Tag: Keith Taylor

Former Saints draft pick, Alabama football star takes high-profile college coaching job

Former Saints draft pick and Alabama football star Vinnie Sunseri has taken a high-profile college coaching job at Washington:

Here’s some good news for a former New Orleans Saints draft pick: Vinnie Sunseri has taken a high-profile college coaching job as the Washington Huskies safeties coach, where he’ll be tasked with developing the next generation of defensive backs at a West Coast powerhouse with national championship ambitions.

Things have come full circle. Sunseri was a standout at Alabama during his own college playing career, and Alabama’s decision to hire Washington’s former head coach Kalen DeBoer led to a lot of turnover for the Huskies coaching staff.

Sunseri, 32, was picked by the Saints in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL draft. But he struggled to get on the field after dealing with a series of injuries. He finished his NFL playing career with the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers.

After hanging up his cleats, Sunseri began a coaching career at Alabama as a graduate assistant; he returned to the Patriots in 2020 to get more experience, where he first worked with the defense before moving to the offensive side of the ball for three years coaching running backs. Now he’s going back to his roots with much more responsibility under new Washington head coach Jedd Fisch.

The job comes with high expectations. Washington is fresh off a national title bid, and the school has sent many defensive backs to the NFL draft in recent years; Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon were both top-50 picks in 2022, while Elijah Molden was selected at No. 100 overall (followed by Keith Taylor in the fifth round) in 2021. Byron Murphy and Taylor Rapp were each second-round picks in 2019 with Jordan Miller also drafted in the fifth round. Sunseri will be charged with recruiting and developing players to follow in their footsteps. Good luck to him.

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How former Panthers fared in Super Bowl LVIII

Former Panthers Christian McCaffrey and Harrison Butker were two of Super Bowl LVIII’s biggest stars.

The Carolina Panthers may have not been on the brightest stage in football, but a few old friends were.

Here’s how former Panthers players fared in Super Bowl LVIII:

Christian McCaffrey, Steve Wilks, 49ers fall short in classic Super Bowl

Former Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey and coach Steve Wilks did all they could to bring the 49ers their first ring in 30 years. But it wasn’t enough.

Christian McCaffrey and Steve Wilks were on the doorstep of bringing the Bay Area their first Lombardi Trophy in 30 years. But unfortunately for them and the rest of the San Francisco 49ers, a GOAT was standing in their way.

Despite their valiant efforts, the former Carolina Panthers running back and interim head coach were denied on the biggest stage of the game Sunday night—as the Kansas City Chiefs notched a thrilling 25-22 overtime win in Super Bowl LVIII.

McCaffrey, who spent the better part of his first six NFL seasons in Carolina, tallied a game-high 160 yards from scrimmage. The 2023 AP Offensive Player of the Year recorded 80 yards on 22 rushes along with another 80 yards and a score on eight catches.

Wilks, a Charlotte, N.C. native, managed to hold down the Kansas City offense for much of the tightly-contested matchup—as the Chiefs entered the break with only three points. But, as we’ve learned for the third time in five years, there’s no holding down Patrick Mahomes.

The newly-crowned three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player led a game-winning 13-play, 75-yard drive in overtime—a walk-off possession that ended in a 3-yard touchdown pass to wideout Mecole Hardman. Mahomes finished the night having completed 34 of his 46 throws for 333 yards, two scores and an interception.

But hey, at least a few other old friends were on the winning side—including kicker Harrison Butker, whose 57-yard field goal in the third quarter set a new Super Bowl record. The Chiefs have also carried former Panthers receiver Shi Smith and cornerback Keith Taylor on their practice squad.

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Former Panthers on this year’s Conference Championship teams

11 former Panthers are now members of this year’s Conference Championship teams.

Sunday’s Conference Championship Round will have a few familiar faces.

Here are the 11 former Carolina Panthers who are currently members of the 2023 season’s final four teams:

22 former Panthers on this year’s Divisional Round rosters

Here are 22 names from this weekend’s Divisional Round action that Panthers fans may recognize

While the Carolina Panthers are busy trying to find a new power duo, quite a few of their former players are right in the middle of playoff action.

Here are 22 ex-Panthers who are gearing up for this year’s Divisional Round games:

4 of Panthers’ 2023 cuts signed to practice squads on Thursday

Four players who were lost in the Panthers’ 53-man roster shuffle were signed to practice squads elsewhere on Thursday.

Matt Corral wasn’t the only freshly-cut Carolina Panther who just found a new home.

