4 things to know about Colts RB Phillip Lindsay

The Indianapolis Colts have the leader of their backfield set, but they added some strong depth to the unit following the 2022 NFL draft by signing Phillip Lindsay to a one-year deal.

While Jonathan Taylor will reprise his role as arguably the best running back in the NFL, and Nyheim Hines is expected to see more work both in the backfield and out of the slot, Lindsay will be leading the competition for the RB3 role in the backfield.

Here are four things to know about Lindsay:

Doak Walker semifinalist

Colts fans know that Jonathan Taylor was a two-time Doak Walker Award winner during his days at Wisconsin. It’s the award that goes to the nation’s best running back in college football.

During his senior season at Colorado, Lindsay wound up being a semifinalist for the award when he took 301 carries for 1,474 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. He also added 23 receptions for 257 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. His 301 carries were the most of any Division I running back in the nation during the 2017 season.

School records

Being a Doak Walker semifinalist means a player probably put up some gaudy numbers during his time in college. Lindsay did just that at Colorado. He broke the record for career all-purpose yards, scrimmage yards and is second in school history with 3,770 career rushing yards.

Beating out a third-round pick

While Lindsay’s impressive college career made him an intriguing target in the 2018 NFL draft, he wound up going undrafted. Despite the Denver Broncos using a third-round pick on Oregon’s Royce Freeman, they brought in the local product in Lindsay as an undrafted rookie free agent.

While the hype machine got out of control when it came to Freeman’s potential, Lindsay’s strong preseason vaulted him to the top of the depth chart where he eventually won the starting role by the time Week 1 rolled around.

The rest is history after that.

NFL history

Lindsay’s rookie campaign in 2018 was nothing short of historical. He wound up taking 192 carries for 1,037 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns while adding 35 receptions for 241 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.

At the time, his 1,037 rushing yards were the third-most for an undrafted rookie during his first season in the NFL. He was then surpassed by James Robinson in 2020 and is currently fourth on that list.

However, Lindsay’s recorded 2,048 rushing yards during his first two seasons, which is the third most during an undrafted players’ first two campaigns in NFL history.

On top of that, Lindsay was the first undrafted rookie running back to make the Pro Bowl.

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