Rookie Jonathan Taylor Will 'Step Into The Starting Role' At Running Back

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INDIANAPOLIS — The future is now at the running back position for the Indianapolis Colts.


With veteran Marlon Mack now officially out for the year with an Achilles injury, which he suffered in Sunday's Week 1 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, head coach Frank Reich confirmed today that the Colts are turning to talented rookie Jonathan Taylor to "step into the starting role" moving forward.


Taylor is set to get his first-career start this Sunday, when the Colts (0-1) play host to the Minnesota Vikings (0-1) in their 2020 home opener at Lucas Oil Stadium.


"Jonathan is ready," Reich told reporters Monday. "He'll step up and do a great job."


Expectations were high for the Colts' run game heading into the 2020 season, largely because of all the returners at the running back position, as well as the return of all five starting offensive linemen. Together, that group finished seventh in the league in rushing last season — and just 1.5 yards per game out of the top five.


The addition of the dynamic Taylor in the second round of this year's NFL Draft, then, almost felt like an embarrassment of riches in the run game, and produced what Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni considered to be a "1-1" punch at the running back position with both Mack, who earned his first 1,000-yard rushing season last year, and Taylor, who in just three seasons at Wisconsin collected the sixth-most rushing yards in NCAA history.


Mack got the start in Sunday's season opener against the Jaguars, and was really rolling by about midway through the second quarter, with four rushing attempts for 26 yards (6.5 avg.) and three receptions for 30 yards to that point. But on that third reception — a short pass over the middle from quarterback Philip Rivers — Mack, in a non-contact sequence of events, would go down to the grass clutching his right foot. He was helped off the field by team trainers and initially labeled as questionable with an ankle injury.


A short time later, Mack was downgraded to out for the rest of the ballgame. Today, Reich confirmed that tests showed Mack had ruptured his Achilles, and that he would not return for the remainder of the season.


"That's really unfortunate," Reich said of Mack, who was entering a contract year this season. "I mean, Marlon is beloved in our locker room – has such immense amount of respect and love for this guy. He is a true Colt. He was just looking so good in training camp and even in his few snaps yesterday, he just looks like lightning, man. He just looked like lightning out there. It's very unfortunate and very bad timing for him and his family.


"I really believe the best football is still ahead for Marlon Mack," Reich continued. "That guy is a class act in every way and a great player."


The Colts continued on in Sunday's game with third-year veteran Nyheim Hines — who has primarily been the team's third-down back and main pass-catching threat out of the backfield — and the rookie Taylor. Indy — which fell to Jacksonville, 27-20 — finished the game with 22 total rushing attempts for 88 yards (4.0 avg), while Hines had a 12-yard rushing touchdown on the game's opening drive.


Now the Colts turn to Taylor — who had nine carries for 22 yards and six receptions for 67 yards Sunday in his NFL debut — to pick up the slack in Mack's place.