Raiders-Colts fantasy football: Don’t fade Jonathan Taylor

Jonathan Taylor, whose team meets the Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

The running back is the consensus leader almost halfway through the season for most disappointing player in fantasy football.

Taylor was coming off a spectacular sophomore campaign and was one of the safest bets in fantasy drafts — he was the consensus No. 1 pick — but has struggled for the most part.

He has missed three games and hasn’t finished inside the top 25 among fantasy running backs since the opener. He has scored one touchdown.

Averaging only 60 yards per game in the five games he has played since a Week 1 outburst, Taylor hasn’t been much of a factor in the passing game, either.

But better times might be on the horizon. Taylor returned to practicing in full this past week and could be poised to finally produce at a high level again despite the inexperienced Jeff Saturday taking over as interim coach and assigning play-calling duties to Parks Frazier, who has never done the job at any level of football.

While that sounds like a net negative for an offensive player, there could be some caveats.

First, what better way to ease into such an enormous job than for Saturday and Frazier to focus on getting the ball to Taylor.

Also, Saturday is one of the best offensive linemen in franchise history, and his job interview essentially consisted of explaining what he would do to improve that unit.

It would be a tall order to try to accomplish such a goal in a few days, but expect a few tweaks that could help the struggling line.

Finally, Taylor is playing against a defense that has allowed the third-most fantasy points per game to running backs and gave up 109 yards and two scores on the ground to Travis Etienne last week in a loss to the Jaguars.

The Raiders also struggle in pass coverage against running backs, so Taylor could see some opportunities.

Taylor leads our list of buy candidates for Sunday’s game. Here are other recommendations:

Buy

Mack Hollins, Raiders — There were several times this season that the opposite has been suggested in this space, but now might be the time to use him in your lineup.

With Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow on injured reserve, Davante Adams is option A, B and probably C. But Hollins is the next man up.

Sell

Sam Ehlinger, Colts — Some managers expressed intrigue when he was named the Colts’ starting quarterback a few weeks ago.

They are regretting that decision if they grabbed him off the waiver wire and, in extreme cases, put him in their lineup.

Ehlinger’s ability to run the ball was the biggest selling point, but it hasn’t gone well. If the Colts aren’t tanking, the leash is probably short. Matt Ryan could have the job back soon.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.