Seth McGowan

Seth McGowan has played every week of 2026 and scored 2.0 points a game doing it. Week 1 of 2026 gave him one point, week 2 of 2026 gave him nothing, and the best game of the run, 4.8 in week 4 of 2026, still wouldn't start for you. No touchdowns on 17 carries and 4 targets. Our preseason pace was 3.5 points a game, our 14 points over the 4 games we expected, so he's tracking right at that while playing more than we thought he would.

The problem is the job, not the playing time. He's listed second among IND running backs behind Jonathan Taylor, with DJ Giddens third, and the touches that matter haven't moved. He's gotten 7% of the red-zone carries and targets in his games, 3 of 44, and 8% of the work inside the ten, 2 of 26. Among the 65 backs with 20 or more carries and targets of their own this season, those sit 57th and 53rd. Shane Steichen and Jim Bob Cooter are back calling the shots from last year, and this offense passed on 57% of situation-neutral plays in 2025, so even the targets that exist funnel elsewhere. Tyler Warren and Michael Pittman took 42% of IND's target competition between them last season. Nothing in that structure suggests a change for a seventh-round pick.

He's a 24.9-year-old rookie with no injury designation since before week 1 of 2026, so he'll be available every week. Available and worth nothing are different things. Release him and carry a running back with a live chance of scoring.