A little love for safety Curtis Taylor?

by David Fucillo on May 17, 2009 8:00 AM PDT in San Francisco 49ers News

Seventh round draft choices don't often get a lot of attention during the offseason. They're expected to battle in training camp, but often, anything you get from them can be considered a bonus. Since the draft, Ricky Jean-Francois has gotten a hefty amount of discussion in part because he was considered a greater talent than where he went. That is certainly not a rarity.

However, our other seventh round choice, Curtis Taylor, a safety also out of LSU, has not gotten anywhere near as much attention. He is expected to battle Dashon Goldson and Mark Roman for playing time at the free safety position. I bring him up now because I found an interesting article from early last week that mentioned Taylor in quite the positive light.

A member of Football Outsiders wrote an article for ESPN discussing ten rookies who would make an immediate impact. It's an Insider article, so I'll pull out the relevant part. The article listed nine players in the first through third rounds. The tenth player was our very own Curtis Taylor. Here's what they had to say:

Curtis Taylor (FS, 49ers, Round 7, Pick 219)

Nearly every year, a late-round safety surprises and makes the starting lineup of an unsuspecting team. Our best guess for this year's surprise safety is Taylor, a talented athlete who started at LSU. He has some overpursuit and aggressiveness issues that can be coached away, and all that's in front of him is 32-year-old safety Mark Roman, who allowed over 10 yards per attempt in coverage last year. Taylor could bring an intimidating edge to a defense in which the most intimidating facet is on the sideline with a headset each week.

One problem with their point is the fact that in reality, Dashon Goldson is also in front of him for playing time as a free safety. If Goldson stays healthy (a big if), the job is his to lose. However, if he can't stay healthy, is it too crazy to think that Taylor could snatch the starting job?

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Not crazy at all

In all honesty, its not like our FS position is locked down by Goldson, and its not like Goldson is an iron man. If Taylor can show any type of spark, or ball-hawking ability, he has a good shot at making a seventh round Colston-like impact.

Plus, it will set us up perfectly for next year, when we’ll have the Twin Taylors roaming the secondary positions. Atleast, that’s how it went down in my Madden chise.

by Andrew Davidson on May 17, 2009 8:04 AM PDT reply actions

I dunno

I think we may have found our Taylor here a year early….

MURS for President!!!!!!!

by jtoj on May 17, 2009 11:20 AM PDT up reply actions

He probably won't start

But if he shows any talent at all, he will be the backup, forcing Mark Roman to retire or play in the arena league – and that is a GOOD thing.

We’ll keep Lewis, Goldson, Reggie Smith and Taylor. Jimmy Williams might make it as a fifth if he shows some focus and discipline to go with his athletic talent.

By next year, I think we’ll have a solid group here. But cornerback is still a problem. We’ll miss Strickland more than some fans realize. Spencer is brittle, Harris is older than dirt, Tarell still needs to prove himself, and Hudson is probably just a journeyman. We’ll be drafting one or two corners next spring, I think.

by Grumpy Guy on May 17, 2009 1:05 PM PDT reply actions

I loved Strick

sucks that he left.
I’ll always remember that game saving deflection two years ago against BJ.

MURS for President!!!!!!!

by jtoj on May 17, 2009 4:02 PM PDT up reply actions

That's a good thing.

Curtis Taylor “has some over pursuit and aggressiveness issues.” Personally, I always loved to have players who would sometimes get themselves out of position because they were too aggressive! It is easier too slow a kid down and teach him to be more careful than it is to teach a too-conservative kid to be aggressive. I realize their is a big difference between H.S. and the Pros, but …..

by CorneliusJ on May 17, 2009 4:10 PM PDT reply actions

taylor is a good player and i think he’s going to end up being a steal!

i cant stand roman and just about anyone would be an improvement

im gonna be all up on you like a spider monkey!

by remembering9ergods on May 17, 2009 4:35 PM PDT reply actions

Not so fast!

Since our safety positions are interchangeable, the next guy after Goldson would be R. Smith, and then probably Williams….

Taylor has to fight to earn a back-up position first, because there are a few guys ahead of him.

by SportsChicken on May 17, 2009 6:43 PM PDT reply actions

What about Willis?

“Taylor could bring an intimidating edge to a defense in which the most intimidating facet is on the sideline with a headset each week.”

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that this statement completely disregards Willis and the rest of the 49ers defense which is a top 10 defense in my opinion. They just need an offense to drive the ball and use some time so they can get some rest.

by urnext on May 17, 2009 9:10 PM PDT reply actions