COLTS RB PREVIEW: Jonathan Taylor Stars, Who Will Back Him Up?

The Indianapolis Colts offense worked exactly by design for the early part of 2025: pass to score, and run to win.

The Colts would pepper the field with efficiency and chunk plays through the air in the first halves of games, then batter opponents with Jonathan Taylor in the second halves. This approach sent Taylor off to a historic start, as he was on his way to 2,000 yards and threatening the single-season touchdown record.

The wheels fell off, though, when quarterback Daniel Jones began dealing with injuries after the bye week. His fractured left fibula compromised his mobility, and then when he was lost for the season to a torn Achilles, Philip Rivers came in for a three-week stretch.

Between the Colts' necessary reliance on shotgun formations with Rivers, and Taylor trying to work with an offensive line beginning to deal with injuries, the run game spiraled.

After posting five games each with triple-digit rushing yards and multiple touchdowns in the first 10 games, Taylor didn't reach either mark again the rest of the season.

Now in 2026, with Jones recovering, the Colts will likely need to be even more reliant on the run game, but will someone step up to take on a complementary role, or will Taylor continue to dominate the backfield shares?

Jonathan Taylor

Taylor was truly dominant of the backfield in 2025, present for 82.4% of the offensive snaps and 86.6% of the carries by running backs.

He led the NFL in carries (323), rushing first downs (84), rushing touchdowns (18), and total touchdowns (20). He was second in touches (369) and No. 3 in rushing yards (1,585) and yards from scrimmage (1,963), eighth among running backs in receiving first downs (15), and tied for 10th in yards per carry (4.9).

Something to watch for in 2026: Taylor is 1,628 rushing yards behind Edgerrin James for the franchise's all-time record. He already surpassed James' rushing touchdown record last year.

DJ Giddens vs. Seth McGowan

The Colts have been fortunate that Taylor remained as healthy as he was in 2025 and as effective, but they're playing with fire if they don't have a suitable backup in place.

Giddens was supposed to be a complementary piece to Taylor last year as a rookie, but he lacked the readiness for third-down duties and didn't play special teams, which limited him to just nine games.

Head coach Shane Steichen recently spoke about the importance of third downs for running backs.

"Yeah, that's a huge part of it," Steichen said. "I mean, third downs in this league, you’ve got a whole bunch of stuff coming at you that you’ve got to be prepared for, and you prep for each and every week, but obviously the back's got to be a huge part of that in protection."

Along with being able to handle some third-down duties, such as pass protection and pass-catching, Taylor's backup will likely also need to have some utility on special teams. Otherwise, someone with a severely diminished role on offense or defense doesn't make sense to be active on gamedays if they don't contribute on special teams.

The rookie McGowan doesn't project to being a star in the NFL, but his skillset is ideal for being a backup, as he's an urgent, violent runner who picks things up quickly and projects to being able to handle pass pro and special teams duties, although the latter will need to be more of a learned skill since he didn't do much of it in college.

Ulysses Bentley IV, Lincoln Pare, Anderson Castle

Bentley was a preseason standout last year as an undrafted rookie who was able to be active for Week 1 and saw a couple of snaps, but he reverted to the practice squad, where he stayed. He's a dark horse for the roster if the Colts don't feel that both Giddens and McGowan can handle all the duties they need to.

Pare and Castle are a couple of interesting undrafted rookie practice squad possibilities. Pare is a multi-purpose threat who catches the ball well (117 college catches), and Castle is a short-yardage battering ram with 20 career touchdowns and 71 forced missed tackles.