Leonard Taylor III (February 2024)

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
1	Leonard Taylor III	Defensive Tackle	Miami	5-Star Recruit (100)	Junior
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3	Positional Rank	Grade	Height	Weight	2023 Pass Rush Win Rate	2023 Run Stop Rate	2023 PFF Grade
4	3	Early 2nd	6'3	305	14.7%	6.6%	74.7
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6	Year	Pass Rush Snaps	Run Defense Snaps	A-Gap	B-Gap	Over Tackle	Outside Tackle
7	2023	202	139	202	124	11	0
8	2022	159	170	11	275	37	6
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10	Year	Total Tackles	Tackles for Loss	Hurries	Hits	Sacks (Partial = 1)	Pressure Rate
11	2023	19	3.5	17	3	1	10.40%
12	2022	24	10.5	15	6	4	15.72%
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14	Overview:
15	Strengths	Notes
16	Aggression	Violently catapults himself through the offensive line. His opponents are likely left covered in bruises.
17	Brute Strength	Very strong, which is made evident on his rips when he throws opposing linemen to the ground.
18	Active Arms	He has a great initial pass rush move. If that doesn't work, his punches and sporadic movements help him to collapse the pocket without using a legitimate secondary move. This also allows him to gain early penetration.
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20	Weaknesses	Notes
21	Anchor	His anchor is decent at times due to strength, but not the best two-gapper.
22	Leverage	He plays high and often allows linemen to get under his shoulder pads.
23	Patience	Occasionally he rips an offensive lineman down trying to get into the backfield, opening a gap for the runner. The aggression is phenomenal, but he will need to learn when to tone that down and fulfill his designated role.
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25	Film
26	Game	Takeaways
27	Texas A&M (09/09/2023)	Must extend earlier on contact. He appears to have ridiculous length that he isn't using. Clearly has untapped raw strength. Lesser explosiveness and poor contact angles. Looks a bit heavy-footed. Good balance and strong upper body. Gets turned too easily. Probably not a nose tackle in the NFL despite his current utilization. Fights as opposed to using any sound technique. Looking sluggish on many plays. Tossed aside guard rather easily with brute strength. Much better against inside than outside runs. Great linear strength, but still needs more power derived from lower half. Playing the quarterback as opposed to his man, which is good to see. Stance is slightly different on plays where he appears more explosive - monitor this throughout the season. Would be so much better if he didn't collapse his arms so easily. Almost quadruple-teamed. Hands could be a bit faster. Decent tape with lots of clear untapped potential.						2nd round tape at best with 1st round potential. Super strong, but needs more explosiveness and lower body power.
28	Clemson (10/21/2023)	Flew off the line. Quite upright, but aggressive hand usage. Quick release. Pushed off gap easily. Very clear balance issues - looks as if his burst has improved at the expense of balance. Aggressively pushing to the backfield. Beat his man on quick swipe. Active hands. Very strong brute strength rip. Decently quick feet and lateral movements for his size. Rips are incredibly powerful. Often swipes himself right passed first man, requiring doubles. Strong legs, but not necessarily the best anchor. So often the first off the line. Needs to generate more lean and leverage when driving into doubles. High end rep up the middle. The 2nd quarter is early first round tape. Great penetration in both run and pass plays. Release, violence, and arms are significantly better than earlier in the season. Needs to work on technique, but something is clicking for him now. Much better player than he was upon entering the season.						Huge jump from the Texas A&M game. Mid-First round tape. He often fights through doubles, and can win one on one with both speed and strength. Grade jumping to Mid-Late First.
29	North Carolina (10/14/2023)	Lacking some pop this game. Stood upright rather easily. Not generating much push up front. Doubled often. Excellent drive when extending, which he does not do all that often. Doubled nearly every play. Playing man over assignment in run game. Very strong. Is not utilizing any pass rush moves this game. Like most games, dominant reps followed by several completely absent reps. Goes where the offense wants too often. Zero pressures or run stops.						Needs to go to a good situation with good technical coaching. Dropping grade back to Early 2nd.
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31	Final Scouting Report
32	Taylor is a dominant, aggressive, and violent defensive tackle who appears to leave bruises on his opponents after seemingly every pass rush attempt. The former five star recruit possesses the build, power, and athleticism required to make an impact at the next level. As a true junior, Taylor has both the strength and speed profiles that will be enticing to NFL teams. He may have had a down year, but is the type of physical specimen who does not fall past day two in the NFL Draft. While he is very physically gifted, he is clearly raw in his technique. After a down year, many people appear to be souring on him as well. While his production fell drastically, he was also asked to line up primarily in the A-gap, which is not where he thrives. The previous two years as a true freshman and sophomore, he played almost exclusively as a 3-technique. There is no doubt that much of his decreased productivity is a result of this egregious misutilization. He was doubled often, and unable to showcase his physical dominance in one-on-one reps nearly as much as prospects like Byron Murphy at Texas. If Taylor can go to a 4-3 scheme and develop some legitimate pass rush moves, then he has the greatest potential of any defensive tackle in this draft. As it stands today, he may struggle stepping foot on an NFL field. He is not strong anchoring as a run defender, and often allows unnecessarily big gaps up the middle. An early 2nd round pick may seem high for someone who should probably sit for most of his rookie year, but his potential is too great to overlook at any point after the first round of the NFL draft.
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