Baldy’s breakdowns: Jets’ Leonard Taylor III gets shouted out for Patriots sack:
A surprising New York Jets defender got a shoutout following the team’s 24-3 throttling of the New England Patriots.
The Jets (2-1) defense had a huge effort. Seven total sacks, doubling their season total in one game.
While Will McDonald IV took headlines for the second-straight game with another multi-sack outing, it was not him who got a shout out from NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger.
During his social media “Baldy’s breakdowns,” it was Leonard Taylor III who did. Taylor had a takedown late against Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye when the game was essentially over.
“There’s something there,” Baldinger said about Taylor.
The full breakdown can be found below:
.@nyjets@56reasons_ first game in a JETS uniform and he shows up and shows out. Loving the “stack & shed” combined with violent hands….together with great size. Got a little somethin somethin to work with #BaldysBreakdownspic.twitter.com/KTbj4jL4M3
Leonard Taylor gets praise from NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger.
NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger is liking what he is seeing from New York Jets defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III. The rookie looked good on Saturday night in the preseason finale against the New York Giants.
Taylor was an undrafted rookie free agent signing by the Jets. Last year in 10 starts at Miami, Taylor had 19 total tackles with 3.5 tackles for a loss and a sack.
Against the Giants over the weekend, Taylor had four total tackles and 1.5 sacks. It was this performance that led Baldinger, a popular NFL Network analyst and a former offensive lineman, to praise the Jets rookie.
Baldinger started his analysis by saying that the “pass rush of the Jets against the Giants was fierce.” Then Jets All-Pro Quinnen Williams was brought up in the comparison.
“He was good, he was really good,” Baldinger said.
“His ability – he plays the same position as Quinnen does. And he plays in the same stance, can tell he watches him a lot.”
Jets’ UDFA haul ranked among best by Fantasypros’ Thor Nystrom
The New York Jets’ 2024 draft haul was generally well-regarded by analysts across the media landscape. Of course, it’s not just the drafted players that can make an impact. Undrafted players can as well. In recent memory, Bryce Huff, Tony Adams, Xavier Gipson and Jason Brownlee have made the active roster as undrafted free agents. The Jets’ 2024 haul of college free agents includes some intriguing prospects that can also crack the roster this season, including defensive linemen Eric Watts and Leonard Taylor III.
Thor Nystrom of Fantasypros recently ranked the 32 teams by their undrafted rookie signings and classes and the Jets’ were quite high on Nystrom’s list. Only the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs were ranked higher on his list than the Jets, who landed at No. 2.
Here’s what Nystrom had to say about the Jets’ UDFA class:
I may not have been in love with the Jets’ decisions during the draft itself, but boy did they slaughter the UDFA process. New York signed three prospects inside my pre-draft top-153, and a fourth who I gave a draftable grade. They were edged out by the Chiefs for top UDFA class in my metrics by the slimmest of fractional margins.
I am most bullish on EDGE Eric Watts, who started three-of-four active seasons at UConn (the Huskies canceled their 2020 season due to COVID). Watts is not a finished product – but he has measurables that portend to NFL success, and his tape is dotted with flash plays both as a defender and as a special-teamer.
He posted 22.5 TFL over the last three seasons, and, over the last two campaigns, had nine sacks, two blocked field goals, and a blocked punt. On the measurable side, Watts was close to tops in the EDGE class in three very important categories: 40, vertical, and arm length.
DT Leonard Taylor III was forwarded as a likely second-rounder earlier in the process. That was rich. Still, the NFL may have ben overly punitive in not drafting him at all. Time will tell if the Jets can profit off that.
A former top-10 overall recruit, Taylor III was extremely inconsistent at Miami. That’s because his game hasn’t advanced beyond north-south bully tactics. He could overpower most ACC interior linemen, but the high pad level he played with at Miami with the same lack of refinement will send him into the wood-chipper at the next level if he doesn’t develop ancillary attack plans.
