Anthony Richardson Back as Starter, Jonathan Taylor Out Again | Week 7 Fantasy Outlooks for Richardson, Josh Downs, Indy RBs and More

Assessing the Colts top fantasy players with Anthony Richardson back at quarterback and Jonathan Taylor ruled out again.

The Indianapolis Colts got some good and bad news on the injury front on Friday.

Quarterback Anthony Richardson is healthy enough to start again and will do so in week 7. Running back Jonathan Taylor is out again with his ankle injury though.

Let’s assess the Colts’ fantasy options with those two injury notes in mind.

Looking for start/sit help? Be sure to check out the FantasySP Who Should I Start tool.

Season Stats

Richardson has started four games so far this season. He has just 654 passing yards and three touchdowns to six interceptions. Richardson has completed 50.6% of his passes. He’s added 141 yards and a score on the ground.

Richardson had a big fantasy showing in week 1, but then barely hit double digits in week 2. He then was held to five points in weeks 3 and 4, and he also suffered his hip pointer/oblique injury.

Taylor has also appeared in four games this season. He has 349 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 72 attempts, while adding 77 receiving yards on six catches.

Taylor is a huge part of the Colts’ offense and will be missed in a big way.

With Taylor out in week 5, Trey Sermon led the backfield with 16 touches across 41 snaps. He rushed for 38 yards and a touchdown on 10 attempts, while adding 25 receiving yards on six catches and targets. Tyler Goodson played 29 snaps and got eight touches - rushing five times for 26 yards and adding 31 yards on three grabs and targets.

Last week without Taylor, Sermon had 29 rushing yards on 18 attempts across 42 snaps played. Goodson had 51 rushing yards on eight attempts and caught four of his five targets for 14 yards across 27 snaps.

Of course, in weeks 5 and 6, it was Joe Flacco starting at quarterback for the Colts, so things could shake out differently with the dual-threat Richardson back there now.

Week 7 Outlook and Matchups

Indy plays the Miami Dolphins in week 7. 

It’s as tough a matchup as possible for Richardson, as Miami is allowing an average of nine fantasy points a week to opposing QBs. The matchup for Sermon and Goodson is super favorable, as Miami allows 28 fantasy points a week.

As you might expect after seeing the QB numbers, Miami also slows opposing wideouts, giving up only 23 points a game. Tight ends don’t fare much better, averaging only seven points a week.

Sermon was on the injury report this week, but doesn’t have an injury designation. He is expected to lead the backfield again, although it wouldn’t be surprising to see Goodson factor in more after his good showing last week.

The receivers are banged up in Indy. Michael Pittman, Josh Downs and Alec Pierce are all questionable.

Pittman leads the team with 273 yards and two scores on 25 catches and 42 targets, but it’s been Downs (239 yards, two scores, 27 catches, 35 targets) leading the way of late. Pierce has been a home run threat, but fared pretty well with Richardson in weeks 1 and 2.

Downs struggled in his lone full game with Richardson at QB, although that was Downs’ first game of the season. Pittman has also performed better in the fantasy world with Flacco at quarterback.

Mo Alie-Cox, Drew Ogletree and Kylen Granson all play a decent amount of snaps at tight end for Indy, while Will Mallory has factored in a bit of late too. Alie-Cox is the top fantasy performer of the bunch, with Ogletree behind him, then Granson and finally Mallory.

If Pittman, Downs or Pierce miss the game, Indy will have Adonai Mitchell, Ashton Dulin and Anthony Gould fill in.

Projections and Starting Recommendations

Richardson is projected for 16 fantasy points this week. Sermon is at just six PPR points, while Goodson is at seven - that could change when Sermon is officially ruled active for Sunday.

Downs is projected for 12 points, while Pittman is at 11. Pierce sits at eight points, while the other wideouts don’t crack the projections. No Indy tight ends appear in the top part of the fantasy TE projections.

Richardson has struggled this season, has a tough matchup and is coming back from an injury, so I’d do my best to avoid him as a starter in standard leagues this week. With only two teams on byes, that should be pretty doable. In deeper setups, Richardson has starting appeal because of his dual-threat ability, but again, I wouldn’t love the idea of playing him.

I think the Colts will rely on the run game, and that makes Sermon a decent flex option for this week. I’d expect him to appear in several trending decisions on the FSP start/sit tool by Sunday, but would lean toward playing him.

As for Goodson, I like the idea of playing him in some deeper PPR setups. I think he’s going to get enough work to put up a decent amount of fantasy points.

The situation around the wideouts is hard to discuss with so many questionable tags. 

If everyone suits up, I like Downs over Pittman and Pierce, with Mitchell, Dulin and Gould filling out my week 7 rankings. I wouldn’t feel great about playing Downs or Pittman in standard leagues given the hard matchup, and would much prefer them in deeper leagues. Pierce is another deep league option, but it’d need to be an even deeper league. Mitchell, Dulin and Gould would get some consideration in deeper leagues if one or more of the top three guys are out, but I’d probably stay away from them all if I could.

As for the tight ends, I like Alie-Cox the most, followed by Ogletree, Granson and Mallory. I’d consider Alie-Cox in a deeper league (but probably try to not start him), and then avoid everyone else. 

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