Jonathan Taylor Avoids Talks About Trade Request, Says He's Committed To Colts | Pat McAfee Reacts

Jonathan Taylor's back in the building, speaking to the media this morning. No live stream of it. Very interesting. Why is that? No live stream. Nobody was allowed to record either, I don't think, although we got videos coming out from him answering different things. I wonder if all parties were wondering how that whole thing was going to go. We don't need to stream it to get it maybe blipped and cut out and see how people take it. Because this is an important press conference for Jonathan Taylor, because the last time we heard him talk, he didn't have any of those goals. Yeah, that's right. He was not happy about how he was getting paid. He wanted to get out of there. His agent was talking shit to Jim Irce, who's the owner of the coach. The owner of the coach, Jim Irce, was talking shit back to the agent and to the running back community as a whole. It was ugly. He's there today and he said, I don't need to promise whether or not I took the trade request off the board. I'm proving I'm committed because I'm here. This is his answer chit-chatting after he was asked if his trade request has been rescinded yet. To go out there and to be able to do what I love, which is play football. So, just going through that journey throughout this whole time, there's been a lot of things said and done, but at the end of the day, the number one overall goal for everybody was for me to get healthy. I think everybody's on the same page with that. When did you get healthy? Over the course of this whole offseason. There's never a specific date, because there's always progression. There's always, hey, we've got to break through this wall. Then we've got to break through that next wall. So, just being able to maintain that perseverance until you get that cheap gold. So, that was the answer he gave when he was asked if his trade request is still on the table to the Indianapolis Colts. He decided to take it to the health way, and the goal was to get healthy and everything. So, then they obviously asked a follow-up, and he said, I don't have to say one way or the other. If I'm here, if I wasn't committed, I wouldn't be here. And it's like, well, I think you kind of have to be, actually, because you might lose some money, because they didn't have you on PUP anymore and they could have activated your entire thing. So, we don't know if it's been concluded. We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. We do know Jonathan Taylor is back in the Indianapolis Colts building. Anthony Richardson's already talked about him. He's been on the practice field. Let's hope that he gets to experience Shane Steichen and this new Colts team one weekend at home, especially with the song that we have in there. And maybe Jonathan Taylor will fall in love with being an Indianapolis Colt, and we will reside this. He was also asked about the contract and what he's going to do, and he said that's an off-season conversation. So, it feels like the Colts and Jonathan Taylor are kind of moving forward, which is good news. The talksy table is here. At Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer. Cowboys tone. Diggs is here. And a man who coached football for 36 years. 18 in college, 18 in the NFL. Ladies and gentlemen, our coach, the people's coach, Chuck McGaughan. Yay, Chuck! All right, Chuck, let's just dive right into the team that you used to be the head coach of. This Jonathan Taylor situation with Jim Ursae and a new agent, and the timing in which he has to be traded, and just a couple months after he said, I'm going to play out my contract, I signed the contract. That statement was made in the time when, like, trades can happen, and a lot of money is still on a lot of different salary caps. So, whenever he says, I'm going to finish my contract, I signed it, and his baby face, and especially after we have the number four pick overall, and the season was a massive letdown, and it was terrible football, and he didn't have anywhere near his best year. It was his worst year by far, probably in the history of his entire football career. So, then a couple months later, he requests a trade, he wants a new contract, he wants all this. No teams were able or willing to give up what the Colts were asking for, which was something in return, because it's Jonathan Taylor, and if he's worth all this money, let's assume that we're losing somebody good, the Colts would want somebody back. How do you think Shane Steichen, who is trying to build this entire culture, who had to deal through training camp with Jonathan Taylor with a hood up, and he's your best player, he's your best player, and he's not buying in at all to anything that you're selling. New rookie quarterback, a lot of new faces in the building. You're trying to build this culture. This guy has fallen behind. He's your best player, too, which is always a big distraction. Now he's back in the building. Is your trade request still on there? Well, if I wasn't committed, I wouldn't be here. How does Shane Steichen handle this whole situation, and how do you think they get past it all? Well, I think this is a great sign, right, based on what JT said. I think we were all hoping that he would come off the pup, be ready to go for the Titans game at home this week, and Shane is like a flatliner to me. I see him in the locker room after wins. I think he's a competitive dude, but I think when it comes to this kind of stuff, I think he's wired the right way. He didn't overreact to any of that stuff. He just kind of let it play out, so he's got to be ecstatic. