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I like his comment at the end. I wish other players would have the same attitude. Criticize Ahmad Carroll (and I do), but at least he took the signing of Charles Woodson as a challange, and he seems to be working even harder.
Taylor turns heads at linebacker
By Pete Dougherty, PackersNews.com
No one wins a job for a wide-open starting position in the NFL in offseason practices.
But players can stake themselves to early leads, and little-known newcomer Ben Taylor has done that at the strong side of the Green Bay Packers’ revamped linebackers corps.
Taylor has worked most of the minicamps and organized team activities as the starter on the strong side, ahead of second-year pro Roy Manning. Manning knew the defense after starting two games at that position last year, yet former Cleveland Browns starter Taylor surpassed him.
Maybe Manning will beat out Taylor when the pads go on, or perhaps third-round draft pick Abdul Hodge will play so well in training camp that the Packers will move him from the backup at middle linebacker to compete for the strong-side job. Even Brady Poppinga lingers in the background as a possible starter, though that hinges on him bucking the odds and coming back from knee-reconstruction surgery in time to practice during training camp.
That leaves Taylor, signed as a security blanket because of his 26 starts in four NFL seasons with the Browns, the front-runner when training camp opens in July.
“Although he has his limitations, he’s a football player,†said Reggie McKenzie, the Packers’ director of pro personnel.
“That’s what we liked. We felt like he was a football player, and once we got him in and got to know him in person, he plays like he is: a tough guy, smart, a football guy.â€ÂÂ
The Packers signed Taylor to one-year deal that included $80,280 in signing and workout bonuses hoping, but not knowing, whether he’d be a starter in their re-made linebacker corps.
Before they signed him, they cut ties with two regulars at linebacker: Na’il Diggs and Paris Lenon. They released Diggs because of his contract  $2.9 million in roster bonus and base salary this year  and made no effort to compete with Detroit’s surprisingly lucrative contract offer in free agency that included a $1.8 million bonus.
Diggs was a full-time starter for five years before injuries to both knees limited him to six starts last year, and Lenon started 12 games combined at weak-side and strong-side linebacker last season.
With only middle linebacker Nick Barnett back as a sure-fire starter and A.J. Hawk still not drafted, the Packers needed a linebacker who could play all three positions immediately. Taylor, a fourth-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2002, had played every linebacker position in his four seasons with the Browns.
“We thought he was a good candidate (to start), and if he won the starting spot, fine,†McKenzie said. “But the bottom line is, we wanted to make sure we had a good, sound football player, and that guy had to be versatile. We didn’t sign Taylor just to come in and start at Sam (i.e., strong-side) linebacker.â€ÂÂ
At first blush, Diggs appeared to be a much better fit for the defensive scheme that Jim Bates introduced last year and that defensive coordinator Bob Sanders will continue this year. The scheme emphasizes speed and quickness at linebacker over size, and Diggs would time significantly faster than Taylor in a foot race. Taylor ran only 4.83 seconds in the 40 coming out of college, whereas Diggs ran 4.66 seconds.
However, the Packers’ coaching and scouting staffs concluded that Diggs didn’t have the lateral quickness they wanted, not to mention injuries were a concern. Taylor, on the other hand, performed the lateral-quickness three-cone drill at the NFL scouting combine coming out of college in 6.56 seconds, which is excellent for a linebacker. Hawk, the fifth pick overall in this year’s draft, did it in 6.82 seconds.
The Packers thought Taylor’s lateral movement and instincts allowed him to play a touch faster than Diggs when they watched him on videotape, and he came at a much cheaper price  his base salary is $656,000 to go with the $80,000 in bonuses.
“A lot of guys that are ‘football players’ can do things because they keep themselves in good position or they understand the scheme,†Sanders said of Taylor.
Taylor also considered re-signing with the Browns for a slightly more lucrative offer, but Cleveland insisted on him taking a half salary if he sustained a season-ending injury  he’d had a torn pectoral muscle that cost him 13 games in 2004 and a back injury and staph infection that cost him three games in ’03.
The Packers didn’t require the injury split in the contract, and at least as important, Taylor preferred playing in their “linebacker-friendly,†as he called it, 4-3 defense rather than Cleveland’s 3-4. At 6-foot-2, 238 pounds, he’s not a take-on linebacker, and in the Packers’ scheme, the defensive line protects its linebackers from offensive linemen. In a 3-4, linebackers are taking on offensive linemen.
When Taylor signed with the Packers, they had two openings in the starting lineup, so he appeared to have an excellent shot at winning a job. When they drafted Hawk with the fifth pick overall, that immediately filled weak-side linebacker, and when they drafted Hodge in the third round, that added another possible competitor to go with Manning and possibly Poppinga.
