The 50 picks in between “the Jalen Hurts pick”—as it will likely come to be know one way or another—and the teams compensatory third round pick at 103 were a pretty rough three hours, in what are fairly rough times these days.
Thankfully this pick isn’t as controversial, with the team selecting a linebacker from Colorado, Davion Taylor.
I don’t know a ton about Taylor except that he’s light, athletic, and fast as hell—scouts describe him as having rare speed and burst to close on ball-carriers. Despite a profile that would suggest he might get wiped away in the run game, he supposedly holds up well in this area, with a good understanding of angles and willingness to get his nose dirty; not to mention his speed makes him a tough block in space.
I somewhat expected the team to go after a more traditional Mike linebacker, but if he’s developed correctly Taylor could be a weak-side backer in base packages and the dollar ($) LB in sub-packages. Think like a Tony Jefferson type when he was in Arizona.
He’s light enough and possesses the traits to excel in pass coverage. This pick is a real high-upside selection by Howie, and at the very least he’s considered a good sub-package backer with four-way special teams ability.
There’s a handful of players I actually would have preferred here, but I can live with this pick.