Why didn't the Colts place Jonathan Taylor on injured reserve?

INDIANAPOLIS - Jonathan Taylor is going to miss his third straight game. He hasn't set foot on the practice field for the six sessions since he suffered a high ankle sprain against the Steelers.

He described the current state of his ankle as non-functioning and filled with pain.

It's the same injury that DeForest Buckner suffered before he went on injured reserve. But the Colts did not decide to make the same move with their running back.

"He's very close," Colts coach Shane Steichen said. "I'll say that."

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Asked if the team expected Taylor to miss fewer than four games when he was initially hurt, Steichen said, "Correct."

“Once they said high ankle, I knew high ankles are usually four to six (weeks), but you know, me, attacking different rehabs and injuries, I was like, there’s no way," Taylor said. "I’ve just got to do everything in my power to keep chopping that down every single day.”

Taylor went on injured reserve with his high ankle sprain in 2022, though only after he played through it and reinjured it late in the season. He said that experience, plus starting last season on the Physically Unable to Perform List while in a contract dispute with the team , weighed into the decision of whether to go to injured reserve this year.

“I never like to throw that around," Taylor said. "Especially being on PUP last year. That’s definitely not a place you want to be if you don’t have to be there. If you feel like, hey, with the training staff, we can potentially avoid that, that’s always a positive.”

Taylor is looking to get back on the field and continue what was another strong season in which he piled up 349 yards and four touchdowns on 4.8 yards per carry in four games. The Colts have not been able to run the ball without him or Anthony Richardson, who has missed the past two games with an oblique injury. Backup Trey Sermon's 2.5 yards per carry rank 62nd out of 62 running backs who are on pace for at least 100 carries this season.

This will be Taylor's 16th game missed in the past three seasons, with 12 of those coming due to injury.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why didn't the Colts place Jonathan Taylor on injured reserve?