The 2020 NFL Draft is less than one month away, and Jonathan Taylor is one of the best running backs in the class. The Wisconsin product has the skill set required to make an impact as both a runner and a receiver and could make a Josh Jacobs level impact for fantasy purposes. However, a running back is only as good as the team he’s on, and Taylor’s fantasy value is highly dependent on where he lands. Let’s take a look around the league and determine best fits for Jonathan Taylor, from a fantasy perspective.
Fantasy Football: Jonathan Taylor Team Fits
Kansas City Chiefs
In a perfect world, the Kansas City Chiefs would take Jonathan Taylor with the 32nd overall pick. Taylor obviously has the skills to succeed in any system, but putting him in Kansas City would make him a first-round lock in fantasy football drafts. The Chiefs have the most explosive offense in the league with MVP-caliber quarterback Patrick Mahomes running the show and head coach Andy Reid calling the shots. Taylor would be pretty valuable even in a committee approach, but there is a chance he could be a full-time starter. Historically speaking, Reid prefers to use one running back as his three-down starter. He couldn’t do that in 2019 since Damien Williams and company simply didn’t have enough talent to handle that type of workload. Taylor has the talent and could be an immediate star like Kareem Hunt back in 2017.
Unfortunately for fantasy football fans, this feels like a pipe dream. The Kansas City Chiefs have too many needs on defense to spend an early-round pick on a luxury position like running back. Additionally, investing high draft capital in a position that, by definition, takes the ball out of the hands of Patrick Mahomes could actually make your team worse. The Chiefs will probably take a running back in 2020, but it will probably be someone like Antonio Gibson in the fourth round.
Baltimore Ravens
Speaking of high-powered offenses without a clear answer at running back, the Baltimore Ravens would be a perfect fit for Jonathan Taylor. The offense as a whole is due for some regression, as it’s impossible to play at that high of a level for multiple years. However, this is still going to be one of the better units in the league, and there’s no clear answer at running back. Mark Ingram handled most of the work last year, but he’s getting up there in age and certainly isn’t locked in as the starter. Baltimore’s starting running back is going to carry a lot of fantasy value, and Taylor could probably win the job right out of camp.
Once again, Taylor actually landing in Baltimore seems unlikely. The Ravens are one of the most analytically-driven teams in the league, and one of the most basic understandings in the analytics community is not to draft running backs early. Taylor will probably go off the board in the first two rounds, and it’s hard to imagine Baltimore investing in the position at that point in the draft.
Indianapolis Colts
Blessed with one of the best offensive lines in the league, the Indianapolis Colts are a sneaky-good fit for Jonathan Taylor’s services. Philip Rivers might not be what he used to be, but he’s still an upgrade on Jacoby Brissett. Additionally, he loves to target his running backs, and the Colts don’t have too many non-T.Y. Hilton options in the passing game. Anyone can run behind the Colts dominant offensive line, so Taylor should be able to make a big impact in both phases of the game if he winds up in Indianapolis.
Los Angeles Rams
With Todd Gurley out of town, the Los Angeles Rams need to find a starting running back. Sean McVay loves to have a singular three-down running back, and he blamed a lot of 2019’s struggles on refusing to give Gurley a full workload. Assuming the offensive line can return to a league-average level, LA’s starting running back should carry plenty of fantasy relevance. That’s probably going to be Taylor, as he’d only need to beat out Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown for the starting job.
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