Tag: Fred Taylor

Jaguars legend Fred Taylor to announce team’s 2nd round pick

A familiar face will be on the stage in Kansas City to announce the Jaguars’ second-round pick.

Jacksonville Jaguars legend Fred Taylor is set to announce the team’s next draft pick.

After NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called out the names of draftees Thursday night, it’ll be a rotating cast of former and current NFL stars who make the announcements Friday.

Taylor, 47, was the Jaguars’ first-round choice in 1998 and spent 11 seasons in the Jacksonville backfield. He tallied 11,271 rushing yards and 70 total touchdowns with the Jaguars before finishing his career with two seasons as a member of the New England Patriots.

His 11,695 career rushing yards rank 17th in NFL history behind 14 Hall of Famers and two soon-to-be Hall members in Frank Gore and Adrian Peterson.

Taylor won’t be the only former Jaguars player who announces a selection Friday. Former NFL receiver Torry Holt, who spent the 2009 season with Jacksonville, will announce the Los Angeles Rams’ pick.

Last year, it was former Jaguars offensive tackle Tony Boselli who announced the team’s third round selection of Luke Fortner, as Jacksonville didn’t make a pick in the second round.

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5 best and 5 worst ever Jaguars first-round draft picks

Who stands out as the best first-round selections ever made by the Jaguars, and which players were the worst?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a far from stellar track record when it comes to the NFL draft. It hasn’t all been bad, though.

Nearly three decades into the franchise’s existence, there are a handful of players who stand out as spectacular first-round choices by the Jaguars. Of course, there are plenty who stand out as especially poor selections.

It’s a little premature to judge the picks made by general manager Trent Baalke, although the early returns on Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne sure look great. But for the sake of the exercise, we’ll exclude players picked in the last three years.

Here are the five best first-round picks ever made by the Jaguars and the five worst:

Fred Taylor thinks the Jaguars should pursue Darius Slay

The Jaguars haven’t spent much in free agency, but Fred Taylor thinks they should make an exception for Darius Slay.

Things have been quiet for the Jacksonville Jaguars during the legal tampering period, with the team watching from the sideline while other clubs dished out big money contracts.

Jaguars legend Fred Taylor thinks the team should make an exception now that Darius Slay is on the market.

On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Eagles reportedly made the surprising decision to part with their five-time Pro Bowl cornerback after they were unable to negotiate a restructure of Slay’s contract. While the cornerback is now 32, he’ll undoubtedly be a coveted player on the market.

Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell seemed to like the idea too.

The temptation to go after a top-flight cornerback makes sense. While the Jaguars have a player to build their secondary around in Campbell, the team parted with Shaquill Griffin earlier this offseason and struggled to find stability at the position until Darious Williams settled into the role late in the 2022 season.

Williams will have a chance to secure that role again in 2023, but the Jaguars will undoubtedly want to add depth at the position, if not a player who could supplant Williams in the starting lineup.

Slay would be a boon to the Jacksonville secondary, but his price tag is likely unrealistic. It may cost as much as $20 million per season to acquire Slay, and the Jaguars have balked at much less.

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Florida reaching out more to Gator greats, Emmitt Smith opens up

He’s been invited back on campus many times, but legendary UF alum Emmitt Smith told the Pivot Podcast that this time, he was invited back in a unique way.

When having a conversation about the greatest players in Florida Gators’ football history, you won’t get too far before you mention Pro Football Hall of Fame running back [autotag]Emmitt Smith[/autotag]. Before he won the Offensive Player of the Year award, NFL MVP, three Super Bowls, a Super Bowl MVP, and was named a four-time first-team All-Pro player, the Pensacola native was tearing it up for the Orange and Blue.

In a recent appearance on the Pivot Podcast, Smith joined ESPN’s Ryan Clark and his co-hosts, former Florida Gators Channing Crowder and [autotag]Fred Taylor[/autotag], in a wide-ranging conversation. Notably, the first two minutes or so are dominated by Smith talking about how the University of Florida recently sent him a gift package that included four tickets to any home sporting event of his choice, among other things.

