Jonathan Taylor Trade: History Provides Cautionary Tale For NFL Teams Considering It | Armando Salguero
There's nothing we're seeing now with the Jonathan Taylor trade storyline from the Indianapolis Colts that the NFL hasn't seen or done before.
Taylor, the 2021 NFL rushing champion, isn't and won't be the last bigtime running back who disagrees with management. He isn't the first or last to request a trade.
So amid that history of accomplished running back trades, it makes sense for the teams involved to consider that history.
Teams often do this. They study past moves by other teams to suggest whether a move they're contemplating might work. So let's do that exercise because there cautionary tales in the mix.
First let's establish that NFL running backs get traded. A lot. Even the stars.
Big Time Running Back Trades Happen A Lot
Marshall Faulk was traded from the Colts to the Rams in 1999. The Rams won a Super Bowl afterward.
The Rams traded Eric Dickerson to the Colts in 1987. Like Taylor, that came amid a contract dispute between the player and the team that drafted him.
Both those guys are Hall of Fame running backs. Traded.
They're not alone.
Hall of Famer Earl Campbell was traded -- from Houston to New Orleans to be reunited with coach Bum Phillips.
Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis? He was traded, with his move from the Rams to the Steelers signaling the resurgence of the Pittsburgh running attack.
Other outstanding backs were similarly used as trade collateral in their careers.
Ricky Williams of the Miami Dolphins tries to get away from Ted Johnson of the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on December 29, 2002 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The Patriots defeated the Dolphins 27-24 in overtime. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
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Ricky Williams was traded from New Orleans to Miami in 2002. Marshawn Lynch was traded from Buffalo to Seattle, completing one of the longest moves possible in the NFL from one coast to the other.
If Taylor is traded by Tuesday's 4 p.m. deadline, that move will likely join this list of impactful running back exchanges in NFL history.
But if the Indianapolis Colts, as well as any team exploring acquiring Taylor, are smart, they'll look as much at a couple of other deals as the ones just mentioned.
Because those deals also had great impact. Just not in a good way.
Trent Richardson Trade Haunts Colts
We're talking the Trent Richardson trade from the Browns to the Colts in 2013. And the David Johnson trade from Arizona to Houston in 2020 that was a key part of the DeAndre Hopkins move to Arizona.
Trent Richardson of the Cleveland Browns scores a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on September 27, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens led the Browns 9-7 at the half. (Photo by Larry French/Getty Images)
Both those trades went sideways for the team acquiring the bigtime running back.
Both stand as a warning that paying bigtime for a bigtime running back -- even a pedigreed one that was either a former first-round pick or Pro Bowl performer -- guarantees the new team nothing.
Maybe some heartache but nothing else.
Consider the facts:
Richardson was the third player selected in the 2012 draft. The Browns packaged three picks to move up one spot in the draft to select the former Alabama star.
But one year later, a new Browns brain trust was done with Richardson. Two games into the 2013 season, the Browns dealt Richardson to the Colts for a first-round pick.
Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts runs the ball in the game against the Buffalo Bills during the first quarter at Highmark Stadium on November 21, 2021 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images)
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And the Colts lived to regret it.
Richardson didn't give the Colts a premier running game to combine with Andrew Luck's passing. He averaged only 3.1 yards per carry in Indy and was out of the league by 2015.
That move, by the way, is doubtless in Indy owner Jim Irsay's mind as a reason not to pay, or by his thinking, overpay for a running back. That's part of the problem signing Taylor to a big extension.
The Dolphins, one of the teams known to be interested in Taylor, should also learn this history. They might be wise to look back at their own history because they're thinking maybe Taylor is the final piece of a puzzle in a year they're in win-now mode.
Well, the Williams trade two decades ago was that as well. And although Williams generally performed for the team, the Dolphins never actually won big with him.
They didn't win a Super Bowl, or a conference title, or even a playoff game with Williams on the roster. Williams was good when he wasn't retired or suspended.
But Williams was not great enough to carry the team that gave up two first-round and a fourth-round pick for him.
Head coach Bill O'Brien of the Houston Texans interviews during the first day of the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 25, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
Texans Running Back Trade Haunted Them
There's also the Johnson move to Houston that should be ringing as an alarm for teams wanting to add Taylor.
Johnson got into a philosophical disagreement with Arizona coach Kliff Kingsbury in the second half of the 2019 season. Not a great idea to get on your bosses wrong side, as Johnson learned.
He had only 24 offensive touches in his final seven games in 2019.
Johnson arrived in Houston in 2020 with credentials (former All Pro and Pro Bowler) that also included great production.
But Johnson lasted only two seasons in Houston. He scored 6 rushing touchdowns. He never got over 691 rushing yards in a season.
Perhaps the toughest part is Johnson was for two years the face of a trade that went badly. It eventually was used as ammunition, along with a terrible season in 2020, for firing the trade's architect Bill O'Brien.
So, yes, history provides a cautionary tale for any team in line to trade for Jonathan Taylor.