Indianapolis, IN — The Indianapolis Colts have been looking for their Nyheim Hines replacement alongside star back Jonathan Taylor since they did right by Hines and traded him to a contender — Hines’s wishes — back at the 2023 NFL Trade Deadline.
Despite Taylor being one of the best pure rushers in the league, his shortcomings as a third-down back have prevented him from becoming the NFL’s undisputed best. To remedy this, a fitting counterpart must fill that void and take some of the workload in the process.
The Colts’ 2025 fifth-round pick (151st overall) running back DJ Giddens is general manager Chris Ballard’s latest draft dart thrown at the board.
This is the fifth installment of an ongoing article series that’ll cover each Colts rookie from the 2025-26 season.
Expectations — Typically, a fifth-round draft slot warrants little to no expectations, especially when it comes to running backs. Sometimes backs drafted on day three are either seen as immediate special teams contributors and/or draft-and-stash prospects, though, of course, there are annual reminders that instant-impact backs can be found later in the draft.
As for DJ Giddens’ case in Indianapolis, fans and analysts alike maintained low expectations for his rookie season, though his second half of training camp piqued additional interest.
Rookie Season — DJ Giddens totaled just 96 rushing yards on 26 carries (3.7 ypc) while failing to haul in either of his two targets in nine games this season.
The rookie was always penciled in as the de facto RB3 going into the season. However, an injury-riddled first half kept backup running back Tyler Goodson from claiming his anticipated role, leaving the door wide open for Giddens.
A heavy dosage of Jonathan Taylor garnered legitimate MVP consideration throughout said first half in question, revealing Giddens’s open door has actually been slightly cracked. As a result, he fell to the wayside, and the midseason veteran acquisition of Ameer Abdullah became Taylor’s running mate for the second half.
I wouldn’t say that DJ Giddens had a disappointing rookie showing, but rather an uninspiring one.
Future Outlook — Even though Ameer Abdullah was a better version of Tyler Goodson during his run with the Colts, it’s hard to say it was anything more than a brief stint. As it stands, DJ Giddens has every opportunity ahead of him going into next season. He certainly won’t be given the RB2 job going into year two, though the current outlook suggests that said backup role is wide open for the taking based on how the 2025-26 season concluded.
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