One of the more intriguing positional battles that will take place for the Colts this summer will be for the backup running back role behind Jonathan Taylor, a competition that won’t really begin to heat up until the pads come on.
“When the pads come on, the running backs really figure it out,” offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said via the team site.
Competing for this playing time will be Trey Sermon, Evan Hull, and Tyler Goodson. With Taylor appearing in only 10 games last season, Zack Moss would total almost 800 rushing yards for the Colts and another 192 as a pass catcher, scoring seven touchdowns.
Perhaps the front-runner for that role is Trey Sermon, who ESPN’s Stephen Holder selected as one player who surprised during offseason programs. On 35 rush attempts last season, Sermon averaged 4.6 yards per carry, adding another physical presence to the position.
Goodson’s opportunities were even more limited last season, totaling just 13 carries, but he showcased his big play potential, averaging 6.7 yards per carry, with three attempts going for 10-plus yards and two picking up at least 15 yards.
“Trey sure does get the ball to the right place a whole, whole lot,” Cooter said. “Goodie has come in and shoot, he plays fast, he’s running around out there, he gets open in the pass game, makes nice catches, has hit some nice runs in camp. Like I said, pads aren’t on, we aren’t running it a ton.”
Hull, a fifth-round pick by the Colts in 2023, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1. Hull averaged 5.0 yards per carry during his career at Northwestern and was a key part of the passing game, totaling 110 targets in his last two seasons.
“Evan Hull has really on his way back from injury done a nice job coming in and getting himself back going into the flow of things,” added Cooter.
The Colts would have to be mindful about tipping their hand based on their personnel, but with Goodson and Hull able to impact the passing game, one of them combined with Sermon as the lead ball carrier behind Taylor could provide Shane Steichen with options at backup running back depending on the opponent and the situation.
Overall, this is a fairly inexperienced trio, combining for just 92 career carries, with Sermon having 78 of them, and 20 total targets.
However, the Colts could have made an outside addition to this room this offseason and chose not to. The continuity of each of these players having a full year in Shane Steichen’s offense will hopefully provide a jumping-off point for them in 2024, helping to elevate the competition once the pads come on.
“Those guys, there’s some great opportunities ahead of those guys to get carries, to get playing time, to earn that game action,” Cooter said.
“We think we know those guys pretty well, but it’s our second year going here and different guys arrived at different times last year, so we’re kind of excited to get a full camp with these guys and find out more about them and obviously complement JT, who’s going to be so huge for us this year.”