The Indianapolis Colts have plenty of question marks on their offense heading into 2025, but running back isn’t one of them. Since he entered the league in 2020, Jonathan Taylor has consistently been one of the best backs in the NFL. And, ESPN recently polled decision makers around the league to rank players at their respective positions.
Following a strong 2024 in which he ran for 1,431 yards and 11 touchdowns, Taylor ranks No. 7 on the list.
“Taylor’s dropping two spots from last season is a curious case,” Jeremy Fowler writes. “He pumped out 1,432 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2024 despite uneven quarterback play. His speed is still elite. He turned 26 in January. And he’s the first back since Adrian Peterson (2007-11) to produce 6,000 rushing yards and 50 rushing touchdowns through his first five NFL seasons.
“While his contract dispute in 2023 stalled momentum, he has never underwhelmed when playing a full season.”
Perhaps he doesn’t get the credit he deserves because the Colts simply haven’t been all that relevant during his career. Outside of fantasy football players (and there are millions and millions of those), people probably don’t care what the running back of an 8-9 team does.
“He’s underrated,” an AFC executive told ESPN. “Highly productive and can wear you down before breaking off a big run.”
Since 2020, Taylor has 24 games of 100+ rushing yards, which ranks second to Derrick Henry‘s 37.
Who is ahead of Taylor on this list?
For the most part the top of this list is accurate, but there is one eyebrow raiser. That would be San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey. He’s 29-years old and has missed 10 or more games in three of his last five seasons.
“He’s a great player, but he’s always had durability issues, even in college,” an NFL personnel executive said. “He’s an elite trainer and takes great care of himself. He’s just not a big body and will lose a step eventually.”
So, how is he ahead of Taylor? McCaffrey played in four games last season and ran for 202 yards and no touchdowns. But, he’s a great receiver, how did he do there? He was awful in that category as well, catching 15 passes for 146 yards…and also no touchdowns.
Sure, he was banged up, but he’s always banged up. It’s not clear how he would get voted ahead of a workhorse like Taylor when he’s constantly on the injury report.
What was the criteria for ranking players?
ESPN isn’t all to blame for any issues with the rankings because it’s not just their opinions, it’s based on the votes of industry insiders.
“ESPN surveyed league executives, coaches and scouts to help us rank the top 10 players at 11 different positions, from quarterback to cornerback and all positions in between,” Fowler writes. “This was the sixth edition of these rankings, and as usual, several players moved up or fell off last year’s lists.”
In Taylor’s case, he dropped two spots from last year’s No. 5 ranking. So, he was higher in the rankings last season when he was coming off of a 741-yard performance in just seven starts the year before? Do with that what you will.
“A reminder of the rankings process: Voters gave us their 10 best players at a position, then we compiled the results and ranked candidates based on number of top-10 votes, composite average and dozens of interviews, with research and film study help from ESPN NFL analyst Matt Bowen,” Fowler concludes. “In total, more than 70 voters submitted a ballot on at least one position, and in many cases all positions. Additional voting and follow-up calls with those surveyed helped us break any ties.”
That’s all well and good, but that still doesn’t explain how McCaffrey is ahead of Taylor by just about many metric.
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