We are in full redraft season with the first preseason game just happening on Thursday. There is major news already in the NFL the past couple weeks and running backs are the big headliners. The saga with Jonathon Taylor looks to be getting ugly. The Colts also lost Zach Moss to injury this week. They have decided to sign veteran Kenyan Drake, so what does that mean for drafts coming up?
The Depth Chart – The Need for Kenyan Drake
The Colts’ depth chart gets ugly with Taylor and Moss not available. The next man up was going to be rookie RB Evan Hull, who was drafted in the fifth round out of Northwestern. I liked him coming out, but not as a starter in the NFL. Hull had over 3,200 total yards in his career and 94 total receptions.
Deon Jackson is also on the roster but the most yards he has in a game is 62. Deon only eclipsed 40 yards in three total games. With the signing of Kenyan Drake, the Colts get a running back drafted on Day 2 with success in the NFL. This will be his 8th season in the league. His last couple have not been overly productive, but he did avg 4.4 yards per carry for the Ravens in 2022. He also had a couple of big games with 119 yards and 93 yards.
New Coach and Scheme
The Colts are under a new regime with Shane Steichen; who was the offensive coordinator for the Eagles the last two years and held the same position for the Chargers in 2020.
Looking at RB carries and targets when he was the coordinator in Philly and LA are interesting numbers. In 2020, the Chargers had Austin Ekeler, but targets to backs was around 8.68 per game. Ekeler had a little under 50% of total targets out of the backfield.
In 2021 with the Eagles, the RBs had 23 carries per game and 6.23 targets per game with. Then in 2022, with a full season of Hurts and the addition of AJ Brown, RBs had 21.52 carries per game and only 3.59 targets per game.
The Chargers have Justin Herbert, who runs much less than Hurts; and in 2022 the addition of AJ Brown really limited the number of targets to running backs.
The Colts have a rookie QB in Anthony Richardson; and even though I like Michael Pittman he is not at the level of Brown. I see the number being somewhere around where the 2020 Chargers and 2021 Eagles were. So between six to eight targets to running backs per game and around 20-24 carries.
Final Verdict
If Jonathon Taylor is not the starting RB for the Colts, I am not sure I would reach for any of the backs in the first half of the draft. I think it could be a committee but with the depth chart as it is, I would take a chance with Kenyan Drake late in drafts. If he can find some of the magic back when he was with the Cardinals in 2020 – where he was a top-12 fantasy RB – it could be a steal.
If you have already had your draft and have a spot I would also try to stash Drake just in case.
Brandon Haye
Brandon grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and works as a health insurance data analyst. He has no children, but two fur babies - Squirt and Brownie. He and his wife, Katie, spend their time playing poker and enjoying time with their pups. Brandon is a huge Michigan Wolverine and Jacksonville Jaguars fan. He at one time was in 77 fantasy leagues and loves the game of football. Brandon started writing for The Leauge Winners in 2021.