INDIANAPOLIS — As the clock ticked down on a loss marked by the largest blown lead in NFL history, Jonathan Taylor watched helplessly from the sideline. With his right ankle throbbing, the Indianapolis Colts running back was unable to finish the game, rendered a spectator as his team wasted a 33-point lead in the December 17, 2022 game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Taylor would not see the field again that season and later underwent surgery. The next season was memorable for many of the wrong reasons: A protracted and contentious contract standoff and still more injuries. It was beginning to feel like Taylor’s remarkable 2021 season — when he led the NFL in rushing with a franchise-record 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns — was an outlier.

It’s a career arc often seen from running backs who play a position that is uniquely brutal on the body.

Now, though, Taylor is offering weekly reminders of just who he is. After consecutive sub-1,000-yard rushing seasons in 2022-23, Taylor has enjoyed a rejuvenation since the start of the 2024 season. After 1,431 yards last season, he’s responded in 2025 with a stunning start, leading the NFL in rushing yards (603) and touchdowns (seven).

Taylor, 26, is not only back, he’s stating his case to be the best running back in the league. No other back has more explosive runs (10-plus yards) than Taylor’s 15. Taylor also has an NFL-best 324 yards after contact, displaying both his speed and power in equal doses.

“I don’t think any of us really know what he’s capable of,” Colts receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said. “But I think he’s going to show us this year.”

There’s been one constant with Taylor during his six-year career: When he’s been injury-free, he’s performed at an elite level. This past training camp and preseason, he displayed great durability, avoiding the frequent aches and pains that can sideline players during practices.

But there’s another layer to this according to Taylor, teammates and coaches.

After Taylor had a surprisingly slow start to his rookie season in 2020 while adjusting to the speed of the NFL, he learned to become an astute student of the game. His problem then wasn’t that he was playing too slow; rather, he was rushing a process that needed to play out gradually.

Blocks needed to develop. Defenders needed to commit to angles. Creases needed to open. All Taylor’s haste got him was lots of 2-yard runs into the backs of his offensive linemen. After averaging just 3.9 yards per carry through eight weeks, the Colts removed Taylor from the starting lineup for two weeks.

Over the years, Taylor’s learned how to work smarter, not harder, and he’s averaged 4.9 yards per carry in his career.

“Just being a little bit more patient,” Taylor said. “I know there have been times where you kind of want to make a play, so you may go outside the parameters of the scheme. But [it’s about] understanding you have to stay patient and sometimes you’ve got to run through the smoke. In other words, it may not look like something’s there, but you just trust your team, trust the guys up front.

“Next thing you know you’re popping out on the backside.”

Taylor said he’s emphasized the role of patience in his running this season, and it’s paying off.

Take, for instance, a play from the second quarter of the Colts’ win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. On an outside run to the offense’s left, Taylor took the handoff and ran laterally for a while before cutting up the field at a controlled pace behind All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson. Taylor didn’t seem to break a sweat until he reached the defensive backfield, where he sprinted the rest of the way for a 30-yard gain.

“There are a lot of moving parts to a play,” Taylor said. “A lot of times, especially backs, they see daylight and they think, ‘Oh, let me go and take this right now,’ when actually they don’t know, maybe there’s a safety rolling down. He’s just not there yet.

“It’s like eye candy. Don’t take it.”

But, to some degree, Taylor’s being modest here. There is another element in his success that should be obvious: His prodigious talent.

Taylor’s speed, his cat-quick cuts and rapid acceleration make for a combination of skills rarely seen at the position. There are few better demonstrations of this than the 46-yard touchdown run Taylor ripped off in Week 3 against the Tennessee Titans. With tight end Tyler Warren lead blocking, Taylor reached the third level of the defense and was confronted with multiple defenders.

THERE GOES JONATHAN TAYLOR

INDvsTEN on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/yyRyRSZNEK

— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025

Didn’t matter.

First, he juked safety Quandre Diggs. Then, he used a devastating spin move to elude safety Amani Hooker. Finally, he high-stepped out of an attempted tackle by linebacker Kyzir White before sprinting the rest of the way to the end zone.

Later, coaches watched the play on game film and marveled.

“A big-time run,” Shane Steichen called it.

Center Tanor Bortolini watched from the line of scrimmage, yelling, “Score! Score! Score!”

“At some point, scheme-wise, you can only block so many guys,” Bortolini said. “You’re counting on J.T. to make a guy miss, but I have the utmost confidence that he’s going to. You watch him on a run like that, getting yards he shouldn’t be getting, there’s no better feeling.”

Another aspect that is making Taylor more dangerous in 2025 is his increased involvement in the passing game. Steichen quietly predicted before the season that Taylor could set a new career high in receptions this season, and that forecast is on its way to becoming reality.

Taylor had a healthy 40 receptions in 2021, but he’s averaged just 21 over the past three seasons as he’s become an afterthought in the Indianapolis passing game. This season, he has 20 receptions through six games, putting him on a 17-game pace of 56 catches. And Taylor is no less explosive when used as a receiver. He already has a 43-yard reception this season.

The reasons for this are multiple. First, Taylor has gained more trust from the staff in handling his pass-game responsibilities, including pass protection (one of his few weaknesses). Then there’s the tendency of quarterback Daniel Jones to spread the ball around and deliver checkdown throws. Finally, there’s the obvious: Good things happen when the ball is in Taylor’s hands.

Taylor “has done such a nice job of catching the ball, maybe making that first guy miss and finishing through some contact and turning maybe a catch that’s two or three yards down the field into eight or 10,” offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said.

Taylor’s current performance is putting him in rare air. He’s already produced the second-most 100-yard rushing games in Colts history (26), behind only Hall of Famer Edgerrin James. He’s currently just 10 touchdowns shy of James’ franchise-record of 64. Taylor owns the franchise high for career yards per carry at 4.9.

It seems no one will be forgetting Taylor anytime soon. There’s no reason, Pittman said, he shouldn’t be considered the best in the game.

“I think it’s no question,” Pittman said. “The things that he’s doing at a consistent level, no one else is doing that.”