Jonathan Taylor Fantasy Football Impact and Outlook 2022

We are talking about Jonathan Taylor today, his fantasy football impact, and his outlook for fantasy football 2022. Should you draft him? Should you not draft him? What do you do with Jonathan Taylor? I know the obvious thing seems like, hey, he had a pinnacle year last year, should we draft him and consensus… he’s the number one running back off the board, probably going to be the first overall pick, but should you invest in him? And what are some things that you should be looking for? So the full breakdown here guys on Jonathan Taylor. Now I am doing the impact series, guys. I’ve linked it here below on YouTube, covering each individual player, breaking them down, letting them know if I would draft them and if you should draft them going into the season and how to approach with caution or with confidence.

Very important episode here. Now, if you are new to the channel, make sure you guys click that subscribe button for advice that’ll actually help you guys win. Now what the mainstream does is they tell you that last year’s top finishers and they say, hey, these are last year’s top finishers draft them again in that same order. And that’s how everything is predicated. And that’s how people don’t stand out of the crowd. It’s very simple guys. It’s common sense, if you do what everyone else does, you won’t get ahead.

All right, let’s dive into the Jonathan Taylor here. Now again, make sure you guys subscribe and also leave a comment below if you’re on YouTube here and let me know, are you drafting Jonathan Taylor? How confident are you? The big question to me with Jonathan Taylor is, is he going to finish number one amongst running backs again? And I got to tell you, history has shown us it’s very, very unlikely. The last time a running back did it was in 2002, 2003 with Priest Holmes. I keep talking about this guy throughout. If you listen to my channel regularly, you know I’ve talked about Priest Holmes and how much of an anomaly it was for him to produce back-to-back amazing running back numbers.

Has Jonathan Taylor hit his peak?

I believe he played on the chiefs in the early 2000s. So now Jonathan Taylor coming off a pinnacle year, let’s talk about Jonathan Taylor, 332 attempts, 1,811 yards rushing on the ground. Okay. 1,811 yards. That’s phenomenal. 5.5 yards per carrying, 18 touchdowns, 40 receptions on 51 targets, 360 yards receiving and two receiving touchdowns, a total of 20 touchdowns combined, 18 on the ground, two receiving. Those are phenomenal numbers. Okay. Going into last year, you would think that guys like Marlon Mack would’ve been a thorn and Nyheim Hines would’ve been a thorn in the side of Jonathan Taylor, but that was not the case. And that’s what I love about Jonathan Taylor. And the same thing goes for a guy like Javonte Williams. At the time of this recording, Melvin Gordon is still a free agent. I bet you, he probably still signs with the Broncos, which could really hinder and destroy Javonte Williams’ value, unless they completely sideline Melvin Gordon, which is what they should do, because he is not good. Right?

Javonte has got that. I don’t know if he’s good as Jonathan Taylor, but he’s got that type of upside if you let him get the volume, right? So that’s a whole other video. Make sure you guys watch that on Javonte Williams’s fantasy impact. Now there have been some changes in the NFL. Time of this recording, Carson Wentz just got shipped off to the Washington team. So now Jonathan Taylor is there. The quarterback is suspect. We don’t know who the quarterback is and there’s just been a disaster of quarterbacks throughout the years, including Andrew Luck who retired all of a sudden out of nowhere, Philip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett, and Carson Wentz, and some players, defensive players, other players on the Colts expressing their frustrations with them not having a quarterback. Now they’ve got everything else figured out. The wide receiver you can question, but their O-line’s good.

Their defense is good. Their running back situation’s figured out. They do need a quarterback. Okay, so that’s the big question. We’re going to have to see what happens after the NFL draft. I don’t think their current rostered quarterbacks are enough to keep them afloat. They do need a quarterback or they might make a trade. They might acquire somebody. There’s talk at the time of this recording, that Kirk Cousins or someone else ends up on the Colts, maybe Derek Carr, we don’t know. I’m not really a fan of Derek Carr, but I mean, desperate times call for desperate measures, right? You definitely need a quarterback. At least as someone who’s solid and inconsistent or someone that could put up, get the ball down the field. So when I look at Jonathan Taylor, this may help or actually negate his progress here.

Jonathan Taylor is coming off a pinnacle year!

