It’s not surprising that Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce has been busy visiting a few pro days lately, given that the NFL Draft is just over a month away. All 32 teams were represented when Pierce was spotted at the University of Miami on Monday, but according to Mike Cugno of CBS Miami, Pierce was the only head coach on South Beach.
Third Round (ranks 99th overall) is the current draft forecast according to the NFL Mock Draft Database.
Although the Raiders have re-signed or signed a couple of defensive tackles in free agency, both Adam Butler and John Jenkins are in their 30s and only have one-year contracts. Therefore, the organization may yet decide to invest a mid-round pick in Taylor in order to help him advance.
Although the former Hurricane’s collegiate stats weren’t very remarkable, he has pass-rush potential. Only Calijah Kancey, a first-round choice, had a higher pass-rush win percentage (16.2%) among ACC defensive tackles in 2022, according to Pro Football Focus. This previous season, Taylor was almost as successful with a victory percentage of 14.7 percent, ranking fifth in the conference for the position.
Below is a brief look at his scouting report from
He has a good frame, is hard to move with one-on-one blocks against the run and has shown a few pass-rush moves he can win with. His biggest flaw is his pad level, which is the primary cause of many of his issues. When the Hurricane does keep his pads down, he’s hard to block and very disruptive.
