Rams have met with Colorado’s Davion Taylor

According to Justin Melo of USA Today’s Draft Wire, the Rams recently met with Colorado linebacker Davion Taylor, one of the fastest, most-athletic linebackers in this year’s draft.

Taylor’s religious beliefs kept him from playing all but one game while in high school (couldn’t play in games on either Friday or Saturday nights). After turning 18, he was able to change his observances to play collegiately. He barely made the team at Coahoma Community College but wound-up being the starter for most of his freshman year and through his sophomore season. Taylor chose to continue his career at Colorado as a four-stat JUCO prospect.

He started 10 of 12 games in both 2018 and ‘19 for CU, ending with All-Pac 12 honorable mention honors as a senior. He totaled 121 total tackles, 17.5 tackles-for-loss, one sack, and 10 pass breakups during his two years in Boulder.

At the combine, Taylor ran a blazing 4.49 forty, showing off the speed he worked on while a member of Colorado’s Track & Field team. He also showed impressive explosive strength by jumping 35 inches in the vertical and 10’7 in the broad. A sub-7.0 3-cone at 6.96 was also one of the best marks for his position in Indianapolis.

At his pro day early last month, Taylor was clocked in around 4.37 and 4.39 according to Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl.

Per Lance Zierlein of NFL.com, Taylor is an incredibly linebacker who just simply hasn’t played enough football up to this point. Even with that in mind, Zierlein grade Taylor as a “good backup who could become a starter”, which is much higher praise than you would expect someone who played a single game of high school football. His biggest drawback to his game is his awareness and fundamentals, which obvious comes from the lack of experience. However, Taylor’s athletic upside likely keeps him in the mid to early day-three conversation heading into next week’s draft.