Indianapolis Colts’ running back Jonathan Taylor was on top of the football world back in 2021. He put together a sensational 1,811 yard rushing season to go along with 18 touchdowns on the ground.
He earned First Team All-Pro honors, and was narrowly beaten out by Cooper Kupp for Offensive Player of the Year.
To put it bluntly, Taylor was playing at an absurdly high level. The expectations for him entering 2022 were obviously high, as the Colts hoped to ride Taylor’s elite play (and the remaining ability of Matt Ryan) into the playoffs. The events that would transpire in 2022 were nothing short of a disaster.
Taylor began the 2022 season on a tear, rushing the ball a combined 40 times for 215 yards and a touchdown in the opening two weeks.
He was held in check the following two weeks before suffering what would become the ankle injury from hell against the Tennessee Titans.
Despite the severity of the injury, Taylor returned just two weeks later for the second match-up against the Titans. He remained active for the following two weeks before missing the team’s week nine match-up against the New England Patriots.
Taylor returned to action in week 10 against the Las Vegas Raiders, under Interim Head Coach Jeff Saturday, despite already missing three weeks on the year due to that ankle injury.
Taylor gutted it out for the next five weeks before the injury became too much to play on. He would go on to miss the remainder of the 2022 season, limiting his games played to just 10.
Despite a rough 2022 season (for both Taylor and the Colts), there was even more optimism for the star player heading into this past year.
New Head Coach Shane Steichen was the architect behind a dangerous rushing attack in Philadelphia and exciting new quarterback Anthony Richardson was set to pull defenders out of the box for Taylor to exploit. Unfortunately, that optimism failed to manifest into results yet again.
Taylor’s 2023 offseason would be filled with turmoil, as the star running back was stuck in a contract dispute with the team that leaked over to the public square.
Matters were made worse when Taylor didn’t take the practice field (mostly due to the lingering effect of the ankle injury), and the situation deteriorated enough to where Taylor requested a trade from the organization.
Cooler heads prevailed in the end, and Taylor inked a three year extension with the Colts once he returned from the PUP list in early October.
Taylor was still ailing due to that ankle injury he suffered over a year prior, but the star player was finally back in the mix.
He slowly acclimated to the new offense, and got healthier, over the following six weeks in the lineup. In a game against the Tampa Buccaneers in week 12, Taylor popped off for 91 yards and two scores on the ground.
Unfortunately that joy was short lived, as Taylor suffered another injury that sidelined him for a month. Right when he began to gain momentum in this new offense, Taylor was back to the bench with a thumb injury that required surgery.
He returned to the lineup for the final three weeks of the season, but his overall campaign was once again limited to just 10 games.
Taylor led the NFL with 332 carries for 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns in 17 games played back in 2021. The First Team All-Pro running back appeared to be entering a prime of dominance for the Indianapolis Colts.
Since that season, however, Taylor has totaled 361 rushes for 1,602 yards and 11 touchdowns in 20 games played.
This upcoming season is a massive one to see if Taylor can ultimately return to the dominant force he once was.
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