Colts’ RB Jonathan Taylor returned to practice Thursday as a limited participant, and his status for Thursday is still questionable.
Taylor, who led the league in rushing yards last season, hasn’t looked like himself this season. After a solid start Week 1 in which he carried the ball 31 times for 161 yards, Taylor hasn’t ran for more than 71 yards, and still has scored just a single touchdown.
His lackluster 2022 only got worse when he suffered an ankle injury in the fourth quarter of Indianapolis’ Week 4 loss to Tennessee. Initially, the fear was that he was dealing with a high ankle sprain but that was never confirmed. Regardless, he sat out Week 5 and didn’t return to practice until this week.
Following the Colts’ Thursday Night Football win over Denver, head coach Frank Reich said the team was optimistic that Taylor would play in Week 6 thanks to the extra recovery days as well as the progress he had made in rehabbing the ankle.
Though it hasn’t been made clear exactly what Taylor’s ankle injury is, it’s safe to assume it is a sprain of some sort because x-rays came back negative for fractures. Ankle sprains are difficult to deal with for any position to deal with, however running backs feel the effects more than most.
The ankle joint complex supports the majority of lower body movements that are required to be a successful, high-caliber running back. From sprinting to cutting, jumping to juking – the ankle plays a crucial role in the success of those movements. When compromised, the ankle’s mobility is limited in a way that makes most agility moves impossible to execute at a high rate of success.
Our algorithm calculates this to be a Grade 2 ankle injury, which gives him an Injury Risk of 24% (High) and a Health Performance Factor of 41% (Below Average). With those metrics, his Optimal Recovery Time is still 15 days away, meaning if he does return this week against the Jaguars he won’t be at 100%.
