Jonathan Taylor has had ridiculous running back stats since high school. Growing up in Salem, New Jersey, Taylor played for Salem High and had 4,642 rushing yards and 51 touchdowns. In his senior season, he set the New Jersey rushing record with 2,815 yards. He averaged 234.6 yards per game and had 35 rushing touchdowns!
That high school success followed Taylor into college where he only had one season under 2,000 rushing…his freshman season when he ran for 1,977 yards. In his three years at Wisconsin, Taylor had 6,174 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns. He even had a game in his sophomore season where he ran for 321 yards against Purdue.
Perhaps the most impressive part of Taylor’s game is that he added pass catching and pass protection to his repertoire in his junior season when he had 26 catches for 252 yards and 5 touchdowns after having a combined 16 catches, 155 yards, and 0 touchdowns in his first two seasons. Taylor has size, speed, and durability which are huge factors for NFL running backs. He not only always seems to find the open hole, but he also does a great job of making tacklers miss.
There are two knocks on Taylor that could end up keeping him out of the first round. The first is that he has a tendency to fumble. He fumbled 15 times in three years, but when considered that he carried the ball 926 times, that is about 1.5% of his carries which is still a low number. The other, and more valid, concern is the wear and tear on his body. 926 carries over three seasons is a beating for a collegiate running back that is now going to try to make a name for himself in the NFL. This, more than anything, could be what keeps Taylor from being drafted #2 overall like Saquon Barkley was and pushes him to the early to mid second round tier.
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 226lbs
Arms: 31 1/8″
Hands: 9 1/2″
40-Yard Time: 4.39
Potential Landing Spots: Dolphins, Bucs, Jaguars, Seahawks