Pad-level and game nuance are the two primary areas the Jets must work with him on initially – the overall talent package is there, however. Last year, Taylor was 95th-percentile or higher in PFF pass rush grade, true pass set pass rush grade, and pass rush win rate.
EDGE Braiden McGregor is a former hockey player, as was his QB at Michigan, JJ McCarthy. Though McGregor did not live up to expectations in Ann Arbor, he was the top recruit in Michigan’s 2020 class, he has a prototype NFL frame, and he was a starter on last year’s title-winning team (his only campaign a a starter).
WR Tyler Harrell is a speed demon who averaged a ludicrous 29.1 YPC in 2021 at Louisville while taking one-third of his receptions to the house. But transfer-portal stops at Alabama and Miami proved disastrous – he caught only six balls combined over the last two seasons.
Minnesota forgoes the quarterback for a pair of defensive lineman in the latest three-round mock draft.
Sports Illustrated’s Luke Easterling put out the first of many three-round mock drafts with the end of the NFL regular season inching closer.
With the 22nd pick in this hypothetical, the Minnesota Vikings take defensive lineman Leonard Taylor, III from Miami.
This entire defensive front needs reinforcements, so this pick is about finding the best value, either along the interior or on the edge. In this scenario, it’s the former for Minnesota, as they land an explosive and disruptive presence at the point of attack in Taylor. His attacking style of play would be put to good use by defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
Easterling continued adding to the defense. With the next pick at number 53, the Vikings took Jack Sawyer, a fleet-footed, explosive edge rusher out of Ohio State.
Minnesota’s third-round pick was a part of the deal for tight end T.J. Hockenson.
Immediately, questions will arise over the quarterback position. That’s fair. With this hypothetical, it’s safe to assume that Kirk Cousins has a chance to finish what he started in the beginning phases of this season. Another assumption is that Flores does not take a head coaching position and stays to help continue to build Minnesota’s defense.
This scenario is not a far-fetched reality. The defense has been playing at a stellar pace thus far. With how Kirk played before he was injured, it does make one wonder how much this team could have accomplished with him at the helm. Next year would be a chance to find out. It would be a chance to make that deep playoff run that has alluded Vikings fans since 2017.
There’s also the dark side of these decisions. What if this is just a fantasy that the front office is chasing? What if Cousins never looks the same again after a ruptured Achilles at the age of 35?
These are all questions that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings front office must mull over before the 2024 NFL draft in April.
This two-round 2024 mock draft has the Saints prioritizing the line of scrimmage, starting with finding Bryan Bresee’s new tag-team partner:
Mock drafts are all the rage, and the bye week presents a good opportunity for New Orleans Saints fans to take a look at which prospects are impressing ahead of the 2024 NFL draft. We’ve got a two-round projection from Curt Popejoy over at Draft Wire, who has the Saints investing their first-round pick on Miami Hurricanes defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III.
Taylor is a perfect fit at a listed 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds, and he’s disruptive with 22.5 tackles for loss in his 28-game career thus far. Bryan Bresee looks like the real deal and pairing him with someone like Taylor could set the Saints up at defensive tackle for years to come. They could lose Malcolm Roach in free agency in the spring which opens a slot in the rotation. Nathan Shepherd has played the most snaps at defensive tackle this season but he’s going to turn 31 next year in the second year of his three-year contract. Adding Taylor could help the Saints get younger and faster up front.
But the Saints’ pick in the second round of this mock draft would be a good get, too. Popejoy has them taking Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu at the No. 45 pick coming back from the Denver Broncos. Fautanu is someone we highlighted in our own recent five-round projection as someone who could help the Saints out at either left tackle or left guard, where things are very uncertain moving forwards.
Andrus Peat has looked like their best player at left tackle after taking over for Trevor Penning after he was benched, but he’s a free agent in the spring, and James Hurst hasn’t been that impressive at either spot. Maybe Fautanu can help the Saints figure out a long-term plan at one of those positions. Either way, the Saints are not winning at the line of scrimmage often enough on either side of the ball this season, and it’s clear that they should continue to invest in their offensive and defensive lines to get better up front.
