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00:00Joe, I'll let you talk about the player and do the dot.
00:08Everyone's chasing 2021 when it comes to Jonathan Taylor, and I'm not sure why.
00:13I understand it was a great season in 2021.
00:15He had 1800 rushing yards and 360 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns.
00:22How magnificent.
00:23But that was also playing with Carson Wentz as a quarterback.
00:27Shane Steichen's the coach, Anthony Richardson is the QB, and the Colts offense is not going
00:32to run through Jonathan Taylor the way it did a couple years ago.
00:36Is Jonathan Taylor still set up to be a high-end running back?
00:39Of course he is.
00:40But this idea that he somehow could end up being the best running back, I think is tough
00:45because his own quarterback is going to take away many attempts from him.
00:49He's going to take away many goal line touches from him if he is healthy.
00:55And good luck trying to tackle Anthony Richardson.
00:58He's as big as a linebacker, as fast or even faster than Jonathan Taylor possibly.
01:02So you've got to understand the dynamic has changed.
01:05So sure, 1200 yards rushing, RB4 currently off the board, that all makes sense.
01:12But if you're looking for a first-round talent, I would still be looking at the AJ Browns,
01:16the Justin Jeffersons, I would still be looking at Marvin Harrison Jr., we spoke about that
01:20last week too, since 2020, three of the highest rookie wide-receiving totals ever have been
01:28established.
01:29Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, and then Puka Takua last year.
01:33Again, all 1400 yards.
01:35I think Marvin Harrison is set up to have that kind of season, and if he does, you'd
01:38rather have him than Jonathan Taylor.
01:40And let's not pretend like Jonathan Taylor hasn't missed time the last two years.
01:43Let's not pretend like he's had two surgeries and that means nothing.
01:46So my concern here with Jonathan Taylor isn't so much the durability, so much as his role,
01:52and that I think everyone keeps chasing a couple years ago, and don't really, I think,
01:58fathom and understand that the dynamic of this team has changed considerably.
02:03How this offense is going to run is much different, and it's going to have much more balance to
02:07it, and you have a rushing quarterback.
02:09So again, it's not that Taylor is a bad pick.
02:11It's just a matter of, at his ADP, do I necessarily want to take him in the first round?
02:16Maybe in a standard league, sure.
02:18In a half PPR, okay, I can be sold that way, but I think there's better investments that
02:23are safer than Jonathan Taylor in PPR, and in half PPR, too.
02:27I mentioned some of those wide receivers.
02:29That's where I'd rather be going.
02:30But Matt, what about you?
02:31Are you somebody that thinks that Jonathan Taylor is going to go back to having an 1800-yard
02:36rushing season like he did a couple years ago, or maybe something closer to 1100, potentially,
02:42which will be under the projection this year?
02:45You do the deep dive, and I'll come up for air and look around and look at the entirety
02:49of Indianapolis' offensive ecosystem, and I think there's a lot to be excited about,
02:53and I think that Jonathan Taylor can actually be a compliment and not necessarily a detriment
02:58or not necessarily suffer because of the presence of Richardson.
03:01Remember, Richardson is still young.
03:03It's going to take him time.
03:04I don't care how well-built he is, and I don't care about all this athletic talent he has.
03:08It's going to take the young man time to understand the National Football League.
03:12As we look across the landscape of sports, most sports are skewing to being a young man's
03:16game with the exception of really two, the NFL and the NBA, because to understand the
03:22game, it takes a maturity from the neck up, then the body develops.
03:27So I think that Jonathan Taylor could flirt closer to his upside than to a floor that
03:32we're starting to create.
03:33Although regression, I do believe, is coming, I think there's an excitability there, Joe.
03:37If you're part of an offensive ecosystem with a good, young player, perhaps you begin to
03:41evolve. Jonathan Taylor begins to evolve and becomes something different, but still effective.
03:47So yeah, I'm still in on Jonathan Taylor.
03:50Yeah, effective, sure.
03:52And if you can get him in the second round, great.
03:54I'd rather be starting teams with Amon Ra, with A.J. Brown, with Garrett Wilson, with
03:59Marvin Harrison is my number one pick.
04:01Garrett Wilson over Jonathan Taylor?
04:03Really?
04:04It opens up the bigger conversation, too.
04:06But still for me, yeah.
04:09So what do you do then?
04:10You grabbed Wilson, now you're looking to fill in your running back slots.
04:14I think we have about a minute left in this segment.
04:16This is a great conversation.
04:17So you've faded Taylor at that spot, you've taken Wilson.
04:20What do you do now?
04:22As a fellow named Derrick Henry is going as the 20th overall pick that I'm pretty sure
04:26around the turn I can also get.
04:28So I think that's what it comes down to.
04:30You know, it's like, OK, do I want the elite wide receiver and then take Derrick Henry
04:34or take a shot on Devon Achan or Jameer Kibbs or one of those guys?
04:38Or do I want to take Taylor?
04:40And then all of a sudden, when it gets around the corner wide receiver, I'm looking at Drake
04:44London, I'm looking at Chris Olave in ADP.
04:46I think that is a different set of questions.
04:48I'm sorry.
04:49There's a drop off from those elite guys to those 1A number twos.
04:53I want to make sure I get a clear number one.