Insider: Jonathan Taylor returns for homecoming with Colts that almost never came

INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts running back Jonathan Taylor sprinted onto the field in his No. 28 blue jersey with his helmet off, pumping his arms and letting the cheers and fresh air wash over him. As he got to the edge of the Lucas Oil Stadium turf he used to run wild on, he brought his hands to his mouth and blew a kiss to the stadium.

“Just hearing them scream and roar as we’re coming out of the tunnel and all we’re doing is doing what we love," Taylor said of the pregame introductions. "It's priceless."

What isn't priceless is the deal he signed the day before to get here, for three years and $42 million, with $26.5 million guaranteed. It's the deal many thought could never come for a running back in these days, and not for this running back, from this team, when the subtweets and threats and bus meetings had let the divide spread as wide as the Atlantic Ocean.

But four weeks after the Colts gave Taylor permission to seek a trade, here he was running out of the tunnel and pumping them up. It was his first game since Week 13 of last season, and just a part-time performance, where instead of running through a defense, he was the cheerleader for a 23-16 victory over the Titans that kept the Colts in a first-place tie in the AFC South.

"Hearing them speak in the huddle and those little encouraging things – fist bumps or, ‘Let’s go.’ It’s something that you miss," Taylor said. "... It was a surreal feeling."

His voice trailed off at times, as if he was caught in some kind of dream state. This one had a smile stitched to his face, a healthy ankle and a locker appropriately positioned at the front right of the Colts' locker room.

It's a stratosphere from the nightmare he'd been living the past year.

One year ago, in Week 4, the Colts hosted these same Titans in another rugged battle for the AFC South, and Taylor was pushing on the backs of his linemen as the walls began to close in. A pocket kept collapsing, and the most gifted player in the world at finding a crease of daylight suddenly saw none.

The feet got chomping, and suddenly he was pulled beneath the sand.

MORE: 10 Colts thoughts on Anthony Richardson's injury, Jonathan Taylor's return and a win over the Titans

A high-ankle sprain in this matchup, on this field, kicked off the most confusing, painful and angry year of Taylor's life. It began a seven-game stretch in which he spent each week stretching out an ankle that felt like a slinky, deciding whether he could muster the will to play. When he played, he wasn't the player who ran away with the rushing title in 2021, or really even that close.

It started the need for surgery, the rehab to follow, the questions from his team and himself about when he'd be that player again -- and just how much that player was worth. That's when the smiles on his face turned to scowls.

"It puts you in tough positions mentally," he said.

Taylor's entire sense of time became warped that day against the Titans a year ago. A high-ankle sprain needs weeks to heal, but his team wanted to know, could he be back in 10 days? He used to run a 40-yard dash in 4.39 seconds, but the loss of a tenth of a second felt like all the loss in the world.

He thought it was the time for a contract extension, the way the universe here aligned for Quenton Nelson and Shaquille Leonard and Braden Smith and Kenny Moore II and Nyheim Hines. He figured he'd be back by training camp, or at least by the preseason, or maybe the regular season. But this was 2023, and running backs aren't valued like they were even a couple years ago, back when Taylor was running roughshod through the NFL and it felt like he had all the time in the world.

Even though his January surgery was precautionary, Taylor had not played a game since Dec. 15 of last year. Before this week, he hadn't worn a pair of pads in more than 290 days. He can recite both items by heart because that's where they're stored.

"When you're not doing what you love," Taylor said, "you're going to notice it."

But one fact he was not aware of was that the injury that started all of this came on this field against this opponent, one year ago. That had slipped somewhere beneath the pile, to a dark recess of his mind. But when he realized the circle that was now full, he couldn't help but flash that smile again.

"That’s wild," Taylor said.

It's all a bit wild, isn't it?

It turns out a running back can get paid tens of millions in guaranteed money in 2023. Relationships are repairable, just like general manager Chris Ballard promised everyone.

A young team on the rise can get its All-Pro back for a key divisional game, keep him on a pitch count and win it in his spirit.

Taylor ran just six times for 18 yards and caught one pass for 16 yards. Still working back into game shape, he took a seat to watch Zack Moss race through the middle of the Titans defense for a 56-yard score and 165 yards total as the Colts took the old Titans formula of running wild and winning in the trenches and slammed it down their throats.

He got to watch the risk limit, as the carries dropped, as his line looked a little more like it did in his first two seasons in the league, when he averaged 1,490 yards and felt on top of the world. Before the injury, and the standoff, and the wonders about what was next.

“You put everything into a game this physical, you’re going to walk out of this game beat up. It's a 100% injury rate," center Ryan Kelly said. "For a guy who has put it on the line the last three years, to see him come out on top is awesome.”

Taylor isn't on top on the field yet, but he came out on top in a negotiating battle with the Colts. After Ballard and Irsay both said they didn't want to extend Taylor this season, the two gave in on a deal that will pay him $14 million a season, ranking behind only Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara at the position.

They did it because they needed a way to convince him to come back to the field. And they, too, were ready to dream about what this could be with a rookie quarterback like Anthony Richardson. The two can make for a backfield with two bodies measuring at least 225 pounds and running a 40-yard dash in less than 4.45 seconds.

"His unique speed, ability and everything else – it gives us a unique opportunity offensively to do things that shifts it in another gear," owner Jim Irsay said of Taylor. "Now you’ve got to be worried about grand slams and 500-foot home runs. This team has changed."

The two only saw one play together Sunday before Richardson landed between two tacklers on a run play and suffered an AC joint sprain, a source told Indy Star.

It leaves what the two can do together in Shane Steichen's scheme and behind a much improved offensive line a mystery. But it's on the mind of Colts players.

"I dream about it," linebacker Zaire Franklin said.

The dream finally met a dose of reality Sunday, when Taylor ran through that smoke and blew the kiss to the crowd. He's the rare running back who took on a billion-dollar sports franchise and won, in a way they can all now celebrate together.

"It just shows," Taylor said, "that running backs are essential."

Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts vs. Titans: Jonathan Taylor returns for homecoming that almost never came