Why JT deserves the MVP
 

If he breaks the TD record, he might get it.

One thing not mentioned in the Taylor and Cook comparison is the Colts are +116 point differential with four 20+ point blowouts (and LAC was two TDs).

I haven't tried looking up playing time per quarter, but I imagine JT is high on the list of 4th quarter rest this season.

He only had 12 carries last game. Not to mention we are the best team in the NFL.

He deserves it but it’s highly unlikely he’ll win it. Running backs don’t generally win MVP. Saquon should have won it last year and didn’t.

The last running back to win MVP was Adrian Peterson in 2012, I believe.

I say it's fine to mention him as a candidate for MVP, but come on, we're not even half way through the season. Hopefully, he continues to perform as well as he has so far, but there's no guarantees for that. Same with calling the Colts the best team in the NFL. But if their next game was against the Chiefs or the Bills or the Lions, do you think they'd be the betting favorite? I for one am enjoying the hell out of the season SO FAR, but I remain surprised that they continue to play so well. It's like a dream I don't want to wake up from.

This is a good point. The schedule gets WAY tougher from here on out.

It is a QB award and we have the best QB in the league right now. Why everyone is downplaying Jones is fucked up. I get it, it has taken me a long time to get past all the shit I read about him before he started for us. I thought we were going to be stuck with a dump and dink offense with a guy terrified to take chances down field. What a crock of horseshit that turned out to be. The man is accurate, throws a damn nice deep ball (it has definite evolved over the season), reads defenses incredibly well (almost always throws to the correct person), moves well in the pocket and isn't an asshole. If any other QB was leading an offense like this he would be a runaway MVP favorite (it's early but just wait until he carves up Pittsburg et al). JT is great and I don't want to downplay the dude but Jones has been incredible for us.

Just a note on Daniel Jones.

One of the biggest criticisms against him was that he did not throw the long ball very well.

Currently, DJ is tied with Sam Darnold, Jalen Hurts and Dak Prescott with the most 40+ yard passes completed in the NFL (6).

DJ is tied for 9th place in the NFL for 20+ yard passes completed with 23 with the leader having 30.

He is 4th in passing yards per attempt (8.5 ypa).

He is tied for 3rd in fewest sacks taken (9) (of full time starters).

All that rolls up to say, he is not just a dump off passer. He is hitting targets down the field (which we all know through the eye test) and a defense has cover the entire field rather than just the short stuff.

In addition:

He is 5th in completion precentage (71.2%).

He is 6th in Quarterback Rating (109.5).

What a crazy season so far! And much of that is due to Daniel Jones aka Danny Dimes aka Danny Diamonds aka Indiana Jones!

Jones has played great but everything goes thru JT, has had half our TDs

No free agent QB in his first season with a new team has ever won the MVP

Neither of these guys will get the MVP.

If the Chefs make the playoffs, Mahomes will get it.

Colts would have to finish with the best record… I like JTs chances

As much as I don't like it, the way the QB position's importance is artificially inflated on top of its already high importance... it technically makes sense that it's a QB award. I say that not liking the fact.

I mean, as great as Jones has looked, he's lower in the QB-echelon than JT is in the RB-echelon (top). But it's just the nature of the position... JT has been here and been great and things never looked this good. It had to be the QB position that was fixed or nothing else would matter (as we've painfully seen for years).

So the OPOY is the de facto position player award which he's on track for. Nelson is the front-runner for the new Protector Of The Year award.

o


(OCTOBER 31st)



Jonathan Taylor Carrying the Colts to the Playoffs ...... And Winning an MVP ???

(By Jeremy Fowler)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...yers-divisions


MVP has morphed into almost solely a quarterback award. A passer has won it for 12 straight years. Last season, Saquon Barkley rushed for 2,000 yards and finished a distant 3rd in the voting behind Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.

So it feels quite possible that Adrian Peterson (2012) will be the last non-quarterback MVP of our generation ...... but some around the league hope that's not the case based on the way Taylor is playing for Indianapolis.

Taylor's 14 total touchdowns through 8 games puts him on a pace just shy of LaDanian Tomlinson's NFL record of 31 scores (28 rushing) in 2006. Tomlinson won the MVP with a convincing 76% voting share that season.

"Taylor is playing like a Hall-of-Famer right now," an NFL coordinator said.

Added an AFC executive ...... "I would vote for him if I had one. That offensive line has been dominant, and once the hole is there, Taylor is elite at the second level."

Still, Taylor's MVP campaign is shaky at best. Other names that come up often in this conversation are Patrick Mahomes, Drake Maye, Jordan Love, and Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield. l ESPN Bet l has Taylor at +1300 odds, well behind Mahomes, Allen and Maye.

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Barkley very well could have and should have won it last year but I believe him being the newcomer on an already solid team that just went to the Super Bowl a couple of years ago hurt his chances.

Before the season began Taylor was +10000 to win MVP so the fact it’s down to 13-1 tells me it’s gaining huge steam

For the year, Barkley had 15 TDs. After 8 games with 9 games to go, JT has 14.

I realize its a long shot, but if JT has 1800+ yds . and 30+ TD' s, then he deserves to be in the conversation.

Besides, none of the QB's are really lighting it up, at this point in the season. There are many that are having really good seasons though, so them sharing votes could give JT a shot.

o


While Colts fans have been mulling over whether or not Jonathan Taylor or Daniel Jones might win the 2025 MVP, head coach Shane Steichen is currently in the running for the 2025 Coach of the Year award.



