{"id":175898,"date":"2024-06-03T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=175898"},"modified":"2024-06-02T16:46:25","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T20:46:25","slug":"jonathan-taylor-is-primed-for-a-monster-bounce-back-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/06\/03\/jonathan-taylor-is-primed-for-a-monster-bounce-back-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts Youngster Primed for Monster, Bounce-Back Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After missing most of his rookie season due to injury, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson could have an <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/26\/colts-anthony-richardsons-playing-style-problem\/\" target=\"_self\">exciting comeback season<\/a> in 2024. Richardson isn\u2019t the only big-name player on the Colts roster, though, who could put together a major, bounce-back year. Star running back Jonathan Taylor is also a candidate to redeem himself.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor missed seven games last season. If he can stay healthy in 2024, he could certainly return to MVP form and help lead Indianapolis to the playoffs.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Indianapolis Colts\u2019 Jonathan Taylor is Primed for a Monster, Bounce-Back Season<\/h2>\n<h3>Jonathan Taylor\u2019s Football Career<\/h3>\n<p>Jonathan Taylor had an amazing collegiate career with the Wisconsin Badgers. Impressively, he finished in the top 10 in Heisman voting all three seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor rushed for 1,977 yards and 13 touchdowns during his first year as he won Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. He reached the 2,000-yard mark during his sophomore and junior seasons. The New Jersey native won the Doak Walker Award in both of those seasons.<\/p>\n<p>After skipping his senior year, Taylor was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colts.com\/photos\/first-look-jonathan-taylor-selected-41st-overall-by-colts#0ee6325f-9353-43e7-9e06-7db214e81421\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">selected by the Colts<\/a> in the second round (41st overall pick) of the 2020 NFL Draft. He would instantly prove to be a huge draft steal. He had a great rookie year, rushing for 1,169 yards and 11 touchdowns. In Week 17 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he produced a whopping 253 yards, breaking Edgerrin James\u2018 franchise record.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Taylor was nothing short of spectacular in 2021. That season, he led the league in both rushing yards (1,811) and rushing touchdowns (18). The highlight of his year was a 185-yard, four-TD performance against the Buffalo Bills. He also put up 172 rushing yards versus the New York Jets. Taylor finished as the <a href=\"https:\/\/coltswire.usatoday.com\/2022\/02\/11\/rams-colts-cooper-kupp-jonathan-taylor-offensive-player-of-the-year-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">runner-up<\/a> for AP Offensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, the injury bug took over. Taylor has missed a total of 13 games over the past two seasons. He failed to hit the 1,000-yard rushing mark in each of those seasons.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Colts?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Colts<\/a> QB Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor \u2014 two snaps together last season. Two. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fqHZMwbrml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/fqHZMwbrml<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RomeovilleKid\/status\/1793337098071576730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 22, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Is an Epic Comeback Season on the Horizon?<\/h3>\n<p>Surprisingly, Jonathan Taylor is still a Colt. Last July, he requested a trade after the team wouldn\u2019t engage in contract negotiations. There were a ton of rumors that he would be moved. Yet, Taylor, of course, was never traded. Instead, he <a href=\"https:\/\/syndication.bleacherreport.com\/amp\/10092512-jonathan-taylors-42m-colts-contract-extension-shocks-nfl-fans-amid-trade-rumors.amp.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ended up signing<\/a> a three-year, $42 million extension in October. He got his money. Now it\u2019s time for him to have an All-Pro caliber year.<\/p>\n<p>Zack Moss did an excellent job as Taylor\u2019s backup last year. However, he left and signed with the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>With Moss out of the picture, Evan Hull, who&#8217;s coming off a meniscus injury, Trey Sermon, and Tyler Goodson will back up Jonathan Taylor. It will be difficult for each of them to replace <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/26\/will-the-indianapolis-colts-miss-zack-moss-in-the-2024-season\/\" target=\"_self\">what Moss brought to the table<\/a>. That means the Colts need Taylor to stay healthy and produce.<\/p>\n<p>Indianapolis had one of the league\u2019s top offensive lines last season. Fortunately, all five starters are returning in 2024. With that said, Jonathan Taylor could absolutely have a monster, comeback season if he&#8217;s injury-free. Don\u2019t look for him to repeat his 2021 campaign, but 11,000 yards and 11 touchdowns is realistic.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Jenna Watson\/IndyStar \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonathan Taylor has battled injuries the past two seasons, but the Colts\u2018 running back could be in store for a big-time 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":176005,"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":[54,12],"tags":[9564,56,6237,6103],"class_list":["post-175898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-colts","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-zack-moss"],"modified_by":"Josh Buckhalter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175898","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=175898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}