Jaguars Legend Crowns Colts' Jonathan Taylor as One of the Best

Jonathan Taylor has cemented himself as one of the greatest Indianapolis Colts to don the horseshoe through his six years with the franchise.

2025 was simply a continuation of his great career, with three Pro Bowl nominations and a First-Team All-Pro nomination. Through 84 career games, Taylor has 7,598 rushing yards, 76 all-purpose touchdowns (69 rushing), and 9,067 yards from scrimmage.

Backing up to the regular season, Taylor led the NFL in rushing touchdowns (18), all-purpose touchdowns (20), rushing attempts (323), and rushing first downs (84).

His 1,585 rushing yards were third in the league behind James Cook of the Buffalo Bills (1,621) and Derrick Henry of the Baltimore Ravens (1,595).

With such a great year, former Jacksonville Jaguars superstar running back Maurice Jones-Drew put Taylor among the elites in his NFL.com piece ranking 64 running backs from the 2025 season. Taylor hits the third spot for MJD.

"Taylor was exceptional in the first half of the season with five 100-yard rushing games, including a 244-yard, three-TD performance in an overtime win over Atlanta in Germany.

Taylor (2021, 2025) joined Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith (1992, 1995) as the only players in NFL history to have multiple career seasons with 1,500-plus rush yards and 18-plus rush TDs.

Imagine what could've been had the injury bug not landed in Indy."

Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (blue and white uniform) tries to find space to run. — Dec 28, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (28) rushes the ball during a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images | Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Jones-Drew nails this one regarding the injury issues that plagued the Colts, especially at the quarterback position.

Taylor was cooking before Indy's Week 11 bye. However, from Week 12 on, Taylor's production plummeted. It wasn't just the Achilles injury to Daniel Jones that affected Taylor, but even when Jones was playing on a fractured fibula.

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Taylor's final seven games saw his numbers fall through the cracks. Jones was slowed down by his fibula injury, and then was out for the year with an Achilles issue.

This forced the Colts to bring Philip Rivers out of retirement to try to save the season. The problem? Rivers can't move - at all. Even when the legend was in his prime, he was one of the most underwhelming runners at QB.

This grossly limited what Taylor could do and allowed defenses to tee off on him instead of focusing much on the passing threat. For the final seven games, Taylor put up a disappointing statline, but a lot of that was outside of his control.

134 carries
446 rushing yards
3.3 yards per carry
3 rushing touchdowns

Notably missing from Offensive Player of the Year finalists... Jonathan Taylor 👀

🏈 1,585 rush yards
🏈 378 rec yards
🏈 18 rush TDs
🏈 2 rec TDs

Did the Colts RB get snubbed? pic.twitter.com/LcAgythM00
— DraftKings (@DraftKings) January 22, 2026

Taylor's brutal finish to the 2025 campaign essentially took him out of the race for the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year, getting booted in favor of Bijan Robinson of the Atlanta Falcons and Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers.

The goal for Indianapolis in 2026 will be to remain healthy, especially at quarterback and along the offensive line.

If the Colts re-sign Jones, which is assumed, and he can get back to how he looked in the first 10 games of the season, it will help Taylor continue his dominance into year seven.

Taylor has been one of the premier backs in the NFL since 2021 when he was the rushing king and earned his lone First-Team All-Pro nomination.

He'll look to remain that way in 2026 to help Indianapolis finally win the AFC South and make the postseason.

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