What’s that? Eagles news that isn’t an endless slew of rumors surrounding Carson Wentz? Impossible. The team announced on Tuesday afternoon that they’d claimed CB Shakial Taylor off of waivers from the New York Giants. Here is everything you need to know.
Whenever a new coordinator or Head Coach enters the fray, there is typically a run of players who have worked under them previously that follow suit. Taylor becomes the first in what could be a substantial line of players to have previously played under one of the new Eagles coaches.
Taylor entered the league in 2019 as a UDFA with the Indianapolis Colts, where he of course worked with Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who at the time was the teams’ DB coach. Appearing in 5 games and recording 7 tackles along with one pass defense as a rookie, the 6’1, 181 lbs, corner seemed to show some promise after making his debut against the Chiefs. Five of those tackles came against the Jags, but he was waived 8 days later.
After landing in Denver, he then bounced to New York ahead of the 2020 season. Due to the pandemic, Taylor opted out and the Giants were unable to officially part ways with him. When they did, the Eagles pounced.
Prior to making the leap to the NFL, Taylor played for the University of Kansas after transferring from a JUCO named Mesa community college.
Taylor might not provide a direct answer for the CB2 questions hovering over the team right now, but he’s at least listed at 6-1, not under 6-0 like every other corner currently on the roster not-named Darius Slay or Michael Jacquet. He could easily find himself in contention for a depth role on the outside as Rasul Douglas once did and with schematic experience, maybe there’s a chance he’s the next in a long line of underdog CB’s to make an impact on gameday.
Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire