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think so, too. The way Zach ran Moss in his absence, and now to have JT back and put him back in the backfield with AR5, I mean, he's got to be fired up. Now, the acid test will be, OK, if he plays this week, how much do we play him? What's the pitch count going to be? And what is his health going to be? And what if it starts bad? Yeah. What if it starts bad? How do we keep the positive vibes if the first half is terrible? Because the Titans defense... Very good. Very good defense. They've got a good defense. And they know the Colts. You can script plays. Shane will put them in position to be successful. He'll call some easy runs, some high-percentage stuff for the quarterback and for JT. I don't see that happening. I see him... Killing? Me, too. The offensive line is better. Chuck, to your point, the whole conversation about the Indianapolis Colts coming in is, is Shane Steichen going to be able to put an offense in that AR5 is going to be able to thrive in? What you were saying about Coach Steichen, getting to watch him in person, he is very competitive, seems to have the respect of everybody, but he will chew the refs out, which I appreciate, because the team sees that, too, and they see that their coach is just as mad as they are. I feel like the team is young enough. I think AR5 is a good leader, and I believe that if JT gets to experience AR5 in that Shane Steichen offense, because Zach Moss had a lot of move, to get back to your point. Zach Moss had a lot of room to move on various games, especially against that Baltimore team that I think is very, very hard to run against. No doubt about it. Nobody does. And they had success. And I think JT has seen this team have success. And he's been sitting back and watching this locker room buy in to Shane's program, buy in to the accountability, whereas maybe, okay, what if they're 0-4 right now? Boy, they really need me. Oh, yeah. I think he kind of looked at this thing and said, shit, I've got to get my ass back out there. Chance to get money, too. Yes. Hey, if he does really well right now, chance to get money. That offense is one that he's going to be able to eat, and if they get going. And there was times, and we're dramatic, and we overreact, and we have to play in real time because we're a real-time daily show, that I didn't know how this was going to get resolved. Because Jonathan Taylor was the most popular player in Indianapolis. He was the mayor of Indiana. Then all of a sudden he gets his new agent. They do this play to get more money, which respect if it pays off. It did not pay off. He had a public trade request, a public spout with Jim Irsay, who think whatever you want outside of here, pretty beloved here in Indianapolis because he literally just hands hundreds to people all day, every day. That's what he is. He's one of the most dialed-in-to-the-city owners there is. So public spout with Jim Irsay. The Colts fans expect good football, and you're lucky to be a Colt is how Colts fans feel. So publicly, I didn't think there was a chance he was going to be able to be Babyface again, but AR5 is the guy here. So Jonathan Taylor doesn't have to have the pressure to be the most liked guy. If Jonathan Taylor makes some plays, it's like, oh, we are happy we got Jonathan Taylor back. I think there is a chance for a full Babyface turn, when maybe I didn't believe that was possible just a few weeks ago, and it's strictly because of how damn optimistic people are about what Anthony Richardson can become. Yeah, absolutely, and in part, I think it's like what Chuck said. They're 2-2. They look pretty good so far. I think a lot of people expect them, rookie quarterback, they're going to stink this year. We don't know what to expect out of them. They've been pretty solid, and in terms of the fans getting back on board, if he pops a long one, or if he goes— Place is going to go bananas. It's going to go ape shit. I'm going to go crazy. I wanted him to get traded out of Indianapolis, because I was like, all right, bro, we're trying to rebuild this entire thing. We're not going to win the Super Bowl this year. If you're this pissed, we do not need a distraction right now, especially with what that building was just a year ago. Remember, there's rumors coming out of the Indianapolis Colts building, and nobody within the building would give me a matter of fact because they didn't want to be the person telling me any information because I have this thing in front of me every single day. But there's people missing treatments and late-to-team meetings, and there's obviously the gambling situation happening there. It's like that building was a cesspool, a toxic culture, that somehow happened very quickly because there's a great tradition in history here in Indianapolis. So I think a lot of us ex-Colts players, I don't want to speak for everybody, but a lot of us were like, bud, you're a part of the group that kind of ruined what, and I'm not going to say