“If you do what you’re supposed to do with the ones, it’s hard to move a guy out of there,†Taylor said.
Taylor turns heads at linebacker
By Pete Dougherty, PackersNews.com
No one wins a job for a wide-open starting position in the NFL in offseason practices.
But players can stake themselves to early leads, and little-known newcomer Ben Taylor has done that at the strong side of the Green Bay Packers’ revamped linebackers corps.
Taylor has worked most of the minicamps and organized team activities as the starter on the strong side, ahead of second-year pro Roy Manning. Manning knew the defense after starting two games at that position last year, yet former Cleveland Browns starter Taylor surpassed him.
Maybe Manning will beat out Taylor when the pads go on, or perhaps third-round draft pick Abdul Hodge will play so well in training camp that the Packers will move him from the backup at middle linebacker to compete for the strong-side job. Even Brady Poppinga lingers in the background as a possible starter, though that hinges on him bucking the odds and coming back from knee-reconstruction surgery in time to practice during training camp.
That leaves Taylor, signed as a security blanket because of his 26 starts in four NFL seasons with the Browns, the front-runner when training camp opens in July.
“Although he has his limitations, he’s a football player,†said Reggie McKenzie, the Packers’ director of pro personnel.
“That’s what we liked. We felt like he was a football player, and once we got him in and got to know him in person, he plays like he is: a tough guy, smart, a football guy.â€ÂÂ
The Packers signed Taylor to one-year deal that included $80,280 in signing and workout bonuses hoping, but not knowing, whether he’d be a starter in their re-made linebacker corps.
Before they signed him, they cut ties with two regulars at linebacker: Na’il Diggs and Paris Lenon. They released Diggs because of his contract  $2.9 million in roster bonus and base salary this year  and made no effort to compete with Detroit’s surprisingly lucrative contract offer in free agency that included a $1.8 million bonus.
Diggs was a full-time starter for five years before injuries to both knees limited him to six starts last year, and Lenon started 12 games combined at weak-side and strong-side linebacker last season.
With only middle linebacker Nick Barnett back as a sure-fire starter and A.J. Hawk still not drafted, the Packers needed a linebacker who could play all three positions immediately. Taylor, a fourth-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2002, had played every linebacker position in his four seasons with the Browns.
“We thought he was a good candidate (to start), and if he won the starting spot, fine,†McKenzie said. “But the bottom line is, we wanted to make sure we had a good, sound football player, and that guy had to be versatile. We didn’t sign Taylor just to come in and start at Sam (i.e., strong-side) linebacker.â€ÂÂ
At first blush, Diggs appeared to be a much better fit for the defensive scheme that Jim Bates introduced last year and that defensive coordinator Bob Sanders will continue this year. The scheme emphasizes speed and quickness at linebacker over size, and Diggs would time significantly faster than Taylor in a foot race. Taylor ran only 4.83 seconds in the 40 coming out of college, whereas Diggs ran 4.66 seconds.
However, the Packers’ coaching and scouting staffs concluded that Diggs didn’t have the lateral quickness they wanted, not to mention injuries were a concern. Taylor, on the other hand, performed the lateral-quickness three-cone drill at the NFL scouting combine coming out of college in 6.56 seconds, which is excellent for a linebacker. Hawk, the fifth pick overall in this year’s draft, did it in 6.82 seconds.
The Packers thought Taylor’s lateral movement and instincts allowed him to play a touch faster than Diggs when they watched him on videotape, and he came at a much cheaper price  his base salary is $656,000 to go with the $80,000 in bonuses.
“A lot of guys that are ‘football players’ can do things because they keep themselves in good position or they understand the scheme,†Sanders said of Taylor.
Taylor also considered re-signing with the Browns for a slightly more lucrative offer, but Cleveland insisted on him taking a half salary if he sustained a season-ending injury  he’d had a torn pectoral muscle that cost him 13 games in 2004 and a back injury and staph infection that cost him three games in ’03.
The Packers didn’t require the injury split in the contract, and at least as important, Taylor preferred playing in their “linebacker-friendly,†as he called it, 4-3 defense rather than Cleveland’s 3-4. At 6-foot-2, 238 pounds, he’s not a take-on linebacker, and in the Packers’ scheme, the defensive line protects its linebackers from offensive linemen. In a 3-4, linebackers are taking on offensive linemen.
When Taylor signed with the Packers, they had two openings in the starting lineup, so he appeared to have an excellent shot at winning a job. When they drafted Hawk with the fifth pick overall, that immediately filled weak-side linebacker, and when they drafted Hodge in the third round, that added another possible competitor to go with Manning and possibly Poppinga.
“If you do what you’re supposed to do with the ones, it’s hard to move a guy out of there,†Taylor said.
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