INDIANAPOLIS — Jonathan Taylor carried a season-high 26 times before finishing off a 7-play, 57-yard drive with six more rushes and an 8-yard overtime touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons last November, ending the game on his 32nd carry and a 244-yard performance. Colts coach Shane Steichen said after that game, “You can feel it on the sidelines [while] calling the game when guys are rolling.”
Despite that display, Indianapolis confronted the toll of heavy usage after the season. Taylor finished with a league-high 323 rushes, and Steichen acknowledged the difficulty in limiting him: “Obviously, he’s a hell of a player. It’s hard to take him off the field when he’s running so good.”
Taylor has produced at an elite level, rushing for 1,431 and 1,585 yards in the past two seasons. Since entering the league in 2020, only he and Derrick Henry have logged three or more seasons of 300 or more carries; Taylor has done it three times, Henry four. Taylor, 27, established a reputation for durability in college and early in the NFL, saying he is “very meticulous about my process” and credits a strict offseason regimen for preparing his body.
That durability has been tempered by the realities of the position. Taylor missed a combined 13 games in 2022 and 2023, though he returned to play 31 of a possible 34 games over the past two seasons. Colts running backs coach DeAndre Smith said, “We definitely need to find ways to take some of that workload off him,” and called finding complementary backs a “constant conversation.” He added that when Taylor is healthy, the team has a chance to win every week.
The depth behind Taylor has been limited since Zack Moss left after 2023. Moss led the Colts in rushing with 794 yards when Taylor missed time in 2023, but no running back behind Taylor has totaled more than 159 rushing yards in a single season over the past two years (Trey Sermon in 2024). Last season Taylor accounted for 73.1% of Indianapolis’ rushing attempts, the highest share of any player in the NFL.
As the Colts prepare for the 2026 season, managing Taylor’s workload remains a clear priority for the organization while balancing the production he delivers on the field.
