Marlon Mack, Indianapolis Colts have mutually agreed to seek trade for RB

INDIANAPOLIS — Marlon Mack and the Colts have mutually agreed to try to find a trade partner for the veteran running back, a person with knowledge of the team's plan confirmed to IndyStar on Tuesday, after Mack was a healthy scratch on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel matters, indicated that there is some interest in Mack, although it is still early in the process.

Mack, who rushed for 1,999 yards over two seasons as the Colts’ lead back in 2018 and 2019, has played just 13 snaps during the 2021 season. Mack’s picked up 16 yards on five carries, but the veteran has clearly fallen behind Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines in the backfield’s pecking order.

“As far as just numbers, (it’s been hard to get him involved) but that’s been the plan, even dating back to Week 1, stealing some reps throughout the game,” offensive coordinator Marcus Brady said. “That was the plan going into this game, he just wasn’t able to dress.”

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Mack’s long-term prospects in Indianapolis have taken a series of hits since the 2018 season, when he became the second Colts back in a decade — joining Frank Gore in 2016 — to break the 1,000-yard barrier.

First, Indianapolis drafted Jonathan Taylor in the second round in 2020, and then Mack tore his Achilles tendon in the first half of the season opener against Jacksonville at the start of the final year of his rookie deal. Hampered by the season he lost to injury, Mack hit free agency in March only to find out he couldn’t get much on the open market.

Ultimately, Mack turned down other offers to return to Indianapolis on a one-year, $2 million deal. At the time, Mack felt like Indianapolis gave him the best chance to succeed; the Colts had talked, at times, in the past and through the summer, about deploying Taylor and Mack in a committee approach, along with Nyheim Hines in his typical satellite role.

“He worked hard at it,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said. “Marlon has been ready for a while.”

But that may have always been idealistic.

Under Frank Reich, the Colts offense has always favored a lead back approach. Mack was given 47.8% of the carries in 2018 despite missing four games and 52.4% in 2019. With Mack injured in 2020, Taylor emerged as the bell cow, taking 50.5% of the carries.

None of the other Colts backs has been given more than 100 carries in a season since Reich took over. Hines, the team’s satellite back, typically plays between 30 and 45 percent of the snaps, leaving precious little room for any other back to get time, and Hines just signed a three-year, $18 million extension.

Three games into the 2020 season, Taylor has played 101 snaps, Hines has played 93 and Mack has played the other 13.

And although the Colts have consistently praised Mack’s rehabilitation from the torn Achilles tendon that ended his 2020 season, the team’s willingness to give Hines the complementary carries behind Taylor suggests that Mack isn’t all the way back to full strength.

“He’s looked very good, and he looked good when he played in Week 2 against the Rams,” Brady said. “But when you’ve got that much talent in the backfield, it is kind of hard to share the wealth.”

If the Colts are able to trade Mack to a running back-needy team like San Francisco, Baltimore or Miami, Indianapolis would still have solid depth behind Mack and Hines. Fourth-year back Jordan Wilkins has played only special teams through the first three games so far, but he’s also rushed for 951 yards and averaged 4.9 yards per carry in his first three seasons in Indianapolis. Promising undrafted rookie Deon Jackson also lurks on the practice squad.

The return the Colts might get in a trade for Mack is hard to predict. Given his lack of production so far, it's possible that Indianapolis will only be able to earn a late-round pick, but it's also possible the Colts deal Mack and get a player in return who could help shore up another position.