The Indianapolis Colts have officially put Jonathan Taylor on the trading block, per Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport.

The Denver Broncos are among a handful of teams that have "expressed interest" in Taylor and talks are "active and ongoing," per the report.

Schefter linked the Broncos to Taylor last Sunday morning, and on Friday, NFL On Prime's James Palmer reported that Denver is "monitoring" the situation in Indy. It now sounds like the Broncos' interest could be much more active.

Compensation

According to Schefter and Rapoport, the Colts have already received an offer that includes a second-round draft pick and additional compensation. The precedent Indy will surely point to is Christian McCaffrey back in 2022, when the San Francisco 49ers traded a second-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers to acquire the star running back.

McCaffrey was two years younger — nearly three — than Taylor is now, though. Taylor is older and arguably has far more wear-and-tear on his NFL tires.

But there's no question Taylor still has juice. He's already rushed for 587 yards and eight touchdowns this season, though he's on pace for a career-low 4.2 yards per carry.

Taylor is under contract next year for $15 million and in 2028 for $9.46 million, though his cap numbers for those years is larger, due to the signing bonus the Colts gave him when he agreed to the two-year, $44 million extension they offered before this season started.

That definitely makes the Pro Bowl running back a bit more attractive. The rub certainly wouldn't be Taylor's salary — it would be the compensation required to get him in Denver.

Signs of Life

Meanwhile, the Broncos are hoping to see continued signs of life from their running game. There are two games left to go until the November 10 trade deadline, so the team wants to see whether rookie Jonah Coleman can continue to spark the offense as he did last week, and whether veteran J.K. Dobbins can kick things into gear now that he's past the brutal six-game gauntlet of defenses he faced to start this season.

The Broncos recently invested in Dobbins, but they're not tied to him beyond the 2026 season, so if they were to acquire Taylor, they have the flexibility to move on. Plus, the Broncos have made running-back investments in each of the past two drafts, selecting RJ Harvey in the second round last year and Coleman in the fourth round this past spring.

Both Harvey and Coleman have shown flashes of greatness, but if either of them has true RB1 upside, it's the rookie. Coleman has only taking carries in two games this season, but he was impressive in both games and showcased a complete skill set.

The Takeaway

If talks are active and ongoing, the Broncos may not have the luxury of waiting until after Week 9 to make a decision on Taylor. The Colts are big-time sellers right now, but it would likely take an extreme turning of events to get the Broncos to spend what it would take to land Taylor.

More likely, the Broncos end up erring on the side of patience with their running backs and ground game. The schedule opens up dramatically in Week 9, and this ground attack could go on a run.

But where there's smoke, there's fire. So we can't rule out the possibility of a Taylor-to-Denver trade. Stay tuned.