Who Should I Start? Travis Etienne Jr. or Jonathan Taylor

Sunday, July 12, 9:55 AM

Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen said that the team finally confronted the wear and tear on their most explosive player, running back Jonathan Taylor, after he had a league-high 323 rushing attempts in 2025, according to Stephen Holder of ESPN. Taylor came out of last year mostly healthy, but their usage of their star RB is something they admit they need to navigate going into the 2026 season. "Obviously, he's a hell of a player," Steichen said. "It's hard to take him off the field when he's running so good." The 27-year-old former second-rounder from the University of Wisconsin in 2020 has rushed for 1,431 and 1,585 yards, respectively, in the last two seasons, and only he and Derrick Henry of the Baltimore Ravens have had three or more seasons of 300 or more carries since 2020. Taylor has been durable despite his heavy usage, but the Colts are wondering aloud if it's sustainable. In a perfect world, Indy "would like to dial back" Taylor's touches. "We definitely need to find ways to take some of that workload off him," running backs coach DeAndre Smith said. Even with a potential reduced workload, JT should find enough volume to keep him in the RB1 conversation in fantasy as long as he stays healthy.