Colts running back Marlon Mack said the team was amenable to his trade request in September, but no deal came before the November 2 trade deadline and Mack remains on the roster in Indianapolis.
Mack is on the roster, but he isn’t playing. He played one snap in Week Eight and has been inactive the last two weeks as the Colts continue to go with Jonathan Taylor, Nyheim Hines, and Deon Jackson as their three running backs.
There’s no place in the lineup for Mack, but the team isn’t going to cut him loose and that means head coach Frank Reich will keep benching him on a weekly basis. While the team clearly thinks that’s in their best interests, Reich says it is also a difficult decision for him to make.
“It’s painful to keep him inactive. Every week that I’ve had to make him inactive, I don’t like doing that,” Reich said, via Nate Atkins of the Indianapolis Star. “But you’ve gotta do what’s best for the team. You’ve got to give J.T. the ball and Nyheim has his role and that third back has to contribute in special teams, and Deon is doing that right now. I’ve said this and I’m going to continue to say it: I believe in Marlon Mack. I believe he’s a really good player. I believe he’s going to make a splash again, somewhere, sometime.”
Mack tore his Achilles in Week One of the 2020 season, so he hasn’t played a lot of football the last two years. Barring a major change, that’s going to remain the case through the end of this season in Indianapolis.