The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Leonard Taylor.
Taylor did not look like the same player on his 2023 tape as he did on his 2022 tape, and there were some valid reasons for that beyond just some flaws and concerns with his game.
In 2022, his best tape came as a 1-gap penetrator, showing excellent quickness off the ball with plus athleticism, balance and body control. My sense was he could project and transition to the next level as a 3-technique defensive tackle in a 4-man even defensive front.
In 2023, Taylor not only looked heavier than he did in 2022 — playing too high with little quickness and power off the snap — but he played far more snaps as a 2-gap defensive tackle with significant reps at 0-technique. I don’t believe that is the best way to maximize his physical traits.
Watching the tape, I believe Taylor needs to lose weight (probably a meaningful amount) and look to get back to being the more explosive off-the-ball, 1-gap defensive tackle that he flashed far more often in 2022. We know he can do because we saw it (e.g., a sack vs. Temple in 2023 that was a strong snapshot of how Taylor can be aligned at 3-technique and where he showed an effective arm-over move).
Taylor will not be an easy projection to the next level given that his 2023 tape was not strong overall despite some flashes that showed his traits. But his 2022 tape showed a much stronger prospect who could win with both off-the-ball quickness as a 1-gap defensive tackle and the contact strength to control and displace as a 2-gap defensive tackle.
The traits are there in Taylor’s body, with the question being: How do you best get them out of him so he can become a quality NFL defensive tackle? There is no easy solution to that.
Taylor came out of Miami Palmetto High School as a 5-star recruit and the top-rated defensive tackle in the nation.
In 2022 and 2023, Taylor lined up in multiple defensive tackle positions in Miami’s defensive fronts — including 3-technique and 0-technique.
In 2023, Taylor played more snaps at 1-technique and 0-technique and overall he played more snaps as a head-up defensive lineman rather than a gap defensive tackle. There were third-down snaps where he was deployed as a standup Joker in the middle of the defensive front.
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