On December 15, 2024, Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor broke free on a run for what should have been a 41-yard touchdown. Instead, he dropped the football before reaching the end zone, resulting in a loss of possession. It was just a rookie mistake for a fifth-year player. After the game, he apologized to his teammates, explaining that it “just can’t happen.” He also vowed that it would “never happen again.”
Evidently, Taylor’s frustration with himself drove his game to reach new heights. His final three games of the season following his goalline gaffe were nothing short of spectacular. In that span, he rushed for 520 yards on 95 attempts and six touchdowns. If he held that pace for the entirety of the season, he would have had over 2,900 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns. It was a glimpse of the superstar the NFL saw back in 2021, when he finished with a rushing line of 332/1811/18 (all of these figures led the NFL) and finished in second for the Offensive Player of the Year award, only behind Cooper Kupp of the Los Angeles Rams.
However, as any statistician would contend, three games of dominance in 2024 is too small a sample size to use as a reliable indicator of production in 2025. Most fans didn’t expect Taylor to come close to repeating that level of production coming into this season. Suffice to say, they could not have been more wrong.
Expectations for the Colts coming into this season were quite modest. At the beginning of the preseason, the NFL’s official power rankings listed Indianapolis at #27 out of 32 teams. The team was in the midst of a quarterback crisis, tasked with deciding between the historically inaccurate Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones, a quarterback that hadn’t been remotely good since 2022. Most pundits predicted—and even expected—the Houston Texans to win the division with relative ease, with the Jacksonville Jaguars at best posing some resistance.
Yet, eleven weeks into the season, the Indianapolis Colts have blown their preseason expectations out of the water. They currently sit atop the AFC South with a 8-2 record. Their record isn’t just a mirage; they lead the league in point differential as well (+115). Despite the improbable success of quarterback Daniel Jones, the heart and soul of this surely playoff-bound team has been Jonathan Taylor.
Through eleven weeks, Taylor has posted a rushing line of 189/1,139/15. That rushing yard total is by far the highest in the league, as no other player has yet to reach 1,000. Additionally those 15 rushing touchdowns are also a league-leading figure, with the runner-up, Josh Jacobs, only having 11. He’s also added in 30 receptions for 260 yards and two touchdowns, a significant increase in receiving production compared to last year. Clearly, no player at the position compares to Taylor this year. He’s won the attention of millions of fans nationwide; SRV junior and president of the Fantasy Sports club Nicholas Kislyuk emphasized that “[Taylor’s] a cheat code for his team, being one of the main factors to the Colts’s newfound success this season.”
The young superstar’s unprecedented greatness begs the question: can he win the League MVP award? The last time a running back won the award was in 2012, when Adrian Peterson did so with the Minnesota Vikings. While Peterson’s season was incredible in its own right—and certainly deserves an exploration of its own—one could argue that Taylor’s run of greatness surpasses that of Peterson’s back in 2012. While Taylor is on pace for about 150 less rushing yards, he’s on pace to more than double Peterson’s 12 rushing touchdowns, as he’s on pace for a ludicrous 25.5.
Of course, running backs traditionally don’t provide the most value to their respective teams compared to quarterbacks. However, seasons of Taylor’s caliber don’t come along too often. When they do, it’s only fair to honor them as the generational seasons that they are. SRV Junior Charles McLaughlin certainly thinks so: “He’s truly the MVP of the league…every time he gets the ball I wouldn’t be surprised if he scores. This season will be remembered for a long time.”
The prospect of Taylor winning the award isn’t as far-fetched as it may seem. Despite the fact that the award is almost always given to a quarterback, Taylor currently has the fourth-best odds to win (+750). He sits behind Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams, Drake Maye of the New England Patriots, and Josh Allen on the Buffalo Bills—notably, all of them are quarterbacks.
You could make a case for any one of these players to win. But ultimately, none of the seasons that the quarterbacks are putting together are even as close to impressive as Taylor’s. Stafford, despite his impressive numbers, is still throwing to arguably the best receiving core in the NFL, headlined by Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. Drake Maye has put together a surprisingly impressive season in spite of his weak receiving core, but his numbers would be rather pedestrian for an MVP season, and he has played one extra game compared to his opponents in the race because the Patriots have not yet had their bye week. Josh Allen has put together a solid season in spite of his weak receiving core—like Maye—but he doesn’t lead the league in any relevant statistics and isn’t even leading his own division. Of course, there are a number of factors to consider when awarding a player, but this only goes to illustrate that no quarterback is having a particularly elite season in their own right.
If Taylor does win MVP, this season will surely be cemented as one of the greatest at the running back position, up there with the likes of Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, and Eric Dickerson. Regardless of the result, Taylor’s brilliance on the field will continue to amaze spectators of the sport. When the San Francisco 49ers venture to Indianapolis to play the Colts just two three before Christmas, consider tuning in to watch; you won’t want to miss the Jonathan Taylor show.
Works Cited
“NFL Player Stat Leaders, 2025 Regular Season.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, www.espn.com/nfl/stats. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
“NFL Schedule – 2026 Season.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, www.espn.com/nfl/schedule. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
“NFL Standings – 2025 Season.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, www.espn.com/nfl/standings. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
“Pro Football Stats, History, Scores, Standings, Playoffs, Schedule & Records.” Pro, www.pro-football-reference.com/. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
share.google/iKB98UsDqHwWybG63. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
share.google/vYyalMMIOZg37s3fb. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
