The Indianapolis Colts are playing it safe when it comes to their star running back as Jonathan Taylor isn’t expected to play for the remainder of the preseason.
Following the first preseason game of the year Saturday against the Buffalo Bills, head coach Frank Reich told the media that Taylor isn’t expected to suit up for the final two games before the regular season starts.
“Yeah, that’s likely the case. That’s really what Chris (Ballard) and I talked about. I can’t see that changing for any reason,” Reich said Saturday. “We’ll get good work this week against the Lions, he’ll get to see a different defensive scheme and players. We’ll thud that up a little bit. So, he’ll get some work there and I think that’ll be enough to get him ready.”
While getting ready for the season is important, it’s wise to keep Taylor from more chances of injury during meaningless games. His worth to the team is far higher than getting a handful of carries during the preseason games.
As far as the rest of the starters, who played just over a quarter during Saturday’s game, the plan is to keep them out of the second preseason game against the Detroit Lions considering they have joint practices leading up to the game.
Given how physical those practices are going to be with Dan Campbell’s squad coming into town, Reich doesn’t want to risk more injury to the starting units.
It’s becoming more of the norm to keep the starters from playing too many snaps during the preseason in order to avoid injury, and it’s not likely we’ll see much of Taylor until the Week 1 matchup against the Houston Texans rolls around.
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