Colts’ Jonathan Taylor ranked 9th among NFL RBs
Our friends over at Touchdown Wire ranked Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor as the ninth-best running back in the NFL entering the 2021 season.
Here’s what Doug Farrar had to say about the emerging star in the Colts backfield:
“Colts head coach Frank Reich loves his two- and three-tight end sets, and Taylor benefited from those personnel packages, gaining 348 yards and scoring five touchdowns out of 12 personnel, and gaining 129 yards with two touchdowns on 32 carries out of 13 personnel.
Overall, only Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook gained more rushing yards than Taylor’s [1,169], and Taylor added [11] rushing touchdowns on [232] carries in an offense that was pretty seriously limited with Philip Rivers at quarterback in Rivers’ swan song season. Not that we’re sure about what the Colts are getting in Carson Wentz, but we’re pretty sure that Taylor will continue to be the team’s bastion of consistency.”
Some Colts fans might have beef with this ranking, especially with players like Josh Jacobs (No. 6) and David Montgomery (No. 7) ahead of Taylor on the list—both of which Taylor outproduced in 2020.
Putting together a full season will be the main objective for the second-year back in 2021. He wasn’t terrible during the first half of the season, but he wasn’t necessarily good either. It was his final six games of the season that vaulted him into upper echelon of running backs.
It wound up being a strong year for Taylor, who became just the fifth back since 2002 to record over 1,000 rushing yards, over 5.0 yards per carry and 10 rushing touchdowns in his rookie season. The other four were Clinton Portis, Adrian Peterson, Ezekiel Elliott and Saquon Barkley.
If Taylor is able to put together a full season behind an elite offensive line and in an offense that wants to feature the run, he’ll most certainly be higher on this list come next year.
