The Jaguars are heading into Week 8 with one matchup that will demand immediate attention: Jonathan Taylor. Indianapolis comes to Jacksonville with a season that has gone sideways, but Taylor has still been the engine keeping the Colts afloat.
He’s put together a heavy workload through seven games, piling up 587 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. His average sits at 4.2 yards per carry, and he’s topped 90 rushing yards in five of those seven outings.
Last week against Minnesota, he finished with 95. The one real exception came in Week 5 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, when he was held to 45 yards on 15 carries.
ESPN’s Seth Walder thinks Jacksonville can put Taylor in that same neighborhood again.
"Colts RB Jonathan Taylor will record fewer than 50 rushing yards for just the second time this season," he wrote. "The rushing attack has been one of the only things that has gone right for the Colts. But I think they'll struggle in Week 8 facing the Jaguars' defense, which has the best EPA allowed per designed rush in the league, without Nelson."
That’s the key here: Jacksonville has been the league’s best run defense, and Walder noted the Jaguars lead the NFL in EPA allowed per designed run. The Colts’ task gets tougher because they’ll be doing it without one of football’s premier run blockers in front of Taylor.
Indianapolis traded six-time All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round selection. Nelson had been the Colts’ left guard since they drafted him sixth overall in 2018. Rookie Jalen Farmer is lined up to make his first NFL start in Nelson’s spot on Sunday.
That leaves Taylor as the clear centerpiece of the Colts’ offense. With Indianapolis still searching for steadier production from Daniel Jones and the passing game, the Jaguars know exactly where the stress point is.
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Jaguars May Have Found A Rookie Starter Fans Can't Ignore
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Sports Illustrateds Justin Melo recently ranked Pregnon as the top third-round rookie, a nod to how quickly he has settled in and how steady he has looked for Jacksonville. There have been some pressures and penalties along the way, but the overall picture is of a player who arrived with first-team All-American credentials and has already made himself hard to take off the field. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Taylor Just Put Jaguars Colts Week Into A Different Light
The Colts week against Jacksonville has taken on a far different feel with Jonathan Taylors status hanging over it. Indianapolis is still weighing whether to put its star running back on the field while trade talks continue, and the timing matters because any game-day decision now carries both competitive and business implications for a player the market reportedly values at a second-round pick or better.
For the Jaguars, it adds another layer to a division matchup that was already going to draw attention. If Taylor is active, the Colts have to balance the chance of helping themselves on the field against the risk of something going wrong before a deal gets done, and if he sits, it only sharpens the sense that this game is being shaped by more than just the standings. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Trade Deadline Search Just Got More Complicated Up Front
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With Payne now off the board, the market for defensive tackles only gets thinner, which leaves the Jaguars weighing a handful of other speculative possibilities. Moro Ojomo, Vita Vea, DaVon Hamilton, Zach Sieler and Roy Lopez have all come up as names to watch, but there is no clear answer yet on which direction Jacksonville might take, or whether it can find the kind of interior upgrade it is clearly exploring. [Read more 🡒]