Jonathan

Taylor

A Week 4 ankle injury cost Taylor three games, putting a dent in what would have otherwise gone down as an elite season from the young back. Taylor’s weekly output would have been good for a 368/1,737/13 rushing line over a 17-game season. Instead, he finishes the season with 1,431 yards and 11 scores on 303 attempts. He added little through the air, catching 18 passes for 136 yards and one score. Fantasy managers, of course, will remember this as the year Taylor broke the fantasy playoffs. Taylor ran for 450 yards and five scores in the playoffs, doing most of his damage in the final two weeks of the fantasy postseason. Health remains a question mark for Taylor heading into 2025, but this was easily his best outing since his magical 2021 season. Taylor has solidified his place in the top half of the RB1 rankings for early fantasy drafters.

Although he wasn’t exactly a picture of efficiency this afternoon, Taylor is now up to 450 yards rushing over his past three weeks, his second most ever over a three-game span. He, unsurprisingly, has cleared 100 all three times out during that sample size. His scores came from three and 26 yards out. His 26-yarder saw him get skinny through the hole then scamper mostly untouched to the end zone. That’s the good, though the box score doesn’t include the bad of getting stuffed on a critical fourth down and dropping a had-to-have-it two-point conversion. It’s been that kind of year for Taylor, who closes things out with a soft Week 18 Jaguars date.

Taylor led the Colts backfield in a monstrous rushing day, tallying 218 rushing yards out of Indy’s franchise-high 335 rushing yards. He first broke free in the second quarter for a 65-yard score in the second quarter. Taylor’s next score came on the first play of the third quarter, housing a 70-yard carry. He scored yet again from one yard out later in the third quarter before Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson got carries. The Colts brought Taylor back in to seal it and he finished as the top rusher of the day, bringing fantasy managers an early holiday gift. His 218 yards are a season-high and pushes him over 1,000 rushing yards for the season. Taylor will be a top-five option for Week 17 against the Giants.

Taylor had a touchdown on an untouched 41-yard gallop in the third quarter before a video review showed he dropped the football at the one yard line, before breaching the goal line. It was a devastating turn for a Colts team that would have taken a two-possession second half lead and were instead blown out, 31-13. Taylor’s gaffe could very well cost the Colts a trip to the playoffs, depending on how the final few weeks of the regular season unfold for the Colts and their AFC rivals. Taylor dominated touches in the Indy backfield, accounting for 22 of 24 running back rushing attempts on the day. He’ll be a top-15 option in Week 16 against Tennessee.

Taylor remained inefficient on the ground, rushing for 3.8 yards per carry a week after being held to 3.2 yards per carry. The good news is that he saved the day early with an over-the-shoulder catch for a red zone touchdown. It was his first receiving touchdown on the year and just his second in the past three seasons. No other Colts running back saw a touch this week. Taylor is a home run hitter on a cold streak, but that won’t last forever, especially on an immense workload. He will remain in the RB1 ranks when the Colts take on the Broncos after their Week 14 bye.

Taylor was not targeted in the passing game for the first time since Week 1, and now has one catch for three yards in two games since Anthony Richardson’s return. This afternoon was also his second straight rushing dud with Richardson back in the fold, though today’s came on 13 fewer carries. Taylor got out-gained 61-35 by Richardson on the ground. Instead of Richardson opening up rushing lanes for his running back, the negative case seems to be coming to fruition, with Richardson stalling drives and making the Colts’ offense too predictable. It’s conspiring to make Taylor more of an RB2 than RB1, though the Patriots are a tantalizing Week 13 matchup, one much better than the Lions.

Taylor also briefly departed the proceedings to have his ankles re-taped. We don’t like to see that, but the 24 carries were a new season high. Taylor unfortunately found himself vultured twice at the goal line by Anthony Richardson. Taylor received a goal-line tote of his own, but obviously failed to convert. It was a disappointing day against a mediocre run defense, but the Jets were committed to making Richardson beat them through the air. He did, which should help Taylor moving forward. Of course, defenses aren’t going to rip up their Richardson game plans based on one start. But this was a necessary first step if anything was going to change. The Colts have a rough Week 12 matchup in the Lions. With game script certain to be negative in that one, Taylor will probably be more of an RB2 than RB1.

Taylor ripped off a huge 58-yard run in the first quarter thanks to a bad angle by Damar Hamlin, but was held to just 56 yards on his other 20 carries. The Bills seemed to sell out to stop Taylor and frequently met him in the backfield. The Colts do seem intent on letting Tyler Goodson and Trey Sermon mix in on passing downs so Taylor doesn’t have quite as high of a fantasy ceiling as we’d hope for. Even still, he remains a locked-in RB1 as a rushing threat.

The Indianapolis offense was held out of the end zone by Brian Flores’ Vikings defense, with the Colts also failing to get any momentum going on the ground. Taylor played almost every snap through three quarters, ceding just two carries and two targets to Trey Sermon while operating in a true workhorse role. Even so, the inability to move the football capped Taylor’s fantasy outing, as was the case for most Indianapolis skill position players. Taylor and the Colts get another difficult matchup in Week 10 when they host the Bills.

Taylor looked spry and healthy in his first game back from a high-ankle sprain. His 28-yard run in the third quarter set the Colts up with a first-and-goal, and Taylor had six separate carries of more than seven yards. He was put in a difficult position by the struggles of the passing game, but thankfully found a goal-line touchdown after Josh Downs was ruled down at the 1. Taylor will have good volume against the Vikings, though it’s a tough enough matchup that Taylor is more of a low-end RB1 for Week 9.