{"id":174880,"date":"2024-05-26T10:30:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T14:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=174880"},"modified":"2024-05-26T08:31:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T12:31:02","slug":"will-the-indianapolis-colts-miss-zack-moss-in-the-2024-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/26\/will-the-indianapolis-colts-miss-zack-moss-in-the-2024-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Indianapolis Colts Miss Zack Moss in the 2024 Season?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Earlier this offseason, running back Zack Moss left the Indianapolis Colts and signed with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/23\/former-cincinnati-bengals-1st-round-pick-finds-a-new-home\/\" target=\"_self\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>. The Colts could sorely miss him in their backfield this upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p>Indianapolis had a slew of key free agents. General manager Chris Ballard ultimately chose the \u201crun it back\u201d route and retained several of those players. Guys like <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/07\/anthony-richardson-redefining-colts-offensive-identity\/\" target=\"_self\">Michael Pittman Jr.<\/a>, Kenny Moore II, Grover Stewart, and Julian Blackmon were all re-signed.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the team failed to keep Moss, who <a href=\"https:\/\/fox59.com\/sports\/colts\/report-zack-moss-signs-2-year-deal-with-cincinnati-bengals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">landed<\/a> a two-year, $8 million deal with the Bengals. It\u2019ll be interesting to see if his loss will affect the Colts\u2019 offense.<\/p>\n<h2>Will the Indianapolis Colts Miss Zack Moss During the 2024 Season?<\/h2>\n<h3>Zack Moss\u2019 Career to Date<\/h3>\n<p>Zach Moss was drafted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/23\/broncos-could-sign-free-agent-connor-williams\/\" target=\"_self\">Buffalo Bills<\/a> in the third round (86th overall pick) of the 2020 NFL Draft. The former Utah Utes star would play three seasons in Buffalo, rushing for 917 yards and eight touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2022, Moss was traded to the Colts for fellow running back Nyheim Hines. He rushed for 365 yards and a touchdown during his first year with the team.<\/p>\n<p>Last season was the best of Moss\u2019 career. He produced a career-high 794 yards and five TDs. He also caught 27 passes for 192 yards and two scores. Against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/23\/titans-record-prediction\/\" target=\"_self\">Tennessee Titans<\/a>, Moss produced a career-high 165 yards to go along with 30 receiving yards. He ran for 122 yards versus the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/25\/blockbuster-trade-higgins-jaguars\/\" target=\"_self\">Baltimore Ravens<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During his time with the Colts, Moss did a phenomenal job serving as the primary backup to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/10\/under-the-radar-players-ready-for-a-comeback-with-the-colts\/\" target=\"_self\">Jonathan Taylor<\/a>. He\u2019ll be a starter in Cincinnati, replacing Joe Mixon, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nfl\/news\/texans-sign-joe-mixon-to-three-year-27-million-extension-per-report\/amp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">traded<\/a> to the Houston Texans.<\/p>\n<h3>Colts\u2019 Current RB Room<\/h3>\n<p>When healthy, Taylor is one of the NFL\u2019s top running backs. The former Wisconsin Badger was amazing in 2021. That season, he led the league in rushing yards (1,811), rushing touchdowns (18), and rushing yards after contact. He was also No. 1 in scrimmage yards with 2,171 and touchdowns from scrimmage (20). In addition, Taylor was the runner-up for the AP Offensive Player of the Year award.<\/p>\n<p>However, Taylor was plagued with injuries the past two seasons. As a result, he has failed to reach the 1,000-yard mark in both years.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor is undoubtedly the Colts\u2019 RB1. With Zack Moss out of the picture, Trey Sermon, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/03\/19\/who-will-be-indianapolis-colts-second-running-back\/\" target=\"_self\">Evan Hull<\/a>, Tyler Goodson, and Zavier Scott are currently the backups. None of the four have over 350 rushing yards on their resume. Yet, the Colts must have confidence in this group, seeing they didn\u2019t take a running back in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps Hull is the best of the crew. As a rookie last year, he suffered a season-ending meniscus <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/nfl\/colts-running-back-suffers-season-ending-injury\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">injury<\/a> during Week 1. But, he has the potential to be an outstanding backup due to his ability to run between the tackles and catch passes out of the backfield.<\/p>\n<p>The Colts are hoping Taylor can stay healthy and return to MVP form. If he\u2019s bitten by the injury bug, can Hull and Co. step up and hold down the fort?<\/p>\n<p>If the Colts\u2019 running back room is hit hard with injuries or the group struggles to play well, Indy fans will certainly wish Zack Moss didn\u2019t leave town.<\/p>\n<p>Main Image: Robert Scheer\/IndyStar \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zack Moss\u2019 departure to the Cincinnati Bengals could prove to be a huge loss for the Indianapolis Colts during the 2024 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":175043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,54],"tags":[31917,56,6237,6103],"class_list":["post-174880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colts","category-editorials","tag-evan-hull","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-zack-moss"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}