Colts’ Shane Steichen Will Win Coach of the Year

(By Anita Marks)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...-records-stats



The Giants could not get rid of quarterback Daniel Jones fast enough, yet Steichen (+160 odds for the award) hitched his wagon to Jones over Anthony Richardson, Sr. The Colts have the No. 1 scoring offense (32.2 Points-per-Game), and Jones has a 69.6% completion percentage as a front-runner for Comeback Player of the Year. I predict that the Colts will win their division, finish with at least 12 wins, and host at least one playoff game. With the acquisition of cornerback Sauce Gardner, it's not too wild to think that Indianapolis can win the AFC championship (+475 odds) and the Super Bowl (+1100) ...... I'm here for it !!! (Indiana Jones.)

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It was only a month ago when there was talk of Jonathan Taylor winning the MVP, and Shane Steichen being named "Coach of the Year."




Ranking NFL MVP Candidates: Matthew Stafford vs. Drake Maye

(By Bill Barnwell)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...arrett-darnold



Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts


Taylor would be a much more realistic MVP selection than either of the backs I mentioned above. He has been way more efficient as a runner than McCaffrey and been the focal point of a better offense than the one Gibbs plays on in Detroit. Taylor has also scored 18 touchdowns, putting him on pace for a whopping 24 scores. I'm not inclined to overvalue touchdowns if they're just plunging in from 1 yard out, but Taylor has 23-yard, 46-yard, 80-yard, and 83-yard scampers for scores.

As we've seen with McCaffrey and even Saquon Barkley in the past, though, it's going to take something record-setting for a running back to sniff MVP honors. The last back to do it was Adrian Peterson in 2012, and while he didn't set the single-season record, he topped 2,000 rushing yards while carrying an underwhelming Minnesota team to an unexpected postseason berth. And Peterson was at his best late in the season, producing four games of 154 rushing yards or more over the final five contests to seal up the hardware.

Taylor has slowed a bit alongside the Colts' offense in recent weeks, but I think he has a viable chance of garnering MVP consideration if he finishes the season on fire. Four 150-yard games would get him within striking distance of 2,000 rushing yards, and those performances would likely come with plenty of touchdowns as well. Succeeding without starting quarterback Daniel Jones would only help Taylor's case. If the game against the Texans in Week 18 is for the division title, and Taylor goes off against one of the league's best defenses to lead Indy to a home playoff game, he'd have a shot.

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Top 100 Real NFL MVP Candidates for THE 2025 Season

(By Seth Walder)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...fford-prescott



91) l Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts

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All-Pro RB Jonathan Taylor Eager to Sign Extension ...... ‘I Want to Be a Colt for Life'

(By Nick Shook)

https://www.nfl.com/news/jonathan-ta...-colt-for-life




The arrival of the 2026 season means that it's also time for Jonathan Taylor to negotiate another contract extension.

It might seem as if it was just yesterday that the running back was locked in a stand-off with the Colts over finances, but 3 years after (finally) agreeing to an extension with Indianapolis, Taylor is entering another contract year and is due for a fresh deal. This time around, he's applying the lessons he learned from the last negotiation with the hopes of preventing the process from becoming an ugly, public feud.

"Oh yeah, definitely. Last time, just understanding that, hey, some people are going to run with some of the media narratives, some people won't," Taylor told reporters on Wednesday. "But just know that the true Indianapolis fans, they'll be able to see through the weeds and understand exactly what's going on, and not just believe everything that they read."

Plenty of parallels exist between Taylor's last negotiation window and his current standing. In his first 2 seasons, Taylor piled up 2,980 rushing yards, 29 rushing TD's, 659 receiving yards and three receiving TD's. In his most recent two, he's posted nearly identical numbers: 3,016 rushing yards, 29 rushing TD's, 514 receiving yards, and 3 receiving TD's.

Taylor is clearly an essential part of Indianapolis' offense, and much like they were in 2023, the Colts are maintaining cautious optimism regarding their quarterback situation, increasing Taylor's importance.

That's where the similarities end. Back in 2023, Taylor was dealing with a persistent ankle injury and had requested a trade after failing to find common ground with Colts management.

In 2026, a wiser Taylor is on good terms with the Colts. Ideally, instead of devolving into a situation that includes a trade request and constant questions, the 27-year-old running back arrives at a new deal before long, especially with his health no longer being a concern following consecutive 300-plus-carry seasons.

"Hopefully so ...... hopefully so," Taylor said when asked if there was momentum building toward an agreement. "But at this time, we are in mini-camp, trying to work on getting better, obviously still preparing with the body ...... I've got to hit the training hard. Like I said, I've already expressed that I want to be a Colt for life, even throughout the years. So hopefully they feel the same, Indianapolis, not only, like, the team but the city, is a special place."

Under his current contract, Taylor ranks 7th in average annual salary ($14 Million per year.) He was only recently surpassed by Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III ($14.35 Million per year), Breece Hall ($14.5 Million) and De'Von Achane ($16 Million per year), signaling that it's time for Taylor to climb back up the salary ranks.

Judging by his comments and the current state of the Colts, it's fair to expect that Taylor will receive an extension before long. Thankfully, it shouldn't be nearly as dramatic, either.

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