So a good quarterback that airs the ball out, more passing attempts, maybe things open up for Jonathan Taylor. Either way, no matter what quarterbacks under the center, let’s take that away. Jonathan Taylor has proven he’s the workhorse running back. He’s proven he can carry the load and he can produce on a high level. So no matter what, barring any type of injury, I believe that Jonathan Taylor continues to produce on a level. Will Jonathan Taylor finish on top? Will Jonathan Taylor be the number one running back yet again? That is up for question. I highly doubt that. Who could emerge ahead of him? I think maybe Derrick Henry, I think Najee Harris has that type of potential, right? There are some rookies coming into the NFL. Depending on where they land, they could finish near the top. Jonathan Taylor is a guy, when you look at him, you think that’s the safest bet, next to maybe Derrick Henry due for a bounce-back Najee Harris. Those three are your safest bets in the top three picks.

If I was going first overall, I’m probably leaning Henry just because of a bounce-back year and because of the fact that Derrick Henry, even in eight games, that’s a whole other… We’ll do that in another video here. Even in eight games, when you look at it from an attempt standpoint, still finishing the top 10. Finished with 219 attempts in eight games so that’s the type of volume you’re dealing with, with Derrick Henry. I love volume getters. I hear you’re saying, well, Joe, volume equals potential injury because you’re out on the field more but yeah, that’s what we want. We don’t want an injury. We want volume. So Jonathan Taylor, when you break him down, again the only knock to him is history and history shows us it’s very unlikely that he’ll produce these numbers.

Derrick Henry Ceiling is Higher than Taylor’s

Now, if you compare him to last year, he went from 1169 yards to 1811 yards. He went from 11 touchdowns on the ground to 18 touchdowns. He went from 232 attempts to 332 attempts and that’s the difference guys. This is what I mean. Once you put a running back in a committee and you take away that volume, you are totally hindering the massive upside, potential, and legacy that that running back may have. And that’s why I hate committees. Not only just from a fantasy perspective but from an I destroyed this running back’s career perspective, right? And teams like to have that running back by committee because that way they’re keeping the legs fresh of the running backs. And then you’re basically sitting there and you’re like, okay, I could preserve my running back. My running backs need to be healthy all year and that can run a committee.

But what you’re doing by that is you’re not starting your best running back all the time. So it’s an advantage and disadvantage to teams, right? If I’m a coach, I’m running my best running back all the time. It’s part of the game because I want to win every count, every down, every game, everything counts. So again, I look at Jonathan Taylor, I see a ton of talent. I see a ton of youth, the guy’s what? 23 years old, going into his third season so he’s still young. I still think this year is going to be amazing if he’s healthy. The volume will be there. The talent is there. You draft again, Derrick Henry and Najee ahead of him, that’s something that you got to make a decision on. I’m still figuring it out here in the off-season. But I’m leaning a little bit towards the what goes up must come down theory.

I do think that maybe Derrick Henry might outperform Jonathan Taylor this year. But again, that is my opinion. And again, I’ve seen trends. I’ve seen what goes up must come down. I’ve seen this type of stuff. But one thing is for sure, barring any type of injury, a healthy Jonathan Taylor will get the volume, a healthy Jonathan Taylor will produce. The only things in suspect are again the history and of course, maybe a new quarterback coming in and just not gelling with Taylor. Maybe there’s some sort of connection issue. Maybe he’s not getting the ball. Maybe he’s not getting his what? 51 targets, which isn’t a lot, but it’s still in the receiving game. Maybe he doesn’t get to 51 targets. Maybe he gets 20 targets. Maybe the quarterback doesn’t hand the ball off to him as much. Maybe he’s throwing more. That is yet to be seen, but talent, ability, volume, everything is pointing to Jonathan Taylor having an amazing year with a slight decline if everything goes his way.

Final Thoughts

So Jonathan Taylor, do I draft him? Absolutely. But in the back of my mind, I think of Priest Holmes in 2002 to 2003, as being the last person to ever come back to back and have pinnacle seasons where he finished on top. I would almost bet, I bet a lot that he’s not going to finish first overall. And for that reason knowing that I would probably go Henry or Najee ahead of him knowing that they still have more of a ceiling, ahead of Jonathan Taylor for this particular year. All right. So that’s my opinion. There could be better options, could be a possible decline for sure. 90% chance, I think that there’s going to be a decline, but it’s again, it’s up to you guys to make that decision.

But again, I love Jonathan Taylor. I love the Colts. I’m a Colts fan. Okay, period. Now, if you are new to the channel guys, make sure you guys are subscribed to check out the impact series. Again, I’m walking through every single player, breaking it down like this, giving you an honest opinion, not just a consensus ranking opinion. So if you’re new, make sure you guys do subscribe. Follow on Insta at fantasy football [accounts 00:09:33]. We’re the number one social media page on the gram at fantasy football account so make sure you follow there for fantasy football and guys, I appreciate you guys being here. Smash the thumbs up. Hope you guys enjoyed the video and draft Jonathan Taylor, but expect a decline. We’ll talk soon.

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