1) Introduction: When Ryan Taylor was drafted in 2011, many wondered what the Packers were thinking. Could the team possibly head to training camp with five tight ends? They did and kept four in 2012 with Taylor once again among them. A special teams ace as much as anything else, Taylor showed enough in camp again to make the team’s 53-man roster heading into the regular season
2) Profile:
Ryan Lawrence Taylor
- Age: 24
- Born: 11/16/1987, in Winston-Salem, NC
- Height: 6’3”
- Weight: 254
- Rookie Year: 2011
- NFL Experience: 2 years
(3) Expectations coming into the season: Taylor was expected to once again be mainly a special teams contributor. He only had one catch in his rookie year (though it was a touchdown) and the Packers had other options above Taylor as a receiving tight end and that was evident in Taylor only playing 130 offensive snaps all season.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Just like his rookie year, Taylor only had one catch but this one was longer (11 yards) yet it wasn’t a touchdown. Taylor’s lowlight came in the form of a $21,000 fine in November for an illegal block against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 9.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Taylor was part of a special teams unit that featured some successful trick plays early in the season but other than that his impact was minimal.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: None.
Season Report Card:
(C-) Level of expectations met during the season
(D+) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(N/A) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: D+
——————Kris Burke is a sports writer covering the Green Bay Packers for AllGreenBayPackers.com and WTMJ in Milwaukee. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) and his work has been linked to by sites such as National Football Post and CBSSports.com. Follow @KrisLBurke
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Taylor played more snaps on ST than anyone else… He’s obviously doing something right in that department.
I think you should alter your grading scale next season..
If the expectation for a guy is only ST for example and he ends up catching 5 passes for 60 yards or so, while playing 200 snaps of offense, he’s technically exceeded those expectations by a lot! so he should get a B+ or better grade for expectations met..
But since his production and contribution were still very limited and if he say was proving to be a really bad player, he’d still deserve a bad overall grade, but the A in expectations would bump him up too far..
When I do my overall grade, each “sub-grade” isn’t factored in equally. And there are also other factors I consider. Not sure how my fellow writers do their, but that’s how I do mine.
Yet another ST player. As a TE, non-existent. Not sure he should be taking a roster spot if O and D could use the bodies.
The fine was BS and shouldn’t count
Pretty good ST’s player. I’d give Taylor a C- at worst.
Taylor is the meanest, nastiest sonofabitch that the Packers put on the field on Sudays.
And that’s a good thing.