Not So Taylor Made
I really liked Taylor coming into the year. Being on a fast paced offense with Matt Ryan pushing the tempo up, coming in as the top player in many fantasy drafts and coming off a season where he was the number one back in all of football. He has been hampered with a pedal ankle sprain since the week 4 loss against the Titans. Being a true Colts fan it hurts me to say this but sell Jonathan Taylor and here is why.
The Colts offensive line has been a complete mess this year. They have had five different starting line ups across the offensive line to begin the season. That ranks second in the NFL, defenses are taking advantage of the lack of chemistry this group has. Matt Ryan has been rushed in the pocket being allowed 2.8 seconds per drop back. This has led to his 24 sacks, 11 fumbles and 9 interceptions through 7 games and benching. This porous line that has been killing Ryan behind the line has also led to Taylor getting hit before or at the line of scrimmage. This season he is averaging 4.3 yards per carry, which is down almost a full yard from his career average. As well, roughly 20 percent of his carries are resulting in a loss. His best game came in week 1 of the season rushing for 31 attempts, 161 yards and 1 touchdown. He hasn’t gotten over 21 attempts in a game since week 1. Taylor is currently ranked as the 33rd running back in full PPR scoring formats averaging 11.2 fantasy points per game. Take all this information and….
Trade away Jonathan Taylor while you can. We have seen this before many of times where the top overall running back doesn’t repeat or come close to returning the value they have in prior seasons. David Johnson in 2017, Saquan Barkley in 2019 and Christian McCaffery in 2021 as a few more recent examples of number one overall fantasy picks that have flopped. He still has decent value with half the season left to be played. With his injury that hindered him the second half of the game against Washington, the time to get out is now for a low end RB1 or WR1. The direction of the team isn’t favorable either. Although the team is in second place in the AFC South, Tennessee has beaten the Colts twice already and they are experimenting with a young quarterback and trading away Nahiem Hines shows me that the team isn’t trying to win this season. Look for an increased usage in Deon Jackson in upcoming weeks so they can get Taylor healthy for next year.
Thanks for reading and as always, stay true!