It took him a while to get healthy, but Marlon Mack is firmly entrenched at the top of the Indianapolis Colts' running back depth chart. He missed most of the first five weeks of the season with a hamstring injury, but has dominated in his return to the field.
In the last two games Mack has totaled 31 carries and 4 targets, while Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins have handled 20. Those numbers are slightly skewed due to lopsided game scripts -- the Colts were losing heavily for most of the game against the New York Jets and then stomped the Buffalo Bills this week -- but Mack is inarguably the top dog. In Week 7 Mack had 19 carries -- the third-most among all running backs this week -- and even had 2 targets despite Hines' heavy usage in the passing game in the preceding weeks.
The Colts have run the third-most offensive plays in the league, behind only the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns (who have played enough overtimes already to add up to almost a full extra game of football). That means that there's a ton of opportunity to go around in their fast-paced offense. Volume is all you want from a running back in fantasy football and Mack has it in spades.
It was a weird game that allowed each of the Colts running backs to post Success Rates of over 50%, and that allowed the Colts to score 24 unanswered first-half points, but make no mistake -- Mack is going to be a force in fantasy moving forward. His 30.9 fantasy points were good for the second-most in Week 7, finishing only behind Kareem Hunt and his incredible three-touchdown night.