From now until the 2024 NFL Draft takes place, we hope to scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top 10 picks, all the way down to Day 3 selections and priority undrafted free agents. Today, a scouting report on Texas Tech S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson.
#1 DADRION TAYLOR-DEMERSON/S TEXAS TECH – 5-10, 197 POUNDS. (RS SENIOR)
Combine/Pro Day
MEASUREMENTS
| Player | Ht/Wt | Hand Size | Arm Length | Wingspan |
| Dadrion Taylor-Demerson | 5103/197 | 9 3/8″ | 30 7/8″ | 74 1/4″ |
| 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Dash | Short Shuttle | 3-Cone | |
| 4.41 | 1.52 | N/A | N/A | |
| Broad Jump | Vertical | Bench Press | ||
| 10’3″ | 38″ | 21 |
THE GOOD
– Can play multiple positions and in multiple schemes
– Vertical and horizontal speed to stay with almost any receiver
– Very intelligent and instinctive player who knows where the ball is going to be
– Identifies and diagnoses plays quickly to react with elite closing speed
– Anticipates routes and forces incompletions and turnovers with frequency
– Doesn’t get caught chasing guys, but rather runs to the spot with urgency
– Impressive fluidity and ability to stay low in his backpedal
– Oily hips to make breaks and mirror receivers during change of direction sequences
– Quick trigger to come downhill and fill gaps in run support
– Excellent communicator with the defense
– Knows where run plays are going and can make plays from all over the field
– Makes the most of his opportunities to create turnovers
THE BAD
– Doesn’t have prototypical size and strength for a safety
– Doesn’t take the best tackling angles in run support to drive through guys
– Can get too focused on reading the quarterback’s eyes and lets receivers get behind him
– Much better tackler this past season, but still needs more patience on wide runs
– Can be beaten out by taller receivers and tight ends for jump balls sometimes
– Overaggressive can create negative plays running past the ball carrier or trying to bit too quickly on a route
BIO
– 2,859 career snaps (1,489 FS, 813 slot CB, 448 SS, and 65 outside CB)
– 2023 season: 74 tackles, 9 missed tackles, 8 PD’s, 4 INT’s, 3 TD’s allowed and a 65 passer rating allowed
– 36 career starts and appeared in 54 games over 5 seasons
– 2023 Second Team All-Big 12
– 2021 Honorable Mention All-Big 12
– 501 special teams snaps (73% of them on kick and punt coverage)
– Three-star HS recruit according to 247Sports
– 2018 Oklahoma 5A Player of the Year
– He ran a 21.60-second 200-meter dash in high school and is nicknamed “Rabbit”
TAPE BREAKDOWN
Dadrion “Rabbit” Taylor-Demerson is the definition of a ball-hawking safety who can create splash plays and impact in a variety of ways that will be appealing to NFL defensive coordinators. He didn’t even play defensive back full-time until he went to Texas Tech. In high school, he was an exemplary running back who totaled 4,611 career rushing yards. For his first two years, he mostly played on special teams and sometimes rotated into the defense on the back end.
This past season (2023) was when everything started to come full circle on his potential. He had a career-high 4 interceptions, earning second-team All-Big 12 honors. He then played in the East-West Shrine Bowl and was one of the best players there. Here he is mirroring and matching the very shifty and crafty Malik Washington in practice there in a 1-on-1 battle that was teach-tape on how to stay low, in phase and not have to get grabby in press.
He is No. 1 in all of the following clips:
— Jim Hester (@Jh86Guy) March 24, 2024
Taylor-Demerson can fulfill many roles for a defense. He can play in the slot in off-man coverage, he can be a football bullet with his speed coming downhill for physicality in run support situations, and he can also make sideline-to-sideline plays when the offense shifts to play-action, backyard football. Watch the pursuit from the end zone to close on the receiver before he can even get the first down.
— Jim Hester (@Jh86Guy) March 24, 2024
The football intelligence in space when he’s aligned as a deep safety is high level stuff to watch. Whether he’s in single or two-high looks, he almost always makes the right read to break on the ball. He has the horizontal and vertical speed to come out off his backpedal or shuffle quickly to accelerate to the receiver or runner. There is no part of the field that’s safe when he’s in coverage, and he shows great pre-snap communication skills to call out routes, shifts, motions, etc.
— Jim Hester (@Jh86Guy) March 24, 2024
— Jim Hester (@Jh86Guy) March 24, 2024
He is keenly aware of receiver depth in their route stem and closes on intermediate and flat routes with suddenness to not allow yards after catch. He is also adept at knowing when to undercut passes or jump routes that show just how good his instincts are.
— Jim Hester (@Jh86Guy) March 24, 2024
— Jim Hester (@Jh86Guy) March 24, 2024
He has good closing burst and a white-hot motor. Taylor-Demerson is a solid run defender because of his ability to take proper angles, and uses his very fast closing speed to make tackles. He’s a wrap-up tackler who competes to separate from blockers and sometimes is able to elude blockers just because of his quickness and elusiveness.
His lack of size and over-aggressiveness can work against him. Taylor-Demerson struggles with large tight ends and offensive linemen who pull in the run game where his lack of size gets washed out on blocks. He also shows a propensity to take steep angles to the ball carrier and can run himself out of plays. Something that got better this past season but is still an issue is him ducking his head before making tackles. Although he can high point the ball with his catch timing and verticality, he just doesn’t have the size to play “above the rim” with taller receivers and tight ends. Good quarterbacks could bait him at times with their eye manipulation because of his eagerness to make a play, but this didn’t frequently occur. He also doesn’t have the “pop” hits on his tackles that stand out on tape, but is more than a willing tackler to get in on the action.
CONCLUSION
What a fun player to evaluate and watch on film. Taylor-Demerson is a true centerfielder safety with slot capabilities. Intelligence, processing, burst, speed, physicality,and whatever acronym you want to use, he has it in spades. He is truly only limited by his size, but he gives you a ballhawk on the back end of your defense that provides adequate run support. He’ll need to work on his tackling technique going through guys up the middle instead of so many leg tackles, and not overly relying on his instincts to be baited by quarterbacks.
Tyrann Mathieu is the player comparison I kept coming back to for Taylor-Demerson because they both play the game at full speed, have great football intelligence to read and react on the ball, and come at you quick, fast and in a hurry. With the way the modern NFL is, it’s not a bad idea to have two safeties who can be your eyes and ears of the defense to make plays and cover all sides of the field.
Pittsburgh could really use a guy like Taylor-Demerson because he’s the kind of playmaker they covet, but it’s hard to tell if they are looking for more of a traditional box safety who can moonlight in the slot position. Those are questions that may not be answered until the draft, but this is a player I would absolutely pound the table for, with his best football ahead of him. He only has room to grow. Taylor-Demerson will be an immediate impact starter on a team with the potential for being a Pro Bowl player in the future with his skill set. He is undoubtedly one of the best safeties in this draft class.
Projection: Mid-Day Two
Depot Draft Grade: 8.4 – Future Quality Starter (Second Round)
Games Watched: at Kansas (2023), at Texas (2023), at NC State (2022), at Ole Miss (2022)
