Updated Sep 7, 2026 · Week 1 board.
Why Taylor specifically needs a handcuff plan
The board prices one Sunday and nothing past it. No October. No ankle in Week 6. It does carry where each player stands in his own backfield order, but that is who is second today, not who inherits the job in October.
What it prices cleanly is the bench spot. Taylor projects 17.77 in PPR scoring and sits sixth among running backs on the board. The next Colt down the same list, Seth McGowan, projects 2.06.
Here is the room's early-round backfield next to what the board says about the same week. Every points column here is Week 1, PPR, straight off that board, and board rank means rank at the position.
| Player | Team | Pos | Projected pts (PPR) | Board rank | ADP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian McCaffrey (Q) | SF | RB | 18.38 | RB3 | 5.8 |
| Jonathan Taylor | IND | RB | 17.77 | RB6 | 7.4 |
| De'Von Achane | MIA | RB | 18.22 | RB4 | 9.7 |
| James Cook | BUF | RB | 14.88 | RB14 | 11.3 |
| Chase Brown | CIN | RB | 16.03 | RB11 | 13.2 |
| Derrick Henry | BAL | RB | 16.37 | RB10 | 15.7 |
(Q) in that table marks a back carrying a Questionable tag on the injury board.
Read the two right-hand columns against each other and Taylor comes out cheap for what he is. He goes eighth on average, and the board puts him sixth at his position. James Cook goes 3.9 picks later, 11.3 against Taylor's 7.4, and lands fourteenth. Not quite four picks of daylight, eight places of board.
The ADP column earns its keep on that one spread.
What our data can, and cannot, tell you about the backup
I want to be exact about the limit here, because I got this wrong in my own draft two years ago and paid for it. The board tells you what a player projects for this week, in the role he has this week. A second-string back projects like a second-string back. That is not a forecast of what he would do with the job; it is a price on the snaps he is actually getting Sunday.
Nothing on this board labels a player a handcuff, and the backfield order it carries can move on one Wednesday practice report. The Colts' own roster page is where that change shows up first.
What it will show you is how far the ground falls away behind six lead backs the room takes inside two rounds: Gibbs in Detroit, Bijan Robinson in Atlanta, Taylor in Indianapolis, Achane in Miami, Henry in Baltimore and Barkley in Philadelphia. Three of those six teams are in the table above and three are not, so half these backups are standing behind a starter you did not just read about.
| Player | Team | Pos | Projected pts (PPR) | Board rank | ADP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seth McGowan | IND | RB | 2.06 | RB72 | — |
| Jaylen Wright | MIA | RB | 2.89 | RB65 | — |
| Tank Bigsby | PHI | RB | 4.25 | RB59 | 162.2 |
| Jacob Saylors | DET | RB | 4.89 | RB53 | — |
| Brian Robinson | ATL | RB | 4.98 | RB52 | 165.5 |
| Justice Hill | BAL | RB | 7.16 | RB44 | 163.3 |
Three of those six carry no draft position at all, which tells you the room is not bidding on them in a normal twelve-team league. Justice Hill at 7.16 is the outlier and worth a second look, since he already has a role in Baltimore rather than a hypothetical one. McGowan at 2.06 is the honest floor of this exercise. You are stashing about two points a week and a phone call.
Taylor's own Week 1 board, for context
The Colts open at home against the Ravens as 3.5-point underdogs. The total sits at 47.5 at Pinnacle and DraftKings, 48 at Bovada. Competitive, moderate scoring, no blowout priced in either direction. For a lead back that matters, because a big deficit or a big lead is what pulls carries off him.
Say it plainly, though. That line tells you about the game and nothing at all about whether the Colts hand the ball to somebody else in Week 9.
What a handcuff actually costs you
A bench spot on a handcuff is a bench spot you did not spend on a bye-week fill-in. I have paid that toll badly more than once. Price it against the board instead of against a feeling. Behind Taylor you are buying 2.06.
Behind Derrick Henry you are buying 7.16, because Justice Hill plays whether or not anything goes wrong. Same bench spot, more than three times the weekly return. If a handcuff on your board projects under three, you are not insuring anything until a specific injury happens, and you should be honest with yourself that you are betting on that injury.
The Week 1 rankings page carries the same board numbers by position. The draft kit pairs them with ADP, so the drop behind a starter sits next to what drafting him actually costs. Say a backup opens the season splitting work anyway. Our FAAB and waiver-timing guide covers when a newly open role beats a bench spot you already paid for.
The Receipts Drawer
The number: Taylor 17.77, sixth at the position, $53 in our auction room, ADP 7.4. That is $2.98 a point, and behind him the board offers 2.06. The version where I am wrong: the Colts split this backfield in September, McGowan's snaps climb, and the board number I quoted stops describing his role by the time you need it. Watch the snap split in the first quarter Sunday; you'll see that before I write about it again.
At the table, pay the $53 and skip the stash unless the roster page names a true second back. Spend the spot on Justice Hill instead, at $1, on a team where the backup already plays.
