Jonathan Taylor is quietly having a monster season for the Indianapolis Colts. After 6 weeks, the 26-year-old running back is having one of the quietest, incredible seasons in recent history. Through his first six games, Taylor leads the NFL in rushing with just over 600 yards (603) and touchdowns (7), all on just 115 attempts by the way.
Taylor isn't just leading in the standard stats of yards, touches, and touchdowns; he's leading in specific running back stats such as yards after first contact (402) and yards per play after first contact (2.6), and rushing first-downs (29). Even more impressive, he faces an 8+ defender box on 24% of his rushes.
Although this is impressive, the last running back who won the MVP was Adrian Peterson in 2012 after his historic 2097-yard season. However, Taylor wins out in every category through the first 6 weeks, including the receiving category.
Indianapolis Colts' Jonathan Taylor might face an uphill battle for MVP
Although impressive, the NFL heavily favors the quarterback position. In the Super Bowl era, only 13 running backs have received the regular-season MVP award - all of whom had historic seasons.
In 2012, Adrian Peterson was far and away the best running back, beating out the next best back, C.J Spiller, by nearly 500 yards. The second-place vote was Drew Brees, who had his second straight 5,000-yard season.
This year, Taylor is the centerpiece of the Colts' offense, and Shane Steichen is making this clear. The Colts' offense has 2,261 total yards, with Taylor having roughly 25% of that total on the ground alone. Not all the credit goes to Taylor, though. The Colts' offensive line is playing the best it has since Anthony Castanzo retired and left a void at left tackle.
Indianapolis's offensive power house continues to impress by getting push, sometimes 7-10 yards down the field, during running plays. Mix this with Daniel Jones' play-action ability and bootlegs, and Indianapolis is shocking the NFL with their balanced offensive attack.
Although impressive, Taylor is still an underdog for the MVP, and the disrespect of the Colts by the NFL media is still quite active. Despite leading the league in rushing, Drake Mae and Jordon Love are still above Taylor in the MVP race despite having average seasons.
While the MVP may be a long shot for the Colts running back, there's no question that Taylor has been impressive and playing at an elite level through the first six weeks and deserves to be in the MVP talk. The Colts will continue to keep their star running back involved.