Jonathan Taylor Camp Update — August 31: The Bubble Wrap Held All Summer
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 31
The roster Indianapolis announced Sunday keeps Jonathan Taylor in a backfield cut to three, per the Colts' website, and he finished the preseason without playing a snap — held out of the Detroit finale a day before kickoff, no reason given. The extension terms are on the record too, reported back on August sixth: two years, forty-four million base, thirty-nine million guaranteed, per ProFootballTalk.
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The full read
The roster Indianapolis announced Sunday keeps three running backs — Jonathan Taylor, DJ Giddens and Seth McGowan — per JJ Stankevitz at the Colts' website, with Ulysses Bentley IV and Anderson Castle waived out of the room. Taylor's place on it was never in doubt. What the week settled instead is that his entire preseason was a spectator's: he was held out of Saturday's 25 to 16 loss to Detroit, announced the day before the game, per Stankevitz — reversing Steichen's earlier indication that the starters would play, and with no reason given. Steichen's plan called for the starters to play somewhere between eight and 12 plays; Taylor and Daniel Jones were carved out of it. Three preseason games, zero snaps.
The other open file closed too, on reporting that is nearly a month old. The extension Indianapolis announced on August sixth carried terms in the reporting that same day: two years, 44 million base and up to 47 million, with 39 million guaranteed — 22 million a year in new money — per Josh Alper at ProFootballTalk, corroborated by Kevin Patra at NFL.com citing Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter. The team's own announcement carried no numbers; it quoted Taylor's June line that he'd "definitely love to be a Colt for life."
Behind him, the room is now Giddens — who scored his first career touchdown in the finale, per Abby Halpin at the Colts' website — and McGowan, and nobody else.
Last week's episode called the handling full bubble wrap and said his first live snaps might come in the finale; they did not, so there is no first-team usage evidence from this summer at all, with Jones or anyone. The June read needs one sentence: the workload was always the believable half of the profile — 323 carries in 20 25, the most in football, for 1585 yards, our numbers — while the 18-touchdown scoring line is the half history tends to claw back. A summer of zero contact touches neither half. We'll pick him back up as the Baltimore opener comes into focus.
_Data via nflverse._
When Jonathan Taylor's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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