Seth McGowan Has Multiple Ways to Hit. Add Him Now.

His role is growing next to Jonathan Taylor, he’s the only other Colts back who has played a snap, and the Colts just traded Quenton Nelson. Seth McGowan pays off if any of it breaks his way, and he’s still on the waiver wire in most ESPN leagues.

Most waiver adds need one thing to go right. Seth McGowan, the Colts’ seventh-round rookie from Kentucky, has multiple ways to pay off: his role keeps growing next to Jonathan Taylor, Taylor gets hurt, or the Colts trade Taylor before the Nov. 10 deadline.

He’s the only Colts running back besides Taylor who has played an offensive snap this season. If Taylor misses time for any reason, the backfield is McGowan’s.

He’s going fast. McGowan is rostered in 25.6% of Sleeper leagues, up from 24.4% a week ago, and he was Sleeper’s fourth most-added player over the last day. On ESPN he’s rostered in just 4% of leagues, so he’s still there in most of them.

Way 1: His role is growing, even with Taylor

McGowan barely played the first two weeks. Since Week 4 he’s been on the field for about a quarter of the Colts’ snaps or more, and last week against Minnesota he set career highs with 20 snaps and 11 carries, for 46 yards.

Those Week 7 carries weren’t garbage time. Every one came with the game within one score, and six came in the first half. He’s averaging 4.2 yards a carry on 32 carries, the same as Taylor.

He’s built for a bigger role, too. McGowan is 6 feet and 223 pounds, and he ran for 725 yards and 12 touchdowns at Kentucky last year, after 823 yards at New Mexico State in 2024. In training camp, he took a lot of first-team reps.

On his own, he isn’t a weekly starter yet: 5.8 points last week was his best game. But his share keeps climbing, and he’s getting real carries in close games. If it keeps growing, he’ll start earning flex looks even if nothing happens to Taylor.

Way 2: Taylor gets hurt

Taylor has played every game this season and last. But from 2022 to 2024 he missed 16 games, between injuries and a 2023 contract standoff. He’s carrying the ball 20 times a game, and a back with that workload takes a lot of hits.

To see what McGowan could do with the job, we looked at every game from 2019 to 2025 where a team’s lead running back (65% of the snaps or more) sat and the clear No. 2 (12% to 35% of the snaps, like McGowan) played. There were 33 of them.

Those backups went from 4.2 PPR points a game before to 12.2 as the fill-in, on 57% of the snaps and about 12 carries. 58% of them scored 10 or more points, and 30% scored 15 or more. This season, 12.2 a game would make McGowan about RB23: a weekly flex.

Way 3: The Colts trade Taylor

The Colts are 2-5, they fired general manager Chris Ballard on Oct. 19, and on Tuesday they traded Quenton Nelson to Seattle for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth. Several teams have interest in Taylor, and the reported price is a second-round pick and possibly more.

Ownership may not sell, though. Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon considers Taylor “a key part of the organization,” per Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport, and The Athletic’s Jonathan Jones hears she loves Taylor. So treat a trade as the bonus, not the plan. McGowan is worth the roster spot without it.

What to do

In 12-team and deeper leagues, add McGowan now. In FAAB leagues, spend 5–10% of your budget now. If Taylor gets hurt or traded, McGowan will be the top add that week, and the bids will be much higher. Taylor managers should add him first. In 10-team leagues, add him if you have a bench spot to spare. Don’t start him this week at Jacksonville while Taylor is healthy.

Sources: weekly player stats, play-by-play and snap counts from nflverse (CC BY 4.0), PPR, regular seasons. Trade reporting: NFL.com, NBC Sports, Bleacher Report and Pro Football Rumors (linked in the text). Roster rates: Sleeper and ESPN, Oct. 27. College stats: Colts.com. Backup comparison: 2019–2025 games where a team’s lead back (65%+ of the snaps over the previous three or four games) didn’t play and its No. 2 back (12–35%) did. 2026 numbers are through Week 7.