Rookie Profile: Taywan Taylor, WR Western Kentucky
Taywan Taylor grew up in Louisville Kentucky, and played high school football at Pleasure Ridge. He was only recruited by Western Kentucky out of high school and not rated by ESPN. Once at Western Kentucky, Taylor finished both his freshman and sophomore season having started 14 games and playing in 24. Setting a good standard for himself, he caught a total of 69 passes for 1,037 yards and seven touchdowns.
When his junior season rolled around, he exploded on the scene, finishing the year with a 86-1,467-17 stat line and setting school records in each category. As a senior, Taylor once again broke all school records when he put up 98-1,730-17, which earned him first-team All-Conference USA honors. His best game was perhaps against Alabama. The Crimson Tide brings one of the toughest defenses, but they had trouble containing Taylor as he had nine receptions for 121 yards.
Taylor finished his college career with 4,234 yards and 41 touchdowns for the Hilltoppers. He parlayed this into an invitation to the Senior Bowl and will have impressed several teams.
[am4show have=’g1;’ guest_error=’sub_message’ user_error=’sub_message’ ]
Statistics from sports-reference.com.
So, what can he bring to a team? Taylor (5’11 and 203 pounds) brings strong determination when running his routes and shows a variety of gears while doing so. Shifting speeds seems to be done with relative ease, and is a method used to blow by defenders.
Where Taylor thrives is in his agility. We all know that the more pounds someone packs on a frame the harder it becomes to move. Taylor bucks that trend. Looking just at his height and weight, we can see a shift. Standing at 5’11 is not ideal, but his weight of 203 is around average for receivers. Regardless, his agility is outstanding.
Agility is Taylor’s number one skill set according to his Player Profiler page. He falls within the 92nd percentile when it comes to his Agility score (10.78). According to the website, the score combines both the 20-yard shuttle and 3-cone drill. It shows how well the player can use his short area quickness and balance to avoid tackles while gaining yards before he absorbs contact. During the NFL combine this season, he ran well in the 3-cone drill. He finished first among all others with a time of 6.57, and paired that up with a 4.21 yard 20-yard shuttle.
His long arms (32 5/8) fall in the 72 percentile. They allow him to fight off press coverage and enable a larger catch radius. They will also help him gain advantages in 50/50 balls, fade routes, and red zone opportunities. This was one of the reasons he scored 17 touchdowns in 2016.
Even though he has been viable in the end zone, his overall catch radius is low (in the 52nd percentile). Scott Smith discusses it as “The equation squares a player’s 40-time, 20-yard shuttle, and 3-cone and multiplies it by the square of a player’s height, arm length, and vertical jump. The values of all six data inputs are normalized to have equal weight.”
Taylor was heavily involved in the offense at Western Kentucky. According to the college dominator which displays the importance of one player to the offense, Taylor finished with a 38.6% market share, which is in the 75th percentile. To further verify how valuable he was, look at his college YPR (17.7).
Taylor is effective when running stop routes and is dynamic after the catch. Finding yards in the open field, he and can go from first gear to fourth in a blink. Taylor is very elusive and moves his torso to see the quarterback in a fluid motion.
His burst score (123.0) is better than average (61st), but it could be better. The score shows how well he can stop and start. He can use the sidelines as protection against defensive backs and will drop anchor when making the catch instead of stepping out of bounds. Even though defenses put their focus on him, he still produced outstanding numbers.
Taylor can quickly scan the defense and adjust his routes to take advantage of the soft spot. Though he absorbs contact and is not afraid to go over the middle of the field to make the play, his size does not project his physicality. Taylor will close on defenders, stack them and blow by them.
His broad jump score of 132 inches fell within the 96th percentile. The broad jump speaks to his explosion off the line of scrimmage. He beats press coverage through his explosion off the line of scrimmage and has an excellent first step.
Taylor did not run many routes, but those he did run is where he made his mark. Taylor was limited to bubble screens, jet sweeps, and several catch-and-run plays. Western Kentucky’s offense is very friendly to the quarterbacks and receivers. Therefore, more will be needed to know if Taywan Taylor can adjust to the steeper competition.
Taylor will have to develop a better way to catch passes than with his body, and his lack of concentration has led to too many easy drops. At times, he will also ‘double-catch’ the ball, and he struggles to adjust to badly thrown passes. We’ll also need to see how he fares against the competition, as he did not get much of it at the collegiate level playing in the Conference USA.
A slot guy only, Taylor has a high ceiling with a low floor and can benefit greatly by being in the right system. He will need to be on a team that can take away the primary defensive back, so he can work his routes and beat the coverage anywhere on the field. Look for him to work between the 20s and be a ‘Pac-Man’ of yards. The way he runs his routes will be a good match for any system, and is part of the reason why he’ll be getting heavy looks in round three. Depending on his landing spot, look for him to be a nice rookie for PPR leagues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlNB5-aqn3g
[/am4show]
- FanDuel Bargains: Week Three - October 1, 2017
- FanDuel Bargains: Week Three - September 24, 2017
- FanDuel Bargains: Week Two - September 17, 2017