Once you get past the realization that three of the four members of the show are Gators, and two of the greatest running backs in Florida football history are sitting next to each other, the weight of the conversation starts to kick in. While Smith notes that it’s not the first time he’s been invited back to Gainesville, he did reveal that it is the first time they have made such an effort with the gift package. Crowder, Taylor, and Smith proceed to discuss how much effort the current regime is putting into the Gators’ storied history. Taylor even went so far as to say Smith deserves a statue outside The Swamp.

The more often a public discourse about the Gators occurs, the better. It’s even more powerful when three former Gator Greats are the ones holding up their alma mater, something head coach Billy Napier seems sware of if he’s making such an effort to bring the legends of Florida football’s past into the fold.

In his time playing for the Florida Gators, Smith broke 58 school records, scored 38 touchdowns, was named the 1989 SEC Player of the Year, finished top ten in the Heisman Trophy race, and was a three-time All-SEC pick. He was drafted in the first round of the 1990 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys, where he spent 13 of his 15 NFL seasons. He received his degree in Health and Human Performance in 1996 and is a member of the Gator Football Ring of Honor.

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Fred Taylor again not named finalist for Pro Football Hall of Fame

Four years in a row as a Hall of Fame semifinalist and Fred Taylor has still never been a finalist.

For the fourth straight year, former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor was named a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame but didn’t advance to the list of 15 finalists.

On Wednesday, the Hall of Fame narrowed its list of candidates for the Class of 2023 from 28 to 15 and Taylor was one of the 13 who didn’t make the cut. The only finalist who played for the Jaguars is former wide receiver Torry Holt, although he’s much more well known for his decade with the St. Louis Rams rather than his career-capping season in Jacksonville.

No running backs are on the list of finalists. Among the others who didn’t make the cut Wednesday was former 49ers, Eagles, and Seahawks running back Ricky Watters.

Taylor, 46, finished his NFL career with 11,695 rushing yards and is 17th on the all-time rushing list. Frank Gore, Adrian Peterson, and 14 Hall of Famers are the only players above Taylor on the leaderboard.

The only Jaguars player in the Hall of Fame is the team’s former offensive tackle Tony Boselli, who was inducted in August 2022.

Watch: Fred Taylor joins ESPN’s First Take to talk Cowboys’ ‘big fat L’

Fred Taylor joined ESPN’s First Take to let Michael Irvin hear it about the Jaguars’ win

A day after the Jacksonville Jaguars made a statement, coming back from a 17-point deficit to beat the Dallas Cowboys with an overtime pick six.

Among the many excited to talk about the dramatic win was Jaguars legend Fred Taylor, who was a special guest on ESPN’s First Take with Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark, and Cowboys legend Michael Irvin.

After much of the conversation turned to discuss the failures of the Cowboys defense, Dak Prescott, and Dallas coaches, Taylor made sure to end the talk by setting the record straight.

“We’re talking about the Dallas Cowboys, but I don’t want to give them that type of credit because my team played lights out yesterday,” Taylor said. “It isn’t as much about the Cowboys as it is about the Jaguars. They showed up to play. … Cowboys, the only credit you deserve is that big fat L you get to cash in today.”

Taylor, 46, spent 11 seasons with the Jaguars after he was drafted by the team in the top 10 of the 1998 NFL Draft. He recorded 11,271 rushing yards, 2,361 receiving yards, and 70 touchdowns with the Jaguars before finishing his career with two seasons with the New England Patriots.

In November, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced Taylor is a semifinalist for induction for a fourth straight year.

Two Florida players named to the Freshman All-SEC team

Trevor Etienne and Shemar James have been named to the Freshman All-SEC team after their standout 2022 seasons.

Two breakthrough first-year players have been named to the Freshman All-SEC team for the 2022 season. Running back [autotag]Trevor Etienne[/autotag] and linebacker [autotag]Shemar James[/autotag] are being recognized just two days after being Honorable Mentions on the College Football News Freshman All-American team.

Trevor Etienne took the reigns as the Gators’ primary running back option later on in the season after splitting duties with [autotag]Montrell Johnson Jr[/autotag]. for most of the season. Paired with [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag]’s rushing ability, that three-headed monster was the backbone of Florida’s offense.

Etienne recorded 704 rushing yards this season, with 129 of those yards coming in a career-high performance against Florida State. He became the fourth true freshman in Florida football history to rush for at least 700 yards, joining [autotag]Emmitt Smith[/autotag], Tony Green and [autotag]Fred Taylor[/autotag].

