahmyr Gibbs is the last domino left standing in Detroit, and whatever he gets will make this look better by comparison. For a franchise that has missed the playoffs five straight years, paying its most reliable player was never the hard part. Using him correctly will be.
