Indianapolis Colts Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Colts handcuff is whoever sits directly behind Jonathan Taylor on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

Jonathan Taylor played 82.8% of Indianapolis's offensive snaps and 80.3% of its pass snaps, drawing 55 targets — so there is no complementary role to inherit, only the whole job. DJ Giddens drew 2 targets on 26 pass snaps, under the 100-snap reporting line.

This is the question the page exists for, because he does miss time. Taylor has played 69 of 85 team games across 5 seasons — 81.2%, with 16 games missed.

What would come free is the largest workload in this group: 323 carries at +0.61 yards over expected, 18th of 49 qualifying backs, on 82.8% of the snaps — 2nd among running backs.

It would fall to a room with essentially no record. Giddens played 26 pass snaps and drew 2 targets in 5 games, all under the reporting floors. Seth McGowan has no 2025 record. The two veteran reserves who covered this room last season are gone, which the reporting below confirms.

Very little, and the coaching staff has said so out loud.

Taylor's 82.8% snap share leaves under a fifth of the offence for everyone else, and no other back in the room reached a rankable share. Giddens's entire professional file is 2 targets in 5 games on 26 pass snaps.

The reporting below is unusually direct about wanting to change that — the staff has publicly said the workload needs reducing, and has publicly said why that is hard. Both halves matter.

No. Taylor is the passing-down back.

He played 80.3% of the pass snaps against 82.8% of snaps overall — a tilt of -2.5, which for a back with this much volume means he barely leaves. He drew 55 targets, 3.24 a game, catching 46 for 378 yards on 486 pass snaps — 3rd among running backs.

Giddens played 26 pass snaps against the 100 needed to rank.

The reporting below frames the backup competition entirely around pass protection, which is the tell: the job on offer is to keep the quarterback upright, not to catch the ball.

Reporting from a previous season, kept because a role a player has already held is the best evidence available about the one he might hold next. It describes 2025, not now.

Giddens was limited as a rookie in 2025 and was benched over pass protection. (Sports Illustrated / Horseshoe Huddle, 2026-06-17)

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-08-25. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

Colts running backs coach DeAndre Smith said the team definitely needs to find ways to take some of the workload off Jonathan Taylor, and that finding another back or two to absorb carries would make Taylor better (NFL.com, 2026-07-13).

Head coach Shane Steichen said the workload plan is easier said than done, because it is hard to take Taylor off the field when he is running so well (NFL.com, 2026-07-13).

Steichen said pass protection is the key to DJ Giddens' second year, that the back has to be a huge part of protection, and that third-down work is where Giddens has to prove himself (Roundtable, 2026-06-25).

Colts Wire reported Giddens must contribute in the passing game, chiefly as a blocker, and on special teams to win the backup job (Colts Wire, 2026-06-27).

Colts Wire reported Seth McGowan's path to the backup job also runs through pass protection, and that Jonathan Taylor praised McGowan for grasping the offensive concepts with few mental errors (Colts Wire, 2026-06-26).

Indianapolis no longer has last year's veteran reserves Tyler Goodson and Ameer Abdullah, leaving the backup competition to Giddens and McGowan (WIBC, 2026-07-21).

Taylor is in the final year of his contract and said he wants to be a Colt for life (NFL.com, 2026-06-10).

A post-minicamp depth chart read Taylor, then Giddens, then McGowan, with the writer flagging that if Taylor ever sits the Colts fall back on a very inexperienced group (107.5 The Fan, 2026-06-16).