Phil Taylor Scouting Report

Phil Taylor is making the most of his senior season to upgrade his draft status. As a freshman and sophomore he was down the depth chart a little ways on a stellar Penn State defense. However, the 6-4, 340 pound defensive tackle did see some playing time as a freshman for the Nittany Lions and that is an uncommon occurrence in Happy Valley. Taylor spent 2008 as a redshirt waiting to be eligible to play at Baylor in 2009. His junior campaign was not too bad as he started nine games, but a turf toe injury limited his production and he ended the season with a mere 25 tackles and just 2.5 tackles-for-loss.

Taylor has the physical tools to be a solid tackle at the next level, but he needs to be productive during his senior season with the Bears to boost his draft stock. So far Taylor is doing just that. Through seven games he already has tallied a career high 28 tackles and added 5.0 tackles-for-loss, one sack and one forced fumble. Taylor is Baylor's clog in the middle of the defense and is beginning to live up to his potential.

He will need to keep it up the rest of the 2010 campaign to make scouts take notice. Taylor has decent quickness and strength at the point of attack, but it is likely that he will need to have a good NFL Combine to really grab some attention. He can move up to the third round area if all goes well, but he will probably stay a late to mid-round prospect.

4/6 Update: Everything has gone very well for Taylor. He finished off his collegiate career on a high note and made a huge impact at all the pre-draft workouts. Just about every NFL team that is in need of a nose tackle is eyeing Taylor right now and that could boost him into the latter part of the first round. His mobility for a player his size has some scouts drooling and it would be a surprise if he dropped past the second round.