During the 2024 season, Colts head Shane Steichen said running back Jonathan Taylor's skillset was "as unique as it gets." The fifth-year veteran's vision, speed and patience were on display throughout the season, as he finished the season with 1,431 rushing yards (good for fourth-best in the league) and 11 rushing touchdowns, earning the second Pro Bowl nod of his career.
It was the first time since 2021 Taylor rushed for over 1,000 yards and 10 or more touchdowns, and in the final four weeks of the season, he led the league in rushing attempts (117), rushing yards (627) and rushing touchdowns (six). The running back was also one of two players in the NFL in 2024 (Philadelphia Eagles' Saquon Barkley) to have multiple rushing touchdowns of 65 or more yards.
Taylor dominated the Colts' ground game in 2024 – because he's one of the top running backs in the league, and because he had to.
The Colts player with the second-most rushing yards in 2024 was quarterback Anthony Richardson, with 499. Richardson also had the second-most rushing touchdowns on the season with six. Running back Trey Sermon had 159 total rushing yards and two touchdowns, and running back Tyler Goodson totaled 153 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Goodson is under contract in 2025, while Sermon is an unrestricted free agent. So, that begs the question: what are the Colts planning to do with their running back room this offseason?
"Definitely a position that we need to make sure we have enough," general manager Chris Ballard said Tuesday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. "And that's nothing against the guys we had last year. But I will say this, Zack Moss, who ended up in Cincinnati, Zack Moss was excellent for us. He was excellent. So we do have to get some more production."
After joining the Colts as part of the Nyheim Hines trade with the Buffalo Bills in November of 2022, Moss appeared in the final eight games of the season and rushed for a total of 365 yards and one touchdown. In 2023, Moss appeared in 14 games and totaled 794 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, with two additional receiving touchdowns.
With Goodson and Sermon combining for just 34.6 percent of the team's offensive snaps, the Colts simply didn't have that same kind of production behind Taylor – who missed three games due to injury – in 2024.
"Jonathan Taylor, as we know, is a really good, really good player," head coach Shane Steichen said Tuesday. "He's our bell cow, and to add pieces behind that, obviously we'll look into that.
"To add some more pieces behind him would be big."
