Davion Taylor not worried about playing time
The Philadelphia Eagles have no shortage of depth when it comes to linebackers. The organization picked up Kyzir White and drafted Nakobe Dean during the offseason. Yet despite the added competition that both White and Dean will provide during training camp, the team’s current linebackers seem to be welcoming them with open arms.
The Eagles’ 2020 third-round pick Davion Taylor, who is working on both playing as a weakside and middle linebacker, said he is happy to get to work with his new teammates.
“Right now, we’ve been trying to just get better as a group,” Taylor commented last week, via NBC Sports.
“I haven’t really thought about my role, what my role’s going to be when the season starts. I feel like that’s going to play out.
“So right now we’re all just really helping each other as individuals. I feel like if we help each other get better as individuals, we’ll get better as a group. You never know how the season may go, so we all need to just be ready to go at any time.”
Taylor was forced to miss the second half of last season after picking up a knee injury against the New Orleans Saints in Philadelphia’s Week 11 victory.
“It was frustrating not being able to come back on the field because my biggest thing was trying to come back at least for the playoffs or something like that,” Taylor said.
“But as I was rehabbing I saw I wasn’t going to be ready so it was really just a decision by the trainers and myself to try to just make sure I’ll be back for OTAs and be ready to go then.
“It was very disappointing because I realized I was starting to get better, my processing was getting better, my movement was getting better, so the biggest thing coming off that injury was making sure I started off where I left off.
“It was a setback but it let me hone in on my fundamentals during the offseason when I started healing back up.”
Eagles fans must be excited to see Taylor so committed to the organization as he continues to prepare for the 2022 regular season. While he only was able to feature in nine games as a result of the knee injury, he could make a big difference on the field if he can stay healthy.
He has also been working hard to ensure he can play as both a middle linebacker and weakside linebacker.
“Whatever I have to focus on just to make sure I know the playbook,” he said. “Because I feel like last year I was able to master it for the most part. So now it’s being able to learn multiple positions. Because I don’t want to be focused on just one position because you never know how the game may go. I may have to move to a position at the last minute and I want to be able to know what I’m doing.”
The Eagles are looking to make the playoffs for the second consecutive season after being eliminated in the Wild Card round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
