{"id":203333,"date":"2024-12-05T12:37:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=203333"},"modified":"2024-12-05T12:37:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:37:32","slug":"will-jonathan-taylor-become-the-colts-all-time-leading-rusher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/12\/05\/will-jonathan-taylor-become-the-colts-all-time-leading-rusher\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Jonathan Taylor Become the Colts All-Time-Leading Rusher?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Taylor is one of the most talented players in Indianapolis Colts history. Will he become the franchise\u2019s career-rushing leader?<\/p>\n

During the Colts\u2019 recent win over the New England Patriots<\/a>, Anthony Richardson<\/a> was the star of the show, coming through with a game-winning two-point conversion run. But also in that game, Taylor passed Marshall Faulk for the third-most rushing yards in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Taylor now has 5,386 career rushing yards<\/a>. Only Colts legends Edgerrin James (9,226) and Lydell Mitchell (5,487) have more. Perhaps getting Indy to the playoffs is one of the main things on Taylor\u2019s mind right now. But it will be interesting to see if he eventually surpasses James for the No. 1 spot.<\/p>\n

Will Jonathan Taylor Become the Colts All-Time-Leading Rusher?<\/h2>\n

Edgerrin James: Indy\u2019s Running Back GOAT<\/h3>\n

The Colts have had several great running backs over the years like Mitchell, Dickerson, and Faulk. While Dickerson and Faulk are better known for their careers with the Los Angeles\/St. Louis Rams<\/a>, James is the greatest running back in Colts history. Not only is he the franchise\u2019s career rushing leader, but he also has the most rushing touchdowns, with 64.<\/p>\n

In the 1999 NFL Draft, the Colts selected James fourth overall, passing up the more popular running back Ricky Williams out of Texas. Indianapolis made a smart choice drafting James as he went on to become a Hall of Famer.<\/p>\n

James played seven seasons with the Colts. During his tenure with the team, he led the NFL in rushing twice, including his rookie year. The four-time Pro-Bowler teamed with quarterback Peyton Manning<\/a> and wide receiver Marvin Harrison to form one of the league\u2019s most explosive offensive trios of all time.<\/p>\n

James signed with the Arizona Cardinals<\/a> following the 2005 season. Unfortunately for him, he would miss out on the Colts\u2019 Super Bowl victory during the 2006 campaign.<\/p>\n

Is Surpassing James Realistic?<\/h3>\n

Jonathan Taylor has had an excellent career since being drafted by the Colts in 2020<\/a>. He rushed for an impressive 1,1169 yards and 11 touchdowns as a rookie.<\/p>\n

2021 was Taylor\u2019s best season. That year, he led the league in both rushing yards (1,811) and rushing touchdowns (18). He also finished runner-up for Offensive Player of the Year behind Cooper Kupp<\/a>. In addition, he was a First-Team All-Pro selection and was named to the Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n

On his journey to become the Colts\u2019 all-time leading rusher, Taylor must surpass Mitchell first. He should do that within the next game or two. But catching up with James will be a much more difficult task to accomplish.<\/p>\n

Taylor is 3,840 yards away from surpassing James. Yes, it can happen, but he\u2019ll have to stay healthy, which he has struggled to do over the last few years. Taylor missed a combined 13 games during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He has missed three games this year.<\/p>\n

Taylor must shake off the injury bug and, of course, must stay in Indianapolis to break James\u2019 record. Running backs just aren\u2019t as durable as they used to be. Plus, they rarely stay with one franchise for a long time. With that said, it\u2019s unlikely that Taylor will ever become Indy\u2019s GOAT running back.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Eric Canha – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running back Jonathan Taylor could eventually surpass Edgerrin James as the Colts\u2019 all-time leading rusher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":203628,"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":[56,7800,6237],"class_list":["post-203333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colts","category-editorials","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-jonathan-taylor"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203333","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=203333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203629,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203333\/revisions\/203629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}