Shemar James played in all twelve games for the Gators with three starts. He recorded 40 tackles this season, good for the second-most among true freshman SEC linebackers and sixth-most for the Gators. James’ best game came against Eastern Washington, where he recorded a career-high eight tackles. He was one of Billy Napier’s best-recruiting wins in his transition class, as the former five-star was considered the No. 3 prospect in Alabama and the No. 6 linebacker nationally, per 247Sports.

Top players like Richardson, [autotag]O’Cyrus Torrence[/autotag] and [autotag]Ventrell Miller[/autotag] have declared for the NFL draft and will not be playing against the Oregon State Beavers in the Las Vegas Bowl. Because of that and the over a dozen players that have entered the transfer portal, Etienne and James will play a big role on Dec. 17 starting at 2:30 p.m. EST and broadcast on ESPN.

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2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalists include eight former Patriots

Eight ex-Patriots made the cut as semifinalists for the 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

The semifinalists for the 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame class were revealed on Tuesday, and eight of the names on that list were former New England Patriots players.

Of course, the two most noteworthy names from a Patriots perspective were former defensive stars Vince Wilfork and Rodney Harrison, both of whom have already been inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.

Darrelle Revis, one of the all-time great corners, is also on the list. He spent the brunt of his career serving as a division rival on the New York Jets, but he did sign with the Patriots for a one-and-done Super Bowl season in 2014.

The other names include linebacker James Harrison, receiver Reggie Wayne, running back Fred Taylor, receiver Torry Holt and tight end Henry Ellard.

There were a total of 28 players named as semifinalists, which means ex-Patriots make up a significant portion of the candidates left standing. The next step is whittling the list down to 15 and seeing which players are one step closer to being immortalized in Canton.

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Fred Taylor among 28 semifinalists for Pro Football Hall of Fame

Fred Taylor is a semifinalist for the Hall of Fame for the fourth year in a row.

Jacksonville Jaguars legend Fred Taylor was one of 28 former players who made the cut Tuesday when the Pro Football Hall of Fame whittled down its list of 129 preliminary candidates to its list of semifinalists.

It’s the fourth straight year that Taylor has made it to this round of the Hall of Fame selection process, although he hasn’t yet advanced to the list of finalists.

Among the 101 candidates who didn’t make the cut was former Jaguars wide receiver Jimmy Smith.

The only other semifinalist who played for the Jaguars is wide receiver Torry Holt, who spent 10 seasons with the St. Louis Rams before ending his career with one season in Jacksonville.

Other notable candidates are first-time semifinalists Dwight Freeney, Darrelle Revis, and Joe Thomas. The only other running back on the list is former 49ers, Eagles, and Seahawks player Ricky Watters.

Taylor finished his career with 11,695 rushing yards (over 1,000 yards more than Watters) and is 17th on the all-time rushing list. Frank Gore, Adrian Peterson, and 14 Hall of Famers are the only players above Taylor on the list.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith: Jaguars still ‘5 players away from being relevant’

The Jaguars are earning a lot of believers this season. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is apparently not one of them.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are earning a lot of believers with their play so far in 2022. Stephen A. Smith of ESPN is apparently not one of them.

On Friday, Smith was joined on ESPN’s First Take by the hosts of the “Pivot” podcast, including Jaguars legend Fred Taylor. When asked which NFL team in Florida will go the furthest this season, Smith said the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While he was willing to give the Jaguars a little bit of love (a very little bit), Smith said choosing Tom Brady was a no-brainer.

“I love the fact that Doug Pederson is Jacksonville’s new coach,” Smith said. “And they’re not sorry anymore. Give ’em a cookie. … I got Trevor Lawrence in his second year, I got Teddy Bridgewater, or I got Tom Brady. Who you think I’m rolling with? With Mike Evans, [Chris] Godwin back. I mean come on, let’s stop the nonsense.”

Taylor countered by telling Smith that the Buccaneers are “a lineman away from ending Tom [Brady]’s career.”

“And y’all are about five players away from being relevant,” was Smith’s retort about the Jaguars.

Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl two years ago and finished last season with an NFL-best 13-4 regular season record. After winning their first two games of 2022, the Buccaneers lost back-to-back games in the last two weeks.