DJ Giddens

He has dressed for zero plays through week 5 of 2026, and the injury report clears him, so this is a coach's choice, not a health one. Indianapolis runs Shane Steichen's offense with Jim Bob Cooter still calling plays, and they have decided Jonathan Taylor and Seth McGowan get the work. Giddens sits third. That is why our preseason number was a timid 28 points for the season, built on only 11 expected games, and 2026 has so far delivered nothing toward it.

The case for ever caring was always narrow. In 2025 he appeared in just 5 of 17 weeks, and the other 12 were weeks he was healthy enough to play but the coaches left him on the sideline, so this is a pattern, not a new development. He never once beat the running back weekly median in those 5 games, 9.6 points all season, best week 4.1 back in week 1 of 2025. Receivers? 0 receiving yards, a 0.7% target share, and a -3.0 average depth of target. He was a goal-line specialist at best, and the red-zone role is doing him no favors: players holding a 21.4% red-zone touch share like his have lost 1.3 points a game the following season on average.

So here is where we land. If he is filling a spot on your roster, release him and use it on someone who is actually playing. Taylor owners can keep him stashed as the contingency, nobody else should. That red-zone usage has cost players in his spot 1.3 points a game on average the next year, which only sharpens it. If he ever gets real touches, we will say so then.