Toughness is just part of Trent Taylor’s make up

There has been a common theme amongst many of the 49ers drafted and signed as free agents: toughness. Don’t be fooled by his size, at 5’8 and 181 pounds, wide receiver Trent Taylor is as tough as they come. He will likely start out his career in Santa Clara working on special teams but it won’t be long before he plays a bigger part in the offense.

Taylor, who has never been to California before, is ready to contribute in any way possible, wanting to play a role similar to what Taylor Gabriel has been doing for the Falcons.

Yeah, Taylor Gabriel, he was a guy that played with a couple of my buddies from high school. So that’s someone that I kind of paid attention to last season. They used him really well, obviously, he had a great season with them. Hopefully I can come in there and do the same thing, or even more, just play my role on the team and do whatever I can.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan, who had a draft crush on the young receiver, will start using Taylor in the slot but challenged him to learn other positions so he can be used as an offensive weapon in the X and/or Z positions.

Being multi faceted is as much a theme in Shanahan’s offense as how being tough is a part of the character of the new look 49ers and Taylor is both. At 160 pounds coming out of high school the receiver was only recruited by Louisiana Tech which laid a chip squarely on his shoulder.

Just people telling me my whole life that I’m not supposed to be here. So any time I get the ball, I want to prove them wrong, prove that I can compete with the best of them. I’m not scared to lay my head in there and hit anybody who comes my way.

Taylor played safety and cornerback in high school which allowed him to get those hits in.

Yeah. It’s something that’s always been in me. I love to hit. Playing defense, I loved doing that in high school. That was something that I loved to do. So any time I get the ball on offense, I’m not scared to lay my head in there and get a hit, lay somebody out, anything like that. Part of the game and I love it. There’s a bunch of clips of me knocking some people out in high school. I broke this kid’s jaw on one time, hitting him on a slant route. I didn’t mean to do that.

Taylor has broken someone’s jaw, C.J. Beathard broke his brother’s collar bone. What’s your guess on another draftee that has broken bones in his history?