Four players who did not make the initial 53-man roster cut for the Panthers this summer were signed to practice squads on Thursday. They are as follows:

Panthers cut 2021 draft picks Keith Taylor, Shi Smith, Deonte Brown

The Panthers are continuing to purge Matt Rhule’s robust 2021 draft class—as they’ve waived Keith Taylor, Shi Smith and Deonte Brown.

The purge of Matt Rhule’s robust 2021 draft class continues.

As announced on Tuesday morning, the Carolina Panthers have waived three picks from 2021—cornerback Keith Taylor, wide receiver Shi Smith and guard Deonte Brown.

Taylor, perhaps the most surprising departure, was selected in the fifth round that spring. The University of Washington product went on to play a pretty decent role in Carolina’s secondary since, playing in 34 of a possible 35 games in the last two seasons.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder recorded five starts over those 34 outings. He totaled 67 tackles, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and six passes defensed.

Smith, who also served as a depth piece for the Panthers, is another one of the more high-profile cuts of the morning. The Union, S.C. native and University of South Carolina product reeled in a combined 28 passes for 400 yards and a pair of scores over 23 games and fielded 23 punts in 2022.

Brown appeared in three games in 2021.

Only five of the class’ 11 players are currently active members of the roster.

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Panthers snap count standouts: Wear and tear prevalent in Week 6

S Sean Chandler and CB Keith Taylor Jr. stepped up in a huge way for the bruised Panthers in Week 6.

With what feels like an injured reserve that’s large enough to be considered a cavalry at this point, the Carolina Panthers are searching for burn to spread around. Plus, in a matchup that painfully pushed itself into some extended time, there was plenty more of that playing time to be allocated.

Here’s how the Panthers dealt with that, and the implications of their moves, in the Week 6 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Studs and duds from the Panthers’ Week 6 loss to Vikings

Sam Darnold has now thrown six interceptions over his last three games.

If we wanted to be extra cheeky, we’d put down “80 percent of this game” as a dud for the Carolina Panthers in their 34-28 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. But we’ll be a tad more astute in our observations than that.

So here are the actual studs and duds from a largely dispiriting performance from the home team in Week 6.

Stud: Keith Taylor

Taylor’s play over the past two weeks has him emerging as yet another promising corner on this roster. The rookie racked up a team-high 10 tackles with three pass deflections on the day.

He also did a fine job matching up with Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson.

Dud: Sam Darnold

Darnold didn’t get much help from his receivers, who were charged with six combined drops. But Sam didn’t help his case much either.

The erratic side of him prevailed once again, as he completed 17 of his 41 attempts for 207 yards, one touchdown, an interception and a lost fumble. He also, in a different kind of brain fart, tried to call two timeouts in a row on a single snap.

Over his last two games, Darnold has connected on just 48.7 percent of his passes for 384 yards alongside four interceptions.

Stud: Chuba Hubbard

The only bright spot for the offense, at least in the box score, was the rookie back. Hubbard is looking more comfortable by the week, which is great news for a team that’ll be without Christian McCaffrey for at least two more games.

He, again, ran with patience, hit the right holes with burst and generated extra yardage with his strong footwork throughout. Chuba finished his outing with 61 yards and his first career touchdown on 16 carries.

Dud: Robby Anderson

For what seems like a few reasons, this is not the same Robby we’re used to seeing. Anderson caught just three passes on 11 targets for, sheesh, 11 yards.

One of those was the touchdown on the late game-tying drive, but that was hardly a consolation for his poor outing. The sixth-year pass catcher had a hard time with his hands and a hard time getting the attention of his buddy Sam.

Anderson has failed to at least hit the 60-yard mark in each of the season’s six games.

Stud: Haason Reddick

If crowning a team MVP after six games is a thing, Reddick would take that thing in a landslide. The 2021 free-agent addition continued his phenomenal campaign, racking up eight tackles with three of them going for a loss.

Dud: Matt Rhule

The Panthers have fallen into a rut. And, yeah, that’s easy to say when you’ve lost three straight games.

But much of this team’s edge has seemingly softened. The defense is being overwhelmed and the offense has to go back to the drawing board to find its identity moving forward.

That, of course, falls on the head coach. Carolina’s planning, game management and execution must sharpen up.

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Carolina Panthers vs. Minnesota Vikings game recap: Everything we know

Here’s everything you need to know about the Panthers’ ugly, odd and sad Week 6 loss to the Vikings.

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What went up has now come down for the Carolina Panthers in the first six games of the 2021 season. A 3-0 start has, in cringeworthy fashion, been leveled out by an ugly trio of outings.

Here’s how the latest defeat, this time to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 6, went down.