Jonathan Taylor’s time with the Indianapolis Colts could be ending any second now. Since it became clear that he was available for trade, Indy has been receiving a ton of calls and offers for the running back, and it doesn’t seem like Taylor will still be on the roster by Tuesday, the deadline that Indy set for Taylor to find a suitable trade.
While that’s understood, it was hard to watch Thursday’s preseason finale against the Philadelphia Eagles and not think about how scary this offense could be with Jonathan Taylor at running back.
Colts offense could be dangerous with Jonathan Taylor
Rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson saw his second action of the preseason, and he did a really good job running Indy’s RPO offense. Richardson seemed to be making all the right reads: handing it off when he should, throwing it when he should, and keeping the ball to run himself when he should. That all led to some productive drives for the Colts with Richardson at quarterback.
Understanding that this is just the preseason, two thoughts came to mind when watching Richardson command the offense. One thought was how fun things will be once Shane Steichen really opens the playbook in the regular season, and the other thought was how scary things could be with Jonathan Taylor.
This isn’t to disrespect the running backs that did play for Indianapolis; in fact, they had a pretty good night. Evan Hull had six carries for 25 yards and a touchdown, Jake Funk had five rushes for 23 yards, and Kenyan Drake had five carries for 21 yards. However, none of them are Jonathan Taylor.
Just looking at the lanes that will be created from the RPO game, and thinking about the binds that defenses would be in as they try to defend an Anthony Richardson-Jonathan Taylor read option, and it’s easy to see how Indy’s offense could develop into a dangerous unit in the coming years.
Unfortunately for Colts fans, it doesn’t seem like the world will ever get to see that. There’s still an outside chance that Taylor remains on the roster, and the relationship between him and the team is repaired, but that seems unlikely at this point.