The Colts won’t have Frank Gore in the backfield this season and that means they are set to have a new No. 1 back for the first time since Gore joined the team in 2015.
Of the players currently on the roster, Marlon Mack would appear to be the one who will get the first shot at grabbing that title for the 2018 season. The 2017 fourth-round pick ran 93 times for 358 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie and said the spot left open with Gore out of the picture is one he’s going to do all he can to grab.
“I feel like, for me, it just motivates me to just go harder,” Mack said, via the Colts website. “Other guys in the room feel the exact same as me. Everybody wants to be the top dog, and so you’ve just got to (be motivated) and just be hungry and attack; attack, I’d say, just show your talents and do your best.”
The Colts have a handful of other options -- Christine Michael, Robert Turbin, Josh Ferguson and Matt Jones -- but the biggest competition for Mack could wind up coming from the draft. However the pecking order winds up working out, a strong ground game would be a big benefit to a Colts team that needs to avoid putting everything on the offensive side of the ball on Andrew Luck’s surgically-repaired shoulder.