Where does Jonathan Taylor's 2025 fantasy season rank historically among running backs?

Griffin Missant

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Where does Jonathan Taylor's 2025 fantasy season rank historically among running backs? image

The Indianapolis Colts have been the biggest surprise of the 2025 NFL season. Their success has been shocking, as many thought that Daniel Jones was not a good quarterback. 

Despite the improvements of the veteran QB brought out by offensive-minded head coach Shane Steichen, most of the credit for Indy's success goes to running back Jonathan Taylor.

The sixth-year veteran has gotten off to an outstanding start and is on a historic pace for fantasy football statistical output. 

Keep reading to learn more about Taylor's incredible start in 2025.

Jonathan Taylor 2025 fantasy football ranking

Through Week 8, the Wisconsin alum is not just the RB1 overall on the season, but also the No. 1 player in fantasy football rankings:

Taylor has averaged 5.8 more fantasy points per game than the WR1 Ja'Marr Chase... In PPR scoring. This is absolutely absurd and should be celebrated as such.

Everyone knows how good Christian McCaffrey has been this season. CMC has 31 more receptions than Taylor, and Taylor is still averaging 2.5 more FPPG in PPR leagues. CMC is a freak in the receiving game, so he leads RBs in touches at 196. However, No. 2 is Taylor with 168 total touches. 

Historically, the first-eight-games pace puts Taylor in elite company, too:

Where do Jonathan Taylor's 2025 fantasy stats rank all-time at his current pace?

If we take what Taylor is averaging per game in fantasy points and do a little math, he is on pace for 433.4 total fantasy points (PPR) this season. 

This would place him seventh all-time for the highest-scoring PPR fantasy RB seasons, and it's even more impressive because Taylor isn't frequently used as a receiver.

  • Note: Of course, Taylor is the only one on this list to play in the 18-week NFL era, but we will compare his fantasy season pace (Weeks 1-17, with one bye week) to the full season for each other name.

Here are the all-time seasons ranked per StatMuse, and where this season from Taylor would place him at this pace of 27.1 fantasy points per game:

RkRBYRGPFAN PTS (PPR)
1LaDainian Tomlinson, SD200816481.1
2Christian McCaffrey, CAR201916471.2
3Marshall Faulk, STL200014459.9
4Priest Holmes, KC200316445
5LaDainian Tomlinson, SD200316443.8
6Priest Holmes, KC200214442,7
7*Jonathan Taylor, IND202516433.4
8Emmitt Smith, DAL199516426.8
9Marshall Faulk, STL200114425.7
10Steven Jackson, STL200616415.4
11David Johnson, ARI201616407.8

Some of the names ahead of Taylor, such as CMC or LaDainian Tomlinson, had 100+ receptions in these great fantasy seasons. 

Taylor has not just been outstanding from a fantasy standpoint; he's in insane company with his start to the season. 

The biggest stat fueling this insane fantasy output: his touchdown rate.

Specifically, if he keeps his current pace of 0.0833 touchdowns per touch, that would give him the highest rate all-time (minimum 300 touches):

RkRB NameTD/TouchesTouchesTDYearGP
1*Jonathan Taylor, IND0.08334028202516
2Marshall Faulk, STL0.0833426200014
3LaDainian Tomlinson, SD0.0840431200616
4Shaun Alexander, SEA0.0738528200516
5Priest Holmes, KC0.0739427200316
6Todd Gurley, LAR0.0731521201814
7Joe Morris, NYG0.0731621198516
8Jahmyr Gibbs, DET0.0730220202417
9Jim Brown, CLE0.0732321196514
1010+ Names0.06--------

Taylor is also on pace to break Eric Dickerson's all-time rushing record in a single season.

This record of 2,105 rushing yards has stood since 1984:

Just one season after Saquon Barkley's 355.3 PPR points and 2,005 rushing yards in 2024, we're getting spoiled with another legendary RB campaign. 

What's Jonathan Taylor's 2025 fantasy outlook for the rest of the season?

A top-10 all-time finish for a fantasy RB season is clearly in sight for Taylor, who has achieved similarly incredible results in past seasons: See his 2,171 yards from scimmrage and 20 TDs in 2021, his sophomore NFL year.

The Colts' efficiency has been incredible -- maybe a bit too incredible. Besides injury, the most obvious possible flaw in Taylor keeping up his historic pace would be his TD/touch rate slowing down, which seems plausible.

Still, the Colts' offense is humming. They are averaging the most points per game in the NFL at 33.8, which is three more than the Dallas Cowboys. 

  • For context, projections seem to be conservative, abiding by risk aversion and pace correction. Yahoo Fantasy Sports projects Taylor as the No. 15 non-QB (RB/WR/TE) in PPR scoring the rest of the season, with 166.53 more points. (Want more insights for your league's playoff run? Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Plus.)

Regardless of whether the Colts are winning big or losing big, Taylor is the engine of their offense and will always be involved when active -- and how he's almost game-flow-proof, as Indianapolis may continue turning to him even when trailing.

Will Taylor finish with a historic fantasy year? If healthy, even with the possible pace drawbacks, he's well on his way to at least a prominent place in the fantasy record books for his 2025 season.

Should I buy, sell, or hold Jonathan Taylor in fantasy football 2025 trading?

There's little outside of health concerns to think Taylor won't deliver fantasy RB1 numbers all year, even if he doesn't wind up as the No. 1 overall player moving forward. 

Still, fantasy players could make the case to "cash out" now that he's had this furious output over his first eight games. Theoretically, the fact that it likely can't get much better may provide an opportunity to sell, if you're getting a loaded package of players in return. (It would likely have to be two unless it's a direct swap, but not many other players can be argued to have a better situation and future ceiling lined up in fantasy.)

Don't tinker for the sake of tinkering, but sometimes the right offer comes along that offers an understandable opportunity to reshuffle an asset of this caliber.

Fantasy Football Intern

Staff Writer