The Colts have run the ball 101 times through their first four games. Jonathan Taylor has 81 of those carries, while Matt Ryan has nine.
So, what do they do without him?
Indianapolis ruled Taylor out of its Week 5 game on Thursday Night Football against the Broncos due to an ankle injury. Obviously, the news leaves a glaring hole in the Colts offense, one that has no direct replacement.
Obviously, Nyheim Hines is the first name who comes to mind. Hines' role as the Colts' pass-catching back hasn't changed, though, because of Taylor's impressive durability. This will be just the second game of Taylor's career that he will miss.
Hines only has eight carries for 11 yards this season, while he is second on the team with both 17 catches and 19 targets. His role has been very clearly defined behind the player who most drafted as the first overall pick in their fantasy leagues.
The next man up behind Hines will be Deon Jackson, who has two carries for minus-3 yards this season. Jackson is in his second season and had 13 carries for 31 yards last season.
Taylor has been a bit of a disappointment for fantasy managers this season. After registering 161 rushing yards and a touchdown in Week 1, he has just 197 total yards from scrimmage in the past three weeks — with zero touchdowns.
Indianapolis’ offense enters Week 5 ranked dead last in Football Outsiders’ Offensive DVOA, 30th in passing and also 32nd in rushing. The Broncos defense ranks eighth in Defensive DVOA, sixth against the pass and 20th against the run.
Samantha Previte Fantasy Analysis
With Jonathan Taylor ruled out, the Colts will be forced to lean on Hines, Jackson and Phillip Lindsay, who is expected to be elevated from the practice squad.
It's difficult to get excited about any of these running backs given how much Indy has struggled on the ground with Taylor healthy. He's averaging four yards per carry this season — a marked drop from his 5.3 yards per attempt career average entering 2022.
Hines is also trending in the wrong direction. His best game of the season came in Week 1 against the Texans, against whom he had nine touches for 54 all-purpose yards and finished as the RB32 in half-PPR scoring. After that, the Colts' pass-catching running back finished as the RB42 in back-to-back weeks and was the RB59 in Week 4.
Verdict: I would consider starting Hines as a PPR flex option. He does not profile like a traditional back and has 17 catches for 113 yards this year.
Jackson and Lindsay, who hasn't played this season, are deeper league dart throws at best, especially against a Broncos run defense that has allowed the seventh-fewest fantasy points to running backs this season.
Chris Raybon Fantasy Analysis
Taylor has only missed one game his career: Week 12 of 2020 against the Titans, due to COVID. In that game, Nyhiem Hines carried 10 times for 29 yards and caught 8-of-10 targets for 66 yards while playing 65% of the snaps. My initial projections for Hines with Taylor ruled out are 8.5/34/0.27 rushing and 4.7/33/0.12 receiving, making him an RB2 in PPR but a FLEX in 0.5-PPR and standard leagues.
Deon Jackson is a key special teams contributor who rarely sees the field on offense outside of garbage time. Phillip Lindsay is expected to be called up from the practice squad and is a good bet to jump Jackson on the depth chart and handle some of the early-down work. In the game Taylor missed, Jordan Wilkins posted 57 scrimmage yards on nine touches.
I have Lindsay projected for around 10 touches, 44 scrimmage yards, and 0.3 TDs, which puts him at RB46 in half-PPR.
I’m only projecting Jackson for a handful of touches, and I don’t expect him to get much passing down work. According to PFF, he only has four pass-blocking snaps to his name across two preseasons, and he graded out abysmally in both years.
