With the Nov. 10 trade deadline two weeks away, the rumor mill is running at full speed, and it just put the Green Bay Packers’ name next to Jonathan Taylor’s.

Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter’s Sunday report for ESPN on the Indianapolis Colts’ deadline options listed the Packers with the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, and Denver Broncos among the teams tied to a possible trade for the star running back.

Hours later, the Colts fell to 2-5 with a 16-10 loss in Minnesota. According to the report, that was the first of three games that will help decide whether Indianapolis has a fire sale in two weeks. However, how much to read into Green Bay’s spot on that list depends on who’s doing the reading.

Packers Reporter Pumps The Brakes on Jonathan Taylor Trade Rumors

After the Colts fired general manager Chris Ballard, rival teams began watching film and weighing ways to acquire Taylor, guard Quenton Nelson, and defensive tackles DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart, according to the report.

People briefed on the Colts’ approach believe the team wants to try to win its next three games before the deadline. Should that fail, Ed Dodds, the new chief of personnel who long served under Ballard, will join owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon in moving pieces to build for the future.

The first leg of that plan went sideways on Sunday. Taylor did his part with 18 carries for 95 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and Indianapolis led 10-6 at halftime. Then the Vikings, one of the four teams named in the report, scored the game’s final 10 points to improve to 6-0.

Zach Kruse, managing editor of The Packers Wire, chose to zero in on the wording. He shared the report’s line, which he credited to Schefter and Rapoport, describing the four clubs as teams that “have pondered, or are expected to consider,” a trade.

Then he dropped a one-line verdict: “Not the strongest indication of actual interest.”

Why Others Still See the Packers in the Mix

Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson, weighing in on who could trade for Taylor before Sunday’s kickoffs, started from Indianapolis’ side of the table: “I’m not trading him because he’s my best player and I need this guy for the long-term.”

Even so, he offered a different read on Green Bay: “To me, the interesting team here (is) if I’m the Green Bay Packers. I don’t know how Josh Jacobs is going to come back. Imagine both of them. If I’m trying to take this Packers team and give Jordan Love somebody else, I need that one-two punch. And guess what: he’s a Wisconsin guy.”

Jacobs led the Packers with 11 carries for 36 yards in Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions, decided by Jake Bates’ 22-yard field goal as time expired, while Green Bay ran 19 times for 60 yards as a team.

A week earlier, the Packers managed 57 yards on 26 carries against the Dallas Cowboys. Taylor has 587 rushing yards through Week 7, fifth in the NFL, and his eight rushing touchdowns are tied for first.

Packers reporter Peter Bukowski widened the lens to another Colts star. “The Packers have shown interest in Jonathan Taylor before,” he wrote, adding that Tyler Brooke “reported GB called on Buckner,” so “it wouldn’t be surprising at all if they’re gauging cost on more than one guy.”

That earlier interest came in August 2023, when the Packers explored a Taylor trade and the Colts wanted wide receiver Christian Watson and more in return, ESPN reported.

The report left the door open to those talks starting up again, noting that Taylor was a college standout in Wisconsin. On Buckner, the same report named the San Francisco 49ers, his former team, as a club that could make a run at the 32-year-old.

Jonathan Taylor’s Wife Weighs in From the Colts Side

Jonathan Taylor’s wife, Ayanna Taylor, addressed the trade rumors with a question about the team’s leadership: “How are they gonna get new leadership to come in when they really have no options?”

Then came the question hanging over the next two weeks: “That’s what brings us back to my husband. Do they keep him? Or do they just cut their losses and trade him?”

The owner’s view, at least, points toward keeping him. ESPN reported that Irsay-Gordon considers the running back central to the organization and a likely fixture through the rebuild. The report added that prying him loose would likely take premium draft pick compensation.

His contract would come with him. Taylor, 27, agreed to an extension shortly before the season, and he’s owed what remains of a base salary of nearly $7 million this year, then $16 million next season and nearly $18 million in 2028 as part of his $44 million deal.

That leaves the Colts, still second in the AFC South, two more chances to change the conversation, at the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 1 and at home against the Cowboys on Nov. 8. The deadline arrives two days later.

The Packers, 4-3 and fourth in the NFC North, get back to work Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field.