With No Combine and Short Season, Keith Taylor Still Needs to Prove Himself
Keith Taylor needed Pro Day on Tuesday almost more than any other University of Washington football player.
To the scouts, he's still relatively unknown with plenty of attractive traits yet just as many questions marks.
The former Husky cornerback brings great length, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound frame, and decent mobility for that size, a 4.56-second 40-yard dash time.
Yet after appearing in 43 games and starting 19 of them, Taylor didn't have a college interception and he walked away with no accolades, no All-Pac-12 recognition of any kind.
Taylor had to feel somewhat short-changed by playing only a 4-game, COVID-interrupted senior season and having the NFL combine canceled on everyone for pandemic concerns.
So it's all up to the Long Beach, California, product to show the scouts that he hasn't reached his peak, that he's worthy of an NFL career and that he's somebody who can make a lot of plays at the next level.
"It was super important; I don't think there was any other way to describe it," Taylor said of the Pro Day workouts at the UW's Dempsey Center. "It was the most important day of the year."
He wasn't a total unknown to the talent sleuths. In late January, he participated in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, talked to representatives from all 32 NFL teams and made some nice plays in the game.
He came away from that experience with an even more aggressive mindset than was ingrained in him at the UW.
"Really when the ball is in phase, go play the ball," Taylor said, as if he needed more of a push in that direction. "I think that was the main thing I was missing going out there before. It was something I wanted to work on. I feel I did a pretty good job of that."
Taylor, asked who he resembles most in the NFL, pointed to Jalen Ramsey, a Los Angeles Rams corner and formerly a No. 1 pick and the fifth guy taken overall in 2016 from Florida State.
Ramsey is two inches shorter but 13 pounds heavier than the former UW corner, which might be a clue that the latter needs to bulk up some.
"I watch a lot of Jalen Ramsey," the former Husky said. "I think we're pretty similar from a technique standpoint. I would love my tackling to get like his. He's a real gritty guy."
So Taylor feels he has plenty to offer an NFL team yet it's up to him to convince people that he would be worthy of say a third- or fourth-round pick.
"With no combine, that sucked," he said. "At the end of the day, you still have to move forward and just keep pushing. [Tuesday] was real important for everybody across the country."
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