Here’s why it could be good if Colts remove Jonathan Taylor as the starter

Jonathan Taylor being removed as the starter actually won’t hurt him or the Colts.

We don’t know who will be the Colts’ starting running back will be on Sunday, but based on Jordan Wilkins’ performance last week coupled with the fact Jonathan Taylor was dinged up with an ankle injury against the Lions, it appears as if Wilkins will be getting a greater share of carries.

And quite frankly, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Taylor was bumped to RB2 duties. Why? Let us explain.

For starters, he’s not even the highest-graded rookie running back despite being the best in college football during his first three years at Wisconsin. And he’s only been a shade better than D’Andre Swift.

Additionally, Taylor was thrust into the starting role solely because Marlon Mack went down with a season-ending injury in Week 1. The plan was never for him to be handling an overwhelming majority of the carries. He’s only a rookie and although he’s extremely talented, plowing through college defenses is not the same as NFL defenses.

The speed of the game is much faster at the professional level, and we’ve seen how that’s affected Taylor. He’s missed a lot of holes, hasn’t been as explosive as fans were expecting, and he’s not breaking tackles. It’s safe to say he perhaps needed more of a cup-of-coffee-type introduction to the NFL level before taking over the starting duties on an offense that has a lot of injuries and a new quarterback.

On the other hand, Wilkins has now had three years of NFL experience and averages 5.2 yards per carry for his career (on 160 touches). Before the Colts drafted Taylor, it was thought he’d take on a bigger role in 2020, but was bumped even further down the depth chart after the selection and he only registered just 29 carries heading into Week 8.

When he was finally given a sizable workload against the Lions, he proved to be the more patient runner, which helped explain his 89 yards on 20 carries vs Taylor’s 22 yards on 11 carries. Though Taylor hasn’t been that bad this season, he has lacked that veteran approach that helps runners see the field and holes better.

Let Wilkins start against the Ravens. Pepper in Taylor when necessary and let him regain his confidence and feel like he’s not so heavily relied upon to produce. Then we might start seeing the results we want from the rookie during the second half of the season.

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