Philadelphia Eagles: Davion Taylor is the wrong player at the right position
After selecting Jalen Hurts in Round 2, the Philadelphia Eagles needed an instant impact player in Round 3. Davion Taylor is more project than starter.
Davion Jalen Taylor is one of the more interesting players in the 2020 NFL Draft. Not because of his play on the field – though he does flash at times as a box player at Colorado – but for the journey that brought him to football. Buckle up Philadelphia Eagles fans, this one is interesting.
A member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Taylor only appeared in one high school football game for religious reasons, and only really saw the field as a walk-on at Coahoma Community College. From there, Taylor played two seasons in Boulder, where he appeared in 24 games and recorded 129 total tackles, two sacks, and six passes defensed.
If you eye scout Taylor’s tape, at times, he looks like a smaller school version of Patrick Queen – who stands nearly identical to Taylor’s 6-foot, 228 pounds – but unfortunately, he is not now, and may never be, at that level. As you could probably imagine, Taylor is extremely raw as a prospect and gets lost in coverage. He’s also far from a sure tackler, and routinely takes bad angles that allow his man to sneak past him for a big play.
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Could these issues eventually be worked out? Could Taylor eventually ascend to the level of NFL starter, where he can utilize his 4.49 speed to cover the field sideline-to-sideline as a three-down weakside linebacker? Sure, but it’s probably not going to happen anytime soon.
This is a problem because the Eagles could really use an instant upgrade at linebacker.
As things presently stand, the Eagles’ starting linebackers are Nathan Gerry at strongside linebacker, T.J. Edwards in the middle, and free agent acquisition Jatavis Brown filling Kamu Grugier-Hill‘s former role on the weakside. Granted, the Eagles very rarely actually use their 4-3 base package, and will probably use it even less in 2020 after loading up on a slew of versatile interior defensive backs, but in theory, those are the starters.
Could the team go out and re-sign Nigel Bradham if he remains unemployed into May? Sure, but right now, the Eagles have the worst linebacking corps in the league, and it really isn’t close. Had the team selected an instant starter at linebacker with plus coverage skills – my personal favorite being Oregon‘s Troy Dye – Jim Schwartz‘s back seven would have earned an instant upgrade the likes of which no other defensive draftee would have offered.
Instead, the Eagles added a project linebacker who will immediately add energy to their special teams unit but would be disastrous if he was asked to take the field for any meaningful snaps.
Drafting Jalen Hurts is just so irresponsible. dark. Next
Is that really what the Philadelphia Eagles needed with the 103rd overall pick, another part-time project who in all likelihood won’t see the field? In his comments on Jalen Hurts after his selection, Howie Roseman mentioned that the team needed to make the most of their other six picks after selecting a backup quarterback 53rd overall. While Davion Taylor may very well end up being a good player with some time to learn the game at its highest level, he most certainly isn’t going to do so anytime soon.