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The Colts and Jonathan Taylor were in a staring contest over his trade demand, and as the 4 p.m. deadline Tuesday came and went, neither side ended up blinking. Where that leaves us is with Taylor still on the Colts roster, and, most importantly, still on the Physically Unable to Perform list.

What that means is that Taylor is now out for the first four games of the season, at least, as he continues to recover from offseason ankle surgery. Of course, if it was just the first four weeks of the season, it would be fairly easy to know where to rank Taylor for Fantasy Football - he's probably a top-five RB when healthy, and I'd take him around the same place as someone like Breece Hall if I knew he'd be back in Week 5. 

But we don't know that. Because we just don't know how much of Taylor's absence from Colts camp and practices has been because of lingering issues with the ankle, as opposed to lingering issues with the team. Taylor has been angling for a contract extension since the offseason, and his trade demand came after the team refused to engage in discussions about an extension. 

Would Taylor have been able to play in Week 1 if he had a long-term deal? It certainly seems possible, though that is clearly just an assumption at this point. It's something of a moot point now, but not entirely, because we can't say with any degree of certainty that Taylor will be willing and able to play by Week 5 without either an extension or a trade. Taylor is still likely hoping for a trade, and it seems like an open question as to whether he will be willing to play for the Colts this season under any circumstances. 

This makes figuring out how to rank him for Fantasy right now near impossible. There is simply so much we don't know, and unfortunately, this is one of those situations where Fantasy analysts don't really have any more insight than anyone else. Where you are willing to draft Taylor will ultimately come down to your personal level of risk aversion, because everything is on the table; from him being a top-five back from Week 5 on to Taylor just not playing at all this season.

I'm ranking him 76th in my overall top 200, as RB30. He's behind most of the RBs I feel pretty good about starting to open the season but who have long-term questions, like Khalil Herbert and Dalvin Cook, and ahead of fringe starters like Isiah Pacheco and AJ Dillon. But, the truth is, I have no conviction in that ranking. I could see a case for Taylor's upside still being worth a top-50 pick; I can see how the downside risk makes him unworthy of a top-100 choice. Whether you decide he's worth that risk is up to you.

And, the other downside here is that there isn't an obvious beneficiary to take over as the Colts Week 1 starting running back. In theory, Zack Moss could be that after he rushed for 334 yards on 69 carries over the team's final four games last season. However, Moss is recovering from a broken arm, and his status for Week 1 is very much up in the air; he underwent surgery for that injury in early August and was given a 4-6 week timetable, the high end of which puts him right around Week 1 availability. 

Moss would probably be in the RB3 range for at least the first month of the season if he is cleared in time for Week 1. He doesn't do much in the passing game, but the presence of rookie QB Anthony Richardson and his rushing prowess should open up some nice rushing lanes for Moss, who could be good for 15 carries and decent production in this offense. However, given the uncertainty, he's still just a late-round pick.

Moss should go ahead of the likes of Deon Jackson and rookie fifth-rounder Evan Hull, but all are worth drafting because we really just don't know who the Week 1 starter will be. It could be any of the three, and Hull and Jackson could both conceivably be the passing-downs option, too. 

All we know right now is that Taylor won't be the Colts starting running back for Week 1 through 4. Whether he'll be back after that is very much unknown, as are the Colts' plans at RB in his absence. It's possible this remains a mess all season, with no back emerging as more than a fringe Fantasy option, and that would be the worst-case scenario here. And it's a scenario that is, as with many, many others, very much in play.