Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor is coming off of a superb rookie season in which he torched defense during the second half of the campaign. Entering Year 2, Frank Reich seemingly wants Taylor to be even more of a bell cow.
During his rookie season, Taylor took 232 carries for 1,169 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. He led all rookies in rushing yards while he was tied for the rookie lead in rushing touchdowns.
Even with a crowded backfield that includes the likes of Nyheim Hines and Marlon Mack, Reich told J.J. Stankevitz of Colts.com that they expect Taylor to be close to their every-down back.
“I think going into this season this year, it’ll be a little bit more, hey, Jonathan will be a little bit more of the bell cow. But we’re still going to spread it around,” Reich said.
Spreading the touches around is something the Colts have been keen on doing since Reich took over as head coach. But that doesn’t mean Taylor can’t still hold a bell cow role. Will it be to the likes of Christian McCaffrey or Dalvin Cook? No, that would be unrealistic given the personnel they have in the backfield.
But Tayor’s 2020 season was incredible, and he’s by far the best runner in the room. The history Reich has shown when it comes to his backfield rotation also suggests Taylor’s workload won’t be reduced to that of a true committee.
Over the last three seasons, the running back rush share (percentage of carries among running backs) for the RB1 in the Colts offense has been 57% in 2020, 62% in 2019 and 56% in 2018. Those are strong numbers even if they aren’t true bell cow shares.
What’s even more encouraging is the rush share of the RB2 in the Colts offense since Reich took over. In the last three seasons, the running back with the second-most carries has seen a rush share of 22% in 2020, 13% in 2019 and 24% in 2018. This tells us that the Colts typically run a one-man show in terms of carry distrubtion.
The Colts have also never had a running back like Taylor in recent history so it would make sense that they would want to improve on his 57% rush share moving forward.
Taylor also joined some elite company from his rookie season. became just the fifth back since 2002 to record over 1,000 rushing yards, over 5.0 yards per carry and 10 rushing touchdowns in his rookie season. The other four were Clinton Portis, Adrian Peterson, Ezekiel Elliott and Saquon Barkley.
So while the offense may not be as efficient if both Quenton Nelson and Carson Wentz miss time due to their injuries, an increase in workload to bell cow status could help offset the decrease in efficiency to begin the season.
If Taylor puts together an entire season AND winds up seeing more of a bell cow workload, it’s going to be an incredible year for the former second-round pick.
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