Start Jonathan Taylor against Dallas and hold him through Tuesday's deadline. His 6.7 points in Week 8 came in a 42-7 loss. Bench Daniel Jones in one-QB leagues. Tyler Warren stays in lineups. Hold Josh Downs: a trade to Washington would raise his ceiling. Points here are full PPR.
The sale so far
Indianapolis is resetting, and it is not hiding it.
- Quenton Nelson went to Seattle for a 2027 3rd and a 2028 5th. He was on an expiring deal. Seattle's coach says Nelson will have a minor knee procedure and miss Arizona, but won't need IR.
- DeForest Buckner went to San Francisco.
- Jonathan Taylor's future has been raised in reports this week. It is talk, not a deal.
- Daniel Jones has come up in speculation around Minnesota's QB room, with Kyler Murray out week-to-week. That is speculation, not a reported deal.
- Josh Downs has been linked to Washington in trade talks.
The deadline is Nov 10 at 4 pm ET. Everything below is about Week 9 against Dallas and what to hold before then.
Jonathan Taylor: start him
18.0 points per game. That is ninth on the list of RB scoring leaders through Week 8, ahead of Dallas' Javonte Williams at 17.2.
| Points per game | |
|---|---|
| Jahmyr Gibbs | 28.0pts |
| Kenneth Walker III | 22.9pts |
| Christian McCaffrey | 20.6pts |
| Bijan Robinson | 19.2pts |
| Jonathan Taylor | 18.0pts |
| Javonte Williams | 17.2pts |
| Derrick Henry | 17.1pts |
The role has been heavy all year: a 66.1% carry share, 77% of snaps and a 12.5% target share. Week 8 was the outlier. He got 8 carries, a 30.8% carry share and 62% of snaps, and scored 6.7 points, his fewest in 28 straight non-Week 18 games. The Colts lost 42-7, and the run game left with the score.
The trend still deserves a look. His carry share slid from 95% in Week 1 to 54.5% in Week 7 before the blowout. His targets held up, though: 5 in Week 8 for a 16.7% share, his best of the season. When the carries thin out, the passing work keeps a floor under him.
Nelson is gone from the line. That hurts the run game, but not enough to sit a back with this workload. Start him. If he is traded, his value goes with him. We broke down where he could land in Jonathan Taylor trade landing spots.
DJ Giddens drew 6 carries in his one game, a 23.1% carry share. No news was found on a bigger role for him. He is a watch, not an add.
Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson
8.9 points per game. The last QB on the leaders list, Patrick Mahomes, is at 17.9. Jones topped out at 13.8 in Week 6 and has scored 3.6 and 6.5 in the two weeks since.
He played every snap for seven weeks. In Week 8 that fell to 79%. Indianapolis pulled him after his second interception and gave Anthony Richardson his first snaps of the season: 21% of snaps, 2 carries, 0.7 points. Shane Steichen said afterward that Jones stays the starter.
- Jones: bench in one-QB leagues. Dak Prescott, on the other side of this game, scores 18.5 per game.
- Richardson: a stash only in superflex leagues. A Jones trade would open the job. Until then he is a backup.
Pass-catchers: Warren first, Downs next
Tyler Warren leads the team with a 23.4% target share and 12.6 points per game on 88% of snaps. He has played 6 of the 8 games. In Week 8 he drew 10 targets, a 33.3% share, but scored only 5.8. That volume is a TE1 role. Keep starting him.
Keenan Allen sits at 21.5% on 58% of snaps, for 10.6 per game. He is a flex in deeper leagues.
Josh Downs is at 20% on 81% of snaps, for 8.7 per game. He has had two big weeks, 30% and 31.4% in Weeks 2 and 3, and he scored 12.3 in Week 8 on a 16.7% share. The trade angle is the reason to hold him. Washington has Terry McLaurin on IR for the season and has ruled out Treylon Burks and Dyami Brown for Week 9. Stefon Diggs leads a thin room there. Downs would walk into a role with fewer mouths to feed. Hold him through Tuesday. Start him as a flex this week.
Alec Pierce has a 12% target share in his two games, both in Weeks 1 and 2. No news was found on his role since. Leave him on waivers.
| Week | Opp | Taylor | Jones | Downs | Warren |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BAL | 25.1 | 9.0 | 5.7 | 10.3 |
| 2 | KC | 29.2 | 11.4 | 14.2 | 14.4 |
| 3 | HOU | 9.2 | 7.9 | 12.7 | 14.7 |
| 4 | WAS | 22.7 | 7.9 | 4.6 | 9.1 |
| 5 | PIT | 11.2 | 11.1 | 7.7 | 21.4 |
| 6 | TEN | 21.1 | 13.8 | 8.7 | — |
| 7 | MIN | 19.0 | 3.6 | 3.8 | — |
| 8 | JAX | 6.7 | 6.5 | 12.3 | 5.8 |
The Dallas matchup
Indianapolis has a hole on defense. Nickel CB Justin Walley is out, and rookie Japena Gushiken is expected to play the slot. That tilts this game toward a Dallas passing day, which can push the Colts into catch-up mode again.
Dallas has its own questions:
- George Pickens (hamstring) and TE Jake Ferguson (ankle) are questionable.
- KaVontae Turpin (ribs) is out.
- S Caleb Downs cleared the concussion protocol and will play.
- CB Joey Porter Jr., acquired from Pittsburgh, is questionable.
If the Colts trail again, Taylor's targets and Warren's volume matter most. For more on new roles across the league this week, see usage risers and fallers.
How this was computed
- Game stats cover Weeks 1 through 8 of the 2026 season.
- Carry share is a player's carries divided by his team's carries in the games he played. Target share works the same way with targets. Snap share is the percent of offensive snaps he was on the field.
- Points are full PPR, averaged per game played. The RB chart is a sample from the top-15 RB scoring list (minimum 5 games), not the full position.
- The target-share chart leaves out players with two or fewer games (Alec Pierce, Will Mallory) because those shares rest on too few games.
- Injury and trade notes come from this week's reports. Trade talk is reported as talk; no deal involving Taylor, Jones or Downs has been made.