we, I just so happen to be there, but the teams of the past kind of built in Indianapolis and how this city goes. So you don't want to be here? Yeah. We don't want to be picking number four overall anymore either. We don't want to hear that people are late-to-team meetings in professional football. You're getting paid to play football, show up at your meetings. What are we even, missing treatments? You're a professional football player. That's how it's kind of expected around here. And I'm not saying Jonathan Taylor did any of those things. He did not. I'm just saying that's what the Colts had become. So whenever this guy, whenever we're trying to build this culture back up and we've got a brand-new head coach and we've got a promising quarterback, and this guy's like, I don't want to be here. I want more money. It was almost like every Colts fan was like, okay, dude. Sure. We hope you do well, honestly. I think you'll do better than you did last year because you've proven that through your entire football career. Last year was an anomaly, your worst time, which makes it even more interesting that you would kind of try to hold the team. Bad business. I think it was a bad business decision, but hey, it might end up paying off because you'll play great this year and came back with a chip on his shoulder and all that stuff. But like, he does pop one, I'm going to go crazy. Welcome back, JT. And everybody in the AFC South, 2-2. So it's like, everybody's in it. CJ Stroud and that Houston Texans team, I don't think anybody's thinking they're not going to be in it by the end of this, which is wild to think about. Everybody just assumed they were just going to be an afterthought. The Jacksonville Jaguars, obviously they have a massive win over Atlanta, but like, who are they? You know, this year as opposed to... Probably not as good as everyone thought they were. Potentially, or they might be. We have no idea. Colt's much better. We're in games that we should not be in and beating, like, we are. And Shane Steichen seems to be one of those guys. And then Vrabel... They'll always be there. The AFC South is either very gettable or very you-get-gottable. And I feel like all four teams are like in it right now. And it's a beautiful thing. We get to add in a guy who two years ago, counting this season, three seasons ago, was an MVP candidate. So hopefully he's able to get back in there. Good news for Indianapolis. Yeah, that's what was kind of forgotten. I feel like during this entire thing is how good Jonathan Taylor is at football. And I'm not saying Zach Moss, you know, isn't as good, but you assume that does give the offense as a whole a little lift. Like if you're... We hope he's good at football. Hopefully he's still great. Last year he was hurt and he did not play good football. It was not good. We're running right into the back of offensive linemen. And offensive linemen were not good either. Right. And allegedly the quarterback last year was not calling the same plays. I mean... Nothing was good. Just an absolute nightmare situation where Jonathan Taylor did not play his best football. But yeah, he has the talent and ability and he seems to be healthy. He's going to get right back into it. Congrats to your coach. Yep, there you go. Also, congrats to the city of Indianapolis. Yeah, there's quite a situation. Momo the monkey escaped last night, I believe. Yesterday during the day. And although there was some people that were terrorized by this monkey. Hurt, not fatally, but still. Whether it was rocks or poop or anything that this monkey had. Momo, it hurt a few people. But luckily we got him. He has been captured and returned to his home. That's may or may not. Way to go, IMPD! Yep, it's great. Just taking a quick look at the photo. Yeah, Momo might not be living with the greatest people. And he might not be in the best situation. Who knows? I don't think that photo says that. That looks like a brand new home. Did Momo squat in that brand new house? I don't know if that's a brand new owner. But I do know that part of town is not... Momo had to have his head on a swivel last night for that particular part of town, I will say. Because anybody can get it from what I've... Just from living here for about 15 years, watching the news nightly, where Momo was just strolling around. Man. Tough part of town. Hardcore. But I think Momo is much smarter than the average monkey. Yeah. Because he ran by this camera saying, get my good side. Yeah, check this out. He kind of hid the whole thing. Momo's a showman. And we're happy he's okay. But if you guys could have seen the reaction around Indianapolis about Momo being on the loose. Whoa. Everybody was so, this thing's so cute. How do we... We want to go meet Momo. They had to send a following up like, he has hurt people, but not with biting. I'm like, is this monkey doing jujitsu on people? Yeah, possible. How's he not hurting people if he's not biting them? Is he arm barring and choking things out? I got big John Cena vibes from Connor's announcement right there. We got him? Yep. Thank you, Tony. What was that, from Bin Laden, right? Yeah, that was from Bin Laden. Similar. When he ran out. Very similar. Momo... Yeah, I mean... Momo was kind of terrorizing a bad part of town here. And I don't know if anybody's ready for it.