Indianapolis Colts Fantasy Week 1: Who Starts vs. Houston Texans?

Which Colts players stand the best chance of having a fantasy impact this Sunday against the Texans?

The NFL season is finally upon us, and with it, fantasy football!

The Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams kick things off on Thursday night but the Indianapolis Colts will be up to bat shortly on Sunday afternoon as they visit the Houston Texans.

The Colts have a new quarterback in town with Matt Ryan, so we'll see how the offense looks under his leadership.

Let's take a look at which Colts players might provide value this week. We'll go over any of the players you may entertain starting on your rosters.

(Weekly positional rankings from FantasyPros.com, based on Half-PPR scoring. Ranks as of Thursday of game week.)

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QB Matt Ryan

• FantasyPros Week 1 Position Rank: QB17
• 2021 Texans vs. QBs: 28th (19.0 FPPG)

It's officially Game 1 of the Matt Ryan Era in Indy. The Colts' offense looked pedestrian and quite vanilla in the preseason, and as the Colts have indicated, much more complex things are about to be shown.

Offensively for the Colts, this game is still likely to go through running back Jonathan Taylor. While that may mean fewer pass attempts for Ryan, don't be surprised to see him make big plays in an efficient fashion, taking advantage of loaded boxes and hitting at least a couple of chunk passes off of play-action.

Last year, the Texans allowed only five opposing quarterbacks to reach 300 yards, but all but two of them reached 200 yards. There were also eight opponents who reached multiple passing touchdowns, and eight had at least 20.0 fantasy points.

Up until last year, Ryan had 10 consecutive seasons with at least 4,000 yards passing, averaging at minimum 250.0 yards per game. Losing his top two receivers didn't help matters in snapping the streak in 2021. Ryan has, however, thrown for at least 20 touchdowns in all but one of his 14 seasons (rookie year).

He probably won't put up gaudy stats against Houston but he is playable.

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RB Jonathan Taylor

• FantasyPros Week 1 Position Rank: RB1
• 2021 Texans vs. RBs: 28th (22.0 FPPG)

It's Jonathan Taylor.

That bit of info not enough? Well, in four career games against Houston, Taylor averages 20.8 touches for 132.8 yards from scrimmage and has scored 6 touchdowns, averaging 23.3 fantasy points per game. Just last year, he averaged 23.5 touches for 150.5 yards and scored 4 touchdowns for an average fantasy score of 27.3.

Case closed.

Side note: I fully expect running back Nyheim Hines to have his own entry on this piece starting next week but the hot-and-cold nature of his usage throughout his career makes him hard to count on, week in and week out. We should know more after Houston.

Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

WR Michael Pittman Jr.

• FantasyPros Week 1 Position Rank: WR8
• 2021 Texans vs. WRs: 27th (24.4 FPPG)

Despite being the Colts' top dog at receiver, Pittman has only experienced modest success, at best, against the Texans in his career. In four games, he has 18 touches for 213 yards (11.8 avg.), with no touchdowns and a total fantasy score of 30.3.

However, there's no reason to think that won't change this year as his development continues and he has Ryan throwing him the ball. Pittman is the Colts' clear-cut No. 1 receiver with no established option to compete with him. He led the team in targets last year by 60 and receptions by 48.

Last season, the Texans allowed nine opposing receivers to reach at least 15.0 fantasy points.

Pittman is likely going to be a must-start each week, and Week 1 should be no different.

Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Colts Defense/Special Teams

• FantasyPros Week 1 Position Rank: DST5
• 2021 Texans vs. DSTs: 25th (8.2 FPPG)

This was an incredibly lopsided affair in 2021 as the Colts outscored Houston 62-3 in the two games. Indy recorded 6 sacks, 5 takeaways, and held the Texans to an average of 247.0 yards per game. According to Yahoo!, the Colts DST also averaged 16.5 fantasy points per game in those matchups.

Last year, the Colts DST had the most fumbles recovered (14) in the NFL, tied for the most safeties (1), third-most interceptions (19), tied for the third-most blocked kicks (2), fourth-most fumbles forced, tied for the fifth-most defensive touchdowns (3), plus they had multiple special teams scores.

They've since added one of the league's most consistent pass rushers in Yannick Ngakoue, a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year in Stephon Gilmore, should be getting further development from Kwity Paye and Bobby Okereke, and Julian Blackmon has returned from last year's season-ending injury.

There isn't much not to like about the Colts' D this week.

What do you think about the Colts' matchup this week from a fantasy perspective? Drop your thoughts below in the comment section!

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