The long arms of the Lions defense

Last year I predicted that Ziggy Ansah would have a breakout season and end up with double-digit sacks, and I was right. This season I think the Detroit Lions have another defensive end due for a breakout season: fourth-year man Devin Taylor.

Taylor reminds me a lot of former Lions defensive end Willie Young in that they both look like granddaddy longleg spiders on the field. Just all arms and legs. I swear, sometimes it looks like Taylor could scratch his knees without bending over. His arms are ridiculously long at 36 inches, so I’d bet he has one helluva time trying to find shirts that fit. Having arms that long can give any pass rusher a decided advantage if they learn how to keep offensive lineman off them where they can’t lock on to block them, and that is one thing Taylor has become pretty adept at over the years.

At 6’7, Taylor probably looks more like a basketball player than a football player. The word “beanpole” comes to mind. Mind you, the dude is 275 pounds, which normally wouldn’t be thought of as skinny. However, the way he is proportioned, his lower body just didn’t seem thick enough for him to really anchor down when he came out of college, especially when taking on run blocks.

Over the years, Taylor has gotten progressively better at both staying low -- which is a must for someone his height -- and using that uncommon length of his to keep blockers off his body. While he may still get pushed around initially from time to time, he is usually able to escape off the block before he gets driven too far off the ball. That, combined with superb quickness, has allowed Taylor to transform himself into a more than adequate run defender.

He’s also come a long way when it comes to developing better pass rush technique. When Taylor came out he was pretty raw, but now he does a much better job using his hands with his pass rush moves to win, instead of trying to just run around blocks.

What I really liked about watching his film is you could see that he has gotten much better as a bull rusher, even though he isn’t all that big. It’s evident that Taylor is pretty damn strong no matter how much he weighs, but it’s how he explodes into offensive linemen with his bull rush that really helps him be successful with that move.

Of course, no pass rusher can live on bull rushes alone, especially a skinnier guy like Taylor. The good news is that he also does a good job of mixing things up between his finesse and power moves. Taylor may not have blazing speed, but he is plenty fast enough to turn the corner. In addition to his hand technique, he understands how to turn his hips to the quarterback to help him get around the edge.

Those long arms come in handy for him as an edge rusher. Sometimes I saw him on film just reach out on some “long arm of the law” shit and grab the quarterback as he went by even when he was still engaged with an offensive lineman. It’s almost isn’t fair when a guy can still get a sack even when he hasn’t actually beaten his man, lol.

Taylor also did a great job of running pass rush games last season. He showed a lot of patience when he was the looper (second guy), and also went in there and fucked shit up like a bull in a china shop when he was the penetrator. Oh, and did I mention that he looked just as effective no matter which side he was lined up on?

Listen, it may have taken him a while to get there, but Taylor is now pretty much the total package when it comes to playing defensive end.

Even though he didn’t start a single game last season, Taylor still managed to come home with seven sacks as a back up. He did play quite a bit in the rotation, especially on passing downs, but you just don’t see many non-starters put those kind of sack numbers up that often. Hell, there are some starters who don’t hit seven sacks in a season.

Now that Jason Jones is gone and Taylor is moving into a starter’s role, I expect his production to take another leap. With Ansah’s big season last year, I’d expect teams to show him a lot more attention this time around, leaving Taylor with a ton of one-on-one opportunities as a pass rusher.

As long as he stays healthy, there is no reason why Taylor won’t hit double-digit sacks this season. Quiet as it’s kept, the Lions may end up having one of the most productive defensive end tandems in the league this year with Taylor finally coming into his own. Just remember where you heard that first.