Jonathan Taylor’s New Contract and a Healthy Daniel Jones Make Him a 2026 Fantasy Football Lock
Jonathan Taylor has already proven he can carry a fantasy roster when the Indianapolis Colts hand him the ball. Now he enters the 2026 season with something he didn’t have a week ago: long-term security. On Aug. 7, the Colts and Taylor agreed to a two-year, $44 million extension worth up to $47 million with $39 million guaranteed, according to NFL.com, which cited NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal keeps Taylor in Indianapolis through at least 2028.
Pair that with a healthy Daniel Jones back under center, and Taylor is shaping up as one of the safer first-round fantasy football picks on the board this summer.
A new deal that removes the uncertainty
Taylor was heading into the final year of his previous contract, the three-year, $42 million extension he signed in October 2023 after a tense trade request, according to Sports Illustrated. This time around, there was no standoff. Taylor didn’t hold out the way Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs did elsewhere this summer, and NBC Sports reported the sides had been trending toward an extension for days before it became official.
The new deal’s $22 million average annual salary lands just behind the $22.25 million Robinson got from Atlanta this offseason, per CBS Sports. For fantasy purposes, the number that matters more than the cap figures is what it signals: Indianapolis is planning its offense around Taylor for the foreseeable future, not treating him as a trade chip or a one-year rental on a prove-it deal.
The 2025 numbers that got him paid
Taylor didn’t just handle a lot of touches in 2025 — he led the league in nearly every category that matters. He topped the NFL with 323 carries, 1,585 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns, and set the Colts’ all-time record for career rushing touchdowns (69) when he broke Hall of Famer Edgerrin James’ mark in Week 10, according to the Colts’ official site.
He did it in style, too. Taylor broke the franchise record with an 83-yard touchdown run against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Berlin, a performance that included 244 rushing yards and three total scores in a 31-25 overtime win, per ESPN. “I’m humbled to have just a small piece of history,” Taylor told ESPN afterward.
| 2025 Stat | Jonathan Taylor |
|---|---|
| Carries | 323 (NFL-high) |
| Rushing yards | 1,585 |
| Rushing TDs | 18 (NFL-high) |
| Receptions | 46 |
| Receiving yards | 378 |
| Total TDs | 20 |
He also grew his role in the passing game, setting career highs with 46 catches for 378 yards and two touchdowns through the air. That two-way production is what pushed him to an RB4 finish for the season, showing his fantasy value isn’t dependent on touchdown variance alone.
Daniel Jones’ return matters more than people realize
The contract gives Taylor workload certainty. Jones’ return gives him something just as valuable: a passing game defenses actually have to respect.
Jones tore his right Achilles in Week 14 of last season and had surgery days later, a recovery timeline that typically runs six to eight months, according to CBS Sports. Indianapolis re-signed him anyway, handing him a two-year, $88 million deal in March, per Fox News — the largest two-year contract in NFL history at the time.
Jones has been full-go for training camp this summer. ESPN’s Ben Solak, after visiting Colts camp, described an “unimpeded Daniel Jones” who didn’t look like a quarterback less than eight months removed from Achilles surgery, according to ClutchPoints. Teammates have echoed that. Left guard Quenton Nelson said Jones “looks like he never got hurt,” per the Colts’ official site.
That matters for Taylor because of what happened when Jones went down. Indianapolis led the league in scoring for the first half of last season with Jones playing efficient, downfield football, then slowed considerably once he got hurt and the team turned to a since-departed Philip Rivers, according to CBS Sports.
Why a real passing threat unlocks Taylor’s ceiling
Running backs thrive when a defense can’t sell out against the run. If Jones can consistently push safeties back with intermediate throws, boxes get lighter for Taylor. If linebackers have to respect play-action, running lanes stay cleaner. And because Jones isn’t a heavy designed-runner the way some modern quarterbacks are, he’s unlikely to siphon goal-line carries away from Taylor the way a rushing quarterback might.
None of that is guaranteed. Jones is coming off a serious injury, and camp look is not the same as live bullets in September. But every indication from Indianapolis this summer points toward a full-strength starter, not a limited or eased-in one.
What it means heading into draft season
Consensus fantasy projections have Taylor around 327 carries, 1,510 rushing yards, 13 rushing touchdowns, 45 receptions and 339 receiving yards in 2026 — production that would put him in the neighborhood of 312.5 PPR points, 290.0 half-PPR points and 267.4 standard-scoring points. Even accounting for some regression off a 20-touchdown season, that keeps him firmly in the RB1-RB4 range with one of the higher floors in the class.
Workload is what fantasy managers should be paying for. Taylor has now shown he can handle 300-plus carries and still contribute as a receiver, and Indianapolis has every reason to keep leaning on him — it protects a quarterback coming back from a major injury and helps control the tempo of games. Between a fresh three-year commitment from the front office and a healthier-looking offense around him, Taylor enters his walk year of uncertainty from a season ago with almost none of it left.
