Who Should I Start? Jonathan Taylor or Kimani Vidal

Sunday, October 12, 8:51 PM

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor carried the ball 21 times for 123 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown during Sunday's Week 6 win over the Arizona Cardinals. He also caught all four of his targets for an additional 14 receiving yards. Taylor has been one of the most productive running backs this season, scoring eight touchdowns over his last five games and ranking as the overall RB1 in standard and half-PPR scoring. (He is the RB2 behind Christian McCaffrey in PPR leagues.) As long as Indianapolis continues to consistently operate from a neutral or positive game script, there will be plenty of opportunities for Taylor to produce. This is far from the last 20-carry, 100-yard game we'll see from the 26-year-old in 2025. He remains a high-end RB1 option heading into Week 7 against the Chargers.

Wednesday, October 15, 9:53 AM

Los Angeles Chargers running back Kimani Vidal exploded in Week 6 with 124 rushing yards on 18 carries (6.89 YPC) and three receptions for 14 yards and a touchdown through the air. The reason for his opportunity is that rookie Omarion Hampton (ankle) landed on the injured reserve in Week 5, which opened up the door for Vidal, and he made the most of it. At this point, Vidal should not be on your waiver wire and should be picked up immediately if he is. The most encouraging thing for Vidal is that he outsnapped, out-touched, and outplayed other Chargers running back Hassan Haskins by a landslide, saw 67% of the snaps to Haskins' 31%, out-touched him 22 to seven, and outgained him 138 to 23 in all-purpose yards. While fantasy managers may want to temper expectations, considering the Chargers faced the Miami Dolphins, who have allowed the seventh most points to running backs on the season, it was encouraging to see one of the two running backs get a majority of the touches, as coming into the matchup on Sunday, it was unclear who the lead back was going to be. Vidal can be viewed as a low-end RB2 moving forward until Hampton returns.