Devin

Taylor

Taylor was a four-year starter at South Carolina, registering 18.5 career sacks and two forced fumbles. He has good length at 6-foot-7 and 266 pounds, but Taylor isn’t overly powerful. In a shallow defensive end depth chart in Detroit, Taylor has an opportunity to see meaningful snaps as a rookie.

It doesn’t sound like a serious issue for Taylor, but he needs all the reps he can get as he battles for a top backup spot in a thin defensive end corps. The No. 132 overall pick in the draft registered 18.5 career sacks at South Carolina.

Taylor (6-foot-7, 266) logged 18.5 sacks, 35 tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles during his four-year Gamecocks career, bookending Jadeveon Clowney in his final two seasons. Taylor showed freakish straight-line athleticism with a 4.72 forty and 1.59 ten-yard split at the Combine, but he is painfully tight in the hips and a better athlete than football player. Taylor may need to adjust his game in the pros, focusing on power rushing. The Gamecock’s length and straight-line speed should come in handy in the Lions’ wide alignments.

Taylor should be plenty motivated heading into his walk year. He finished second on the team with seven sacks last season and could face a lot of one-on-one blocks with Ziggy Ansah and Haloti Ngata attracting attention on the other side of the line. The 2013 fourth-round pick is slated to begin the year as a starter for the first time in his career.

With Jason Jones officially gone, the Lions do not have many other options. A fourth-round pick in 2013, Taylor has not started a game since his rookie season, but he broke out with seven sacks in 550 snaps last year. Detroit will hope he can take another step forward in the final year of his rookie deal.

Taylor took a step back in his first stint as a 16-game starter last season. The Lions can’t afford to keep him with Ziggy Ansah and Haloti Ngata in the final year of their contracts. Despite his sacks dropoff, Taylor should generate solid interest heading into his age-27 season.

They also signed S Duke Ihenacho. Taylor started all 16 games last year, but took a step back after his seven-sack 2015. With Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon locked in as starters, Taylor will return to a rotational role with the Giants.

After recording seven sacks in a rotational role for the Lions in 2015, Taylor took a step back as the starter last season, recording just 4.5 sacks and struggling against the run. The Giants do not need a starter with Olivier Vernon and Jason Pierre-Paul atop the depth chart, but they do need depth behind the two stars. Taylor would be an upgrade to their rotation.

Taylor didn’t have a good camp and was buried on the depth chart behind Jason Pierre-Paul, Olivier Vernon, Romeo Okwara, Kerry Wynn and Avery Moss. The 27-year-old is less than two years removed from a seven-sack campaign in 2015. He should find work as a rotational pass rusher, perhaps with his old team, the Lions.

“One of the things that jumps out is the fact he has an unbelievable amount of talent,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “His skill level is unusual. He was a young player (last season). He’s a very important part of what we do and we’re expecting to see him develop by leaps and bounds.” Taylor was limited to 227 snaps last year. With Jason Jones (knee) sidelined, he has a chance to make a run at more playing time. Detroit’s unproven options behind Haloti Ngata should allow Taylor to see a bigger role as an interior sub-package rusher.