The Indianapolis Colts made the somewhat shocking move of trading up to draft Jonathan Taylor in the second round despite already having Marlon Mack leading the backfield.
While the future of the latter has come into question, the immediate outlook is positive for the entire room. The Colts have a strong duo at the top of the depth chart, and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni believes they are solid complements for one another.
“There’s been so many different 1-2 punches where they have different styles. Both of them are the complete package — one’s a speed, make-you-miss guy, and one’s more physical. So it’s nice to have that change-up, because it just keeps coming in my mind, it’s the Reggie Bush-Lendale White thing when they called them ‘Lightning and Thunder.’ I’m just like, gosh, we’ve got these two guys that are dynamic playmakers, and I know that was college football, but they were a lot of fun to watch, and I think that these two guys will be a lot of fun to watch, as well,” Sirianni told Colts.com.
The biggest question of the offseason has come in the form of the split in the backfield. Mack has proven he can be an electric back in the offense and is coming off of a 1,000-yard season. Taylor’s tape and numbers show an athletic freak with the pedigree to back it all up.
This could certainly be a case in which neither player truly takes over the room but instead, they simply work in tandem. The Colts could ride the hot hand a few times, but it seems they have the intention of using both players equally.
The Colts rushing attack was seventh in yards in 2019. With Taylor joining the mix and Mack continuing his explosive ways, the ground game for Indy should be entering the elite category.