Miami Dolphins sixth-rounder Vincent Taylor, a defensive tackle for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, is an all-around athlete.
Dolphins pick Vincent Taylor is a versatile athlete, as he showed on this one play
He was a Piesman Trophy nominee for good reason.
Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images
At the NFL combine, he performed above the average for his position in the 40-yard dash, broad jump, and three-cone drill, and he’s also got DT-average size and strength.
All of that was on display in this single play against Texas in 2016, via which the All-Big 12 first-teamer became one of three finalists out of dozens of candidates for SB Nation’s Piesman Trophy, given annually to the best non-lineman play by a lineman. (Pitt’s Brian O’Neill won.)
Just look at how many things he had to do in the span of about five seconds.
Back at the time, we broke this play down in detail.
It all starts with Taylor’s burst off of the line of scrimmage.
Taylor’s lined up over the long snapper, shaded into the A-gap:
Taylor’s explosiveness out of his stance with his first step (look at where the ball is and nearly every other lineman is) shows he’s in the gap before the left guard can take a step down to fill the hole:
Typically this wouldn’t be too much of an issue. While Taylor’s initial burst was good, he probably should have been impeded enough by No. 63 Alex Anderson to not waltz into the backfield. But that’s where Taylor gets by with a little help from his friends (and his coaches).
No. 90 Motekiai Maile comes out of his stance and engages Anderson, tying him up and not allowing him to step down and seal the A-gap:
Texas’ long snapper has a snap to worry about, so this isn’t really on him.
This isn’t something the Cowboys’ coaches drew up on their own, by the way. Picking on Anderson is exactly the same thing Notre Dame did when it blocked an extra point and returned it in the season opener.
With help from Maile, Taylor’s in scot-free, and the block is all but a certainty.
There’s no telling what an oblong ball will do when it ricochets onto fake grass.
But because of Taylor’s position, he’s the only one with a real chance to pick it up. The holder is barely out of his kneel, and the kicker hasn’t even finished his kicking motion as the ball shoots behind him off of Taylor’s body:
So Taylor gets the opportunity to slow down just a touch, gather himself, and pick the ball up.
The deft flip shows the presence of mind to understand one’s limitations.
Even though Taylor is fast, he had the awareness to know he had a convoy of faster teammates.
This was as much a mental Piesman nomination as it is a physical one. Well done, Mr. Taylor.
After going on day three, he’s the NFL’s first Piesman-nominee pick in the award’s two-year history, though last year, the Saints signed Michigan State’s Jack Allen and the Texans signed Miami’s Ufomba Kamalu.
