Now that Daniel Snyder is out of the NFL, there is a new opening for the title of “worst owner in the league” and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay seems to be making quite a run for that spot.
His latest issue is centered on the team’s biggest star — running back Jonathan Taylor — and a deteriorating relationship that resulted in Taylor reportedly requesting a trade away from the team on Saturday.
It all began with Irsay’s public comments on the value of running backs and their contracts and continued with a meeting this weekend that ended with Taylor requesting a trade. Irsay followed that by saying some really bizarre things about how quickly the NFL forgets about people and what an honor it is to be in the league.
As an isolated incident this would probably just be seen as a misstep by Irsay and just another chapter in the running backs vs. ownership fight that is taking place across the league. But this isn’t the first major misstep that Irsay has had over the past year.
He also made the Colts a laughing stock in the middle of the 2023 season, when he fired head coach Frank Reich and made the decision to replace him with former Colts lineman Jeff Saturday. That decision was greeted with harsh criticism from pretty much all corners of the NFL world due to the fact that Saturday had zero coaching experience of any kind. Irsay moved forward with the hire despite his own general manager urging against it.
Prior to that, he was inserting himself into coaching matters with Reich and was insistent on Sam Ehlinger being moved up to the depth chart and then ultimately replacing veteran Matt Ryan, despite the fact Ehlinger clearly was not ready for that sort of a role.
Over the years, Irsay has had a tendency to not know when to keep quiet and when not to insert himself into football decisions. And while it is his team and he can do what he wants with it, the most successful owners know when to step back and let the football minds deal with the football aspect of the business.
Much of Irsay’s tenure owning the Colts has been positive and he won a Super Bowl. But how much different would his ownership look had he not lucked into back-to-back franchise quarterbacks in Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck? Ever since those two stars left the organization, the Colts have been a mediocre franchise on the field and the more Irsay inserts himself into things, the worse it all seems to get
