Team news: Indianapolis Colts | Page 10

If Jonathan Taylor is unavailable, Zack Moss would likely be the starter whenever he’s cleared to return from a broken right arm. He’s expected back around the start of the season. Evan Hull looked pretty good on Thursday night, particularly in pass protection, and scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter. He had six carries for 25 yards and could be poised for more snaps alongside Richardson. Kenyan Drake was the third-stringer on Thursday, and while he scored on an 8-yard reception from Minshew, he didn’t do enough throughout the preseason to climb the depth chart and avoid the practice squad.

According to beat writer James Boyd, the theoretical RB depth chart is set to be Zack Moss, Evan Hull, and Deon Jackson. This is if Jonathan Taylor is moved or is forced to miss the first four games due to not being activated from the PUP list. This makes Moss an interesting late-round target, but it's likely a situation we want to try to avoid if we're not getting a full role out of Taylor.

While the Colts let Jonathan Taylor seek a trade, league sources say the Raiders have shown no interest in trading their star RB Josh Jacobs. Jacobs hasn’t signed his tender, and no deal is imminent to get him into camp. The NFL rushing champ’s status for Week 1 remains to be determined.

Related Players: Zamir White, Ameer Abdullah, Damien Williams

The Raiders have been pretty mum on the subject, even though the season opener is right around the corner. The team did sign Damien Williams recently, but he doesn't project to have any impact on the team's decision with their RB1. Jacobs has now slipped out of the top-10 running backs in 4for4's rankings due to his uncertainty for Week 1.

Colts have given All-Pro RB Jonathan Taylor permission to seek a trade, per league sources. Other teams now are weighing whether to make an offer to the Colts and what would be fair value.

Related players: Zack Moss, Evan Hull, Deon Jackson, Kenyan Drake

It would be great news for Taylor and his owners for a deal to be made so he can get back on the field. It remains to be seen if Taylor would play again for Indy. If a trade is made, the Colts running back room becomes interesting. Many forget Moss was pretty good to end the season last year, running for lines of 24-81-0, 12-65-0, 15-74-0 and 18-114-1 over the final four weeks. But it terms of fantasy value, Moss isn't exciting, and the favorite seems to be the rookie Hull, especially being drafted by the new coaching staff. It would seem until Moss returns from his arm injury, a split of Jackson and Hull seems most likely.

Colts’ WR Ashton Dulin suffered a season-ending torn ACL during last night’s practice.

Related Players: Michael Pittman, Alec Pierce, Josh Downs, Isaiah McKenzie

Another strain on a thin wide receiver depth chart, the 3WR set looks to be Pittman/Pierce/McKenzie, with Josh Downs still set to be a rotational deep-threat to begin the year.

Colts statement released a short while ago: “Jonathan Taylor returned to Indianapolis to continue his rehab, however he had a personal matter arise. He is not currently with the team and his absence is excused.”

Related players: Zack Moss, Evan Hull, Deon Jackson, Kenyan Drake

Despite the turmoil and repeated reports of Taylor wanting out of Indianapolis, this doesn't appear to be anything more than what it seems. Taylor will hopefully be able to return to the team later this week and we will see strides towards the answer of whether he will be taking Week 1 snaps with the team.

It's not much of a surprise, but the Indianapolis Colts have made it official, naming rookie Anthony Richardson their starting quarterback for Week 1 of the 2023 regular season.

Related players: Gardner Minshew

According to our own John Paulsen: Richardson throws a nice deep ball, but according to the experts he misses too many “layups” on shorter throws given his scattershot accuracy. His rookie quarterback model projects 29.3 rushing yards per game, though it should be noted that the model underpredicted Jalen Hurts by about 17%, projecting 43.3 rushing yards to his actual 52.3 rushing yards per game in his first season as the Eagles’ starter. That’s relevant because Richardson will play for Shane Steichen, who was previously the offensive coordinator for the Eagles. If Steichen runs Richardson over projection by the same amount, he could be looking at roughly 34 yards per game. That number could rise further if Steichen elects to run Richardson as much as he did with Hurts–10.1 attempts per game from 2021-22.

Richardson comes in as our QB12 making him a low-end QB1 this fantasy season.

Colts RB Jonathan Taylor, who has been away from the team getting additional rehab on his ankle, is back today, source said.

Related players: Zack Moss, Evan Hull, Deon Jackson, Kenyan Drake

Taylor remains on PUP and his stance has not changed, and he wants a trade out of Indy. But, he has returned to the team, according to the rest of Rapoport's post. With Taylor out and Moss dealing with an arm injury, Hull and Jackson look to be later-round targets, at least for now.

The Colts are signing RB Kenyan Drake, per his agency.

Related Players: Jonathan Taylor, Zack Moss, Evan Hull

With Taylor sidelined for what feels like an indefinite amount of time as it stands, Zack Moss is also out for 1-2 months with a broken forearm. Drake adds depth and probably impacts rookie Evan Hull's ability to see the field early in the year more than anything.

While the Colts RB situation is in flux, rookie QB Anthony Richardson took all the first-team reps yesterday.

Related Players: Gardner Minshew

After flipping first-team reps with the veteran QB Minshew, Richardson has been seeing more rotation as the "starting" QB. This is still no guarantee that the rookie starts in Week 1, but it's at least a good sign that they feel the need to get him comfortable in that role. With so many question marks around Indianapolis, Richardson still isn't a leading option in typical 1QB leagues.

As for the trade demand, Jim Irsay’s been adamant: It’s not happening. Not now and not before the deadline in October. The team owns every bit of leverage here and has the option of placing the franchise tag on Jonathan Taylor each of the next two offseasons — a last-ditch outcome that would surely not be either side’s preference.

As Chris Ballard said recently, “The market is what the market is.”

Related Players: Zack Moss, Deon Jackson, Evan Hull, Jake Funk

With Taylor sidelined for what feels like an indefinite amount of time as it stands, Zack Moss is also out for 1-2 months with a broken forearm. The relationship between Taylor and the team feels like it's bordering on abject disaster, but if the Colts franchise tag him and he sits out anyways, he will only be hurting his own bank account.

Through no fault of Taylor's, the team doesn't want to pay a running back while not in "win-now" mode, but they also don't want to trade him for assets. JT's first-round capital should be faded in fantasy drafts, even if we get confirmation that he is staying in Indianapolis.