Indianapolis Colts RB Zack Moss Leads Week 16 Waiver Wire Bids

As the fantasy football season inches toward a close, we have an obvious decision to make, but why does it make us feel so queasy? With Jonathan Taylor missing practically the entirety of Week 15's action against the Minnesota Vikings, the Indianapolis Colts opted for a committee approach between Zack Moss and Deon Jackson. Moss logged a vast majority of the running back snaps, rushing the ball 24 times for 81 yards and receiving one target on the 14 routes he ran.

Though Jackson was clearly in the caboose of this fantasy train, he was much more efficient with his touches, taking a majority of his rushes on zone plays while Moss operated as the "three yards and a cloud of dust" option on between-the-tackles carries. All of this plodding, of course, came back to bite them in the butt, en route to surrendering the biggest comeback in the history of the NFL, but we'll save that for another day. In the meantime, let's see how these players got to this point and whether we can predict how they will be used for Week 16 and Week 17.

Two Very Different Paths

While sophomore Deon Jackson was clearly drafted to mold into a backup/relief option for stud RB Jonathan Taylor, that wasn't exactly the case for Zack Moss when he was drafted back in 2020 from Utah. The Bills added the back in the third round as an attempt to continue building a running game behind the then-burgeoning young Josh Allen. As evidenced by Moss's new Colts jersey that didn't go over too well, resulting in a roster cut, and subsequent free-agent pickup by Indianapolis ahead of Week 10.

His efficiency has been relatively consistent throughout his nearly three-year career, but that's not necessarily a good thing, as his elusiveness, or lack thereof, has consistently been near the league bottom. In 2022, for example, he has a yards after contact per attempt (YCO/A) of 2.29, which ranks 68th out of 70 qualifying running backs. That mark was hardly any larger in his first two seasons, coming in at 2.86 and 2.33 in 2020 and 2021, respectively. It's clear that we've seen what we're going to get with Moss.

Sunday's game Against the Chargers

Because the Indianapolis Colts are discovering what the rest of the football world already knew about Moss, you would think that rational coaching would want to use this matchup and beyond to see what they have in Deon Jackson, who is never going to get this type of look when Jonathan Taylor is healthy and on the field. Jackson only had 13 attempts during his rookie season and has only had double-digit touches in four games this season, despite Taylor's nagging injuries.

With a full week of planning and a little bit of self-reflection following the disaster that was the Week 15 loss to the Vikings, there is a very good chance that the Zack Moss stats are not going to duplicate themselves, making him an iffy add from the Waiver Wire this week. It's hard to say what that would mean for Deon Jackson's fantasy outlook, but it may be best to take a wait-and-see approach with him as well. This late in the season that probably just means that the Colts' backfield, in general, should be avoided.