Las Vegas Raider S Trey Taylor's Playing Style: Focus and Discipline

The Las Vegas Raiders used the third pick of the seventh round to select Air Force safety Trey Taylor.

Analyst Lance Zierlein's draft report on Taylor said, "Taylor is a productive down safety with good size and the type of character teams will want in the locker room. He’s much more effective as a short-zone defender or in split safety alignment from a coverage standpoint.

"[Taylor]'s an urgent run defender who works around blockers to make plays near the line, but he’ll also overrun his leverage and end up attempting too many arm tackles. Taylor has enough working in his favor to have a shot at making a roster."

Last season, Taylor won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back. Taylor registered 71 tackles, 3 interceptions, and a touchdown. Taylor was given an 83.9 grade from Pro Football Focus.

Zierlein highlighted Taylor's intangibles as a competitor and leader.

After the draft, Taylor discussed how his experience at the Academy prepared him for the Raiders.

"I've talked to the weight staff, I talked to the coaches and talked to the coaches and talked to a lot of the key personnel, and you can tell they run a tight ship," Taylor said. "I love that. But it fits me well coming from the Academy and I feel like I'm a killer on the field.

"I have a different instinct when I get on the field and I brought that from the Academy, and I'm hoping to bring it onto this team."

Taylor also spoke on how his play style matured through his time in college.

"I feel like you look at my sophomore year film, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off," Taylor said. "I wasn't a holistic football player. But now I'm looking back on it and definitely in my senior year I've been able to break down football and film a lot better than I used to.

"I'm just read to bring that to the next level."

Taylor's mindset should fit in well with the kind of culture head coach Antonio Pierce is establishing.

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