Alontae Taylor celebrated his big plays with his signature two thumbs down. That’s the same thing Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport did in response to the Tennessee Titans’ decision to sign Taylor. Safe to say the New Orleans Saints dodged a bullet on that one.
Kellen Moore’s comments speak to the contrary. He said, “(Taylor’s) versatility is obviously beneficial, his ability to play inside and outside... I think he's gonna play some really good football for them and have a huge impact." The question becomes what’s the impact when he’s just playing outside.
Davenport doesn't think it'll be good. He drew comparisons between Taylor's passer rating against to Bobby Wagner and mentioned Taylor's touchdowns allowed and targets being high as reasons why impact could be limited. In Tennessee, he'll be playing outside corner. There's a higher emphasis on coverage, and it has less opportunity for impact in the run game. Coverage stats can be tricky, but if those stats persist, Davenport could be right.
Alontae Taylor was never coming back to the Saints
Of all the free agents the Saints had this year, Taylor had the slimmest odds of returning to New Orleans. Demario Davis’ odds were close after he was noncommittal about returning to the Saints. Taylor, on the other hand, was a foregone conclusion to walk from the moment the season ended, and he didn’t have to say a word to paint that picture. The Saints were simply never going to pay him what he’d get on the open market.
Versatility may justify paying Taylor more than the highest paid slot corner, but his utilization does not. He may play inside and outside corner but at the end of the day, he’s is an inside player who plays outside at times.
The Saints re-signing Taylor probably wouldn’t have made the list, but it would have been questionable nonetheless. He would have received a little bump due to versatility. A bump to $17 million would have been too much, because the hope is eventually Kool-Aid McKinstry and Quincy Riley are your outside corners. The end goal will result in paying Taylor $17 million just to play inside. There wouldn’t have been a justification for that.
Add us as a preferred source on Google