The Indianapolis Colts will place running back Jonathan Taylor on the physically unable to perform list, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
After shopping around for potential trade partners, the organization felt like it couldn’t find a fair value offer for the star running back. One can question if the organization acted in good faith in actually listening to trade offers but regardless, Taylor is now slated to miss the first four games of the regular season by being placed on the PUP list. That means they will have to rely on their backups to tote the rock through the first month of the regular season.
With the team releasing Kenyan Drake and Zack Moss nursing a broken arm, Deon Jackson and Evan Hull will most likely split carries at running back to start the season. Hull has turned heads during training camp and is poised to get himself plenty of snaps right out the gate. The rookie fifth-round pick out of Northwestern took six carries for 25 yards and a touchdown in their preseason finale against the Eagles this past weekend and showed his usefulness in the offense by throwing a few blocks for Anthony Richardson. Meanwhile, the third-year back Jackson also received his fair share of touches during the preseason and also punched in a touchdown against the Eagles.
For fantasy managers considering any of the Colts backups to start the year, I’d pump the breaks. The team will most likely just go full committee until Taylor returns and I’d imagine that even Richardson will get his share of designed runs in the early goings of the year. These backs will be useful handcuffs for when Taylor returns to the field, but they have low fantasy value individually.