Star running back Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts reported back pain in the pre-training camp physical, according to ESPN.

"1.) Never had a back pain. 2.) Never reported back pain. Not sure who "sources" are, but find new ones," Taylor denied the report on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.

ESPN reported that Taylor's issue might come from an injury that was not sustained while playing for the Colts. He has been on the physically unable to perform list since he reported to the training camp on July 25. If the team places him on the non-football injury list, they can withhold his salary.

The report of Taylor's injury came at the sensitive timing as he requested the Colts to trade him. He and the team owner Jim Irsay met on July 29. The two talked for about an hour, but no none knew what they talked about. After that, The Athletic broke that Taylor wants to leave Indianapolis.

One likely reason is over his contract extension. Taylor is in the final year of his rookie deal. It's no news that he wants a lucrative extension. He posted 3,841 yards and 33 touchdowns with 756 carries in three seasons. He was the rushing yards and touchdowns leader in the 2021 season and was voted into the Pro Bowl as well as the First-team All-Pro.

"When they're great players, it is. When they're a special player, it is. I'm not gonna get into what we're gonna do contract-wise, but when you're a special player and a special playmaker, yeah," the Colts' general manager Chris Ballard said of Taylor in January.

However, running backs are not the even close to the highest-paid club in today's NFL. Only three franchise tagged players failed to reach long-term extensions during this offseason, and they are all running backs. Many in the position expressed their frustration about the situation, including Taylor.

"A lot of positions do a lot for their team, but specifically speaking for the running back position, I can just speak firsthand, we do a lot. You just want to be treated fairly. … Just seeing guys fight, you just hope that things work out for them. You see why guys request trades. They just want to feel valued by not only their coaches, their teammates, but the organization as well," Taylor said in June.

Irsay commented on the situation as well in July. "NFL Running Back situation- We have negotiated a CBA, that took years of effort and hard work and compromise in good faith by both sides ... to say now that a specific Player category wants another negotiation after the fact, is inappropriate. Some Agents are selling 'bad faith' …" he posted on X.

Then Irsay told ESPN that he wasn't speaking of Taylor. "The comment wasn't really directed at Jonathan. We haven't exchanged any contract numbers with each other or anything like that. So, it's not like we're in the midst of that. I think we had a tough season last year. Didn't win a lot of games. This is a year about coming back together and having a great year and we're really depending on Jonathan to team up with (quarterback) Anthony Richardson to try and pull together to have a great year," the Colts owner said.

He also denied that the team will trade Taylor, "not now or not in October."