Jonathan Taylor is the workhorse RB Fantasy Football managers are overlooking heading into 2025 drafts

As we get set to enter the thick of 2025 Fantasy Football drafting season, Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor finds himself falling out of every first round. This is understandable given the entirety of his 2024 season, plus the expectations for the Colts offense overall. However, if you consider the final stretch run of the 2024 season — and how dominant Taylor was — it’s easy to see obvious value in selecting him earlier than his current ADP. And we’re not just talking value — Taylor has volume-based upside to break out as one of the highest-scoring Fantasy players overall in 2025. The logic — the Colts turned the offense over to Taylor in the final stretch of 2024 and found consistency that they hadn’t previously — now they’ll carry that over to 2024.

Taylor’s final stretch

Over the final three games of the 2024 season, the Colts turned the offense over to Taylor almost entirely. He finished with 95 rush attempts, 520 rushing yards, and six rushing touchdowns over that torrid stretch for a whopping 31 PPR points per game. If you take this three-game stretch and prorate it over a 17-game season, Taylor would’ve finished with 1,738 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.

The latter — the touchdowns — stand out. With Daniel Jones taking all first-team reps in spring OTAs, Taylor has a lot more Fantasy Football appeal and upside if he earned the job over Anthony Richardson. Without Richardson in the mix, Taylor is more likely to get those red zone scores. Sure, Jones has a history of rushing the football too, but with his injury history and lack of efficiency compared to Richardson, Taylor is more likely to get more opportunities. 

Volume is the path for Taylor to outscore his ADP and prove to be one of the five or 10 most valuable Fantasy assets in 2025. If we project his volume out of a full season based on the stretch run after the Colts ran the offense through him, he would finish with 368 carries. When you combine that projected volume with his career efficiency — in the 4.5-5.0 yards per carry range throughout and independent of the Colts’ run blocking efficiency — you get a prime Fantasy asset. 

Of course, this is the boom case for Taylor. There are a few red flags we need to touch on as well.

Red flags

Taylor’s advanced stats fell in 2025. He racked up just a 11.9% avoided tackle rate (43rd of 46 running backs) on route to a career-low yards after contact per attempt. He also saw a declining explosion rate. Fewer than 9% of his runs resulted in an explosive play (20+ yards) over the last two seasons.

Overall Outlook

Jamey Eisenberg broke down Taylor’s overall outlook as follows: “Taylor should once again be considered a No. 1 Fantasy running back this season, and he should be drafted in Round 2 in all leagues. His value is higher in half and non-PPR leagues, but Taylor can still be highly productive in PPR, even with a lack of receptions. In 2024, Taylor had a career-low 18 receptions for 136 yards and one touchdown on 31 targets. But he was dominant on the ground with 1,431 yards and 11 touchdowns on 303 carries, and he closed the season on an impressive run with three games in a row with at least 25 PPR points, while averaging 30.8 PPR points per game over that stretch. We’ll see who starts at quarterback for the Colts between Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones, but neither quarterback should dramatically alter the Fantasy value for Taylor. We’ll see if he shares touches with new backups in Khalil Herbert or rookie D.J. Giddens, but it’s hard to envision Taylor coming off the field much when healthy. He once again has top-10 upside in all leagues in 2025.”