Open Letter: The Bills Are Not Trading for Jonathan Taylor

The Buffalo Bills are heading into the 2023 regular season with an extremely talented roster, but far more skeptics than they had a season ago.

The reason for that was the AFC Divisional round loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, which was the lasting impression to national media members. The Bills had gone through two historic snowstorms, Damar Hamlin's medical incident, and a host of key injuries (Von Miller, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, DaQuan Jones, Tre White and Josh Allen's elbow).

The Bills will be entering this season with second-year pro James Cook as the lead running back. Veterans Damien Harris and Latavius Murray will be behind Cook.

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Cook looked impressive last season as a rookie and was among league leaders in yards per touch. Despite that, the Bills are being talked about as a team who should trade for star running back Jonathan Taylor.

Taylor and the Indianapolis Colts have been at odds since the start of mandatory minicamp. It appears Taylor is done playing for the Colts and owner Jim Irsay's public comments has made that even more likely.

Taylor wants a long-term deal for big money and the Colts simply will not give him that. They have recently given him permission to seek a trade, which would likely need to be accomplished before Tuesday's NFL roster cutdown day.

The Dolphins, Bears and Rams are teams who have been talked about the most on social media, as vying to get Taylor.

The Bills absolutely will not trade for Taylor and we should stop discussing it. Why though?

Firstly is logistics; the Bills only have $2.2 million in cap space and Taylor would need an extension. That's the genesis of this dispute with the Colts in the first place. The Bills can't afford that at this moment.

Secondly, the Bills have James Cook. They don't need Taylor because Cook is capable of handling most of the touches at running back. He has far less mileage and younger.

Thirdly, and this might be the most important aspect of why the Bills will not trade for Jonathan Taylor...their philosophy.

General manager Brandon Beane has not yet given a running back they have drafted a second contract. He will not do it because the Bills are a pass-first team with Josh Allen. What would they even do with Taylor if they traded for him? How in the world would he fit in this passing offense? Not only that, the Bills would feel the need to give him the ball more, which takes the ball out of the hands of Allen and Stefon Diggs. That's no good.

The Bills are not trading for Jonathan Taylor, nor should they.