DJ Giddens Fantasy Stats

Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens (coach's decision) is a healthy scratch for Sunday's Week 1 contest against the Baltimore Ravens. We already knew that Giddens had fallen to the No. 3 spot on the depth chart after rookie Seth McGowan had an impressive camp, but we weren't necessarily expecting him to be inactive altogether. With that being said, in addition to a mediocre camp performance, Giddens produced just 96 rushing yards on 26 carries as a rookie last year, so he's clearly not a vital part of the offense. Between Jonathan Taylor and McGowan, the Colts will carry just two running backs into Sunday's season opener.

Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens' fantasy value has taken an enormous hit this offseason. He was once projected to be the clear-cut No. 2 running back and an intriguing handcuff behind Jonathan Taylor, but he instead fell to third on the depth chart and is now at risk of playing solely on special teams. In past years, the Colts have shown a willingness to feed Taylor on almost every rushing play, leaving very few carries for the No. 2 or 3 players on the depth chart. This year, Giddens lost his backup role to Seth McGowan after the former had a quiet training camp and the latter made a very positive impression. In the event of an injury to Taylor, Giddens' ceiling is a low-end RB3/flex in deeper leagues, and that's only if McGowan struggles. There's a nearly impossible path to production for Giddens, who can be avoided in all redraft leagues and dropped to waivers in most dynasty formats.

Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens had two carries, eight rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown during Saturday's preseason contest against the Detroit Lions. He also tallied an eight-yard reception. It was a rewarding game for the second-year back, as the entire bench cleared out and celebrated with Giddens after he scored the first touchdown of his career. However, it may not have been enough to solidify him as the No. 2 running back behind Jonathan Taylor. His primary competition for the backup role is rookie Seth McGowan, who ended up tallying 25 scrimmage yards in the loss, bringing his preseason total to 74 yards. If Giddens somehow opens the regular season as the No. 2 back, he can be stashed in deeper fantasy leagues as a handcuff for Taylor. However, if he drops to third on the depth chart, he will become droppable in almost all leagues.

Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens (hamstring), who missed a considerable amount of time in training camp due to a hamstring injury, made his return to the practice field on Wednesday, according to Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star. Before his hamstring injury, Giddens had mixed in with the first-team offense, but his time away due to injury may have opened the door for rookie sixth-rounder Seth McGowan to claim the RB2 role behind Jonathan Taylor to begin the 2026 regular season. Whoever wins the RB2 job in Indy is looking at a light workload as long as Taylor stays healthy, but it will be worth watching for handcuff purposes in deeper fantasy football leagues. After being selected with the 151st overall pick in the fifth round last year from Kansas State, Giddens saw only 26 rushing attempts for 96 yards (3.7 yards per carry) in nine games played as a rookie. Giddens is currently outside RotoBaller's top 94 rankings at RB for 2026.

Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens (hamstring) is on the outside looking in of Colts beat writer James Boyd of The Athletic's latest 53-man roster projection. A fifth-round pick in 2025, Giddens recorded just 26 carries for 96 yards across nine games as a rookie last season. While Indianapolis still does not have an obvious RB2 behind superstar back Jonathan Taylor, Giddens has missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury and may have missed his chance to establish a role in the Colts' offense. Instead of Giddens, Boyd includes seventh-round rookie Seth McGowan and 2025 UDFA Ulysses Bentley IV as the Colts' depth options at running back behind Taylor. Fantasy managers looking for a handcuff option for Taylor may want to turn to McGowan over Giddens.

Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens (hamstring) is not practicing on Saturday as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury. Giddens has not practiced since last Sunday and has reportedly struggled to stand out at training camp. In 2025, Giddens had just 26 carries for 96 yards in nine games and had no receptions. Meanwhile, rookie Seth McGowan has shown more flash as a runner and has been compared to David Montgomery. He has begun to separate himself from Giddens as the clear RB2 in Indianapolis behind the newly paid Jonathan Taylor. If Giddens can't recover quickly enough from his hamstring injury, he will likely fall off the fantasy radar in 2026.

Indianapolis Colts second-year running back DJ Giddens took more first-team reps in training camp practice on Friday with starter Jonathan Taylor being rested, according to James Boyd of The Athletic. Giddens has struggled to catch the ball out of the backfield in team drills, with Boyd saying that he's going to need to clean that up if he wants to secure the backup role behind Taylor in 2026. The 22-year-old former fifth-rounder (151st overall) last year from Kansas State only appeared in nine games with the Colts as a rookie and had 26 rushing attempts for 96 yards and zero touchdowns while adding zero catches on just two targets. Giddens' primary competition for the RB2 role in camp this summer is Seth McGowan. Neither Giddens nor McGowan will be much of a threat to Taylor's overall workload as the Colts' bell-cow back, giving them very little fantasy appeal as handcuff options in very deep fantasy leagues this year.

Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens rarely saw the field as a fifth-round rookie in 2025, and when he did, his 26 total carries amounted to only 96 rushing yards. The lack of moves made at the position this offseason indicates that the Colts still believe in his abilities, and he should be given every opportunity to serve as Jonathan Taylor's primary backup in his second season. When the team opens training camp with its first practice on July 29, Giddens will be competing with 2025 seventh-round pick Seth McGowan for a role that carries significant insurance upside for fantasy. Taylor touched the ball 369 times a season ago, and head coach Shane Steichen has spoken this offseason about the importance of taking some of that work off his plate, though the clear talent discrepancy between him and the other backs on the roster makes that an easier conversation to have in theory than in practice. Still, the battle between Giddens and McGowan will be one to watch, as it could dictate how FAAB or waiver priorities are spent down the road should Taylor miss any time in season.

As a rookie in 2025, Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens was frequently held out of games as a healthy scratch, and across his nine appearances, he carried the ball only 26 times, failing to reach 100 yards on the season. Any significant additions to the Colts' running back room in the 2026 offseason could have theoretically left last year's fifth-round pick fighting for a roster spot, but with Indianapolis allowing both Ameer Abdullah and Tyler Goodson to depart in free agency and spending only a seventh-round pick on Kentucky's Seth McGowan in the 2026 NFL Draft, Giddens is right back in line to serve as Jonathan Taylor's primary backup. With Taylor handling an astronomical 86.6% of the team's running back carries in 2025, it's unlikely that the backup role provides any significant work barring a major philosophical shift or injury, neither of which can be ruled out following Taylor's 369-touch campaign. In a worst-case scenario where the three-time Pro Bowler is forced to miss significant time, Giddens and McGowan would likely split work, giving both a potential avenue to see their value rise and making them both worthwhile end-of-bench stashes in deep dynasty leagues.

Indianapolis Colts running back DJ Giddens was a healthy inactive for almost half of his 2025 rookie season, and he failed to impress on the limited work he did receive, averaging only 3.7 yards on his 26 rush attempts. That said, the depth behind All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor is dangerously thin, and Giddens is reportedly in competition with 2026 seventh-round pick Seth McGowan for one of the most valuable handcuff roles in the league. While Taylor managed to play all 17 games in 2025, that marked the first time he'd done so since his breakout 2021 campaign, and as one of the last true bell cows in the league, whoever lands closer to him on the depth chart will be viewed favorably by the dynasty community. Giddens and McGowan share similar body types and skill sets, and it's entirely possible that the loser of their training camp battle will again become a healthy inactive on game days, but the most likely scenario in the event of Taylor's absence would be some sort of committee split. Should Taylor go down to injury, both players are likely to see an immediate value spike, so regardless of how their competition plays out, Giddens remains an end-of-bench stash in all but the shallowest of dynasty leagues.