UDFA Leonard Taylor III fits a clear mold that the New York Jets love

Jets UDFA has a shot at playing a role on Jets defense in 2024

Players go undrafted for a variety of reasons. In the end, most of those reasons end up being validated, with the player making little to no impact as a professional.

However, UDFAs also make up a large percentage of the average NFL roster, comprising about ¹⁄₄ of the NFL at large.

There is one UDFA in particular who I think could wind up sticking for the New York Jets: Leonard Taylor III, a defensive tackle from Miami.

Taylor plays a clear position of need for the Jets, as I’ve outlined before.

Taylor may have been a victim of circumstance as his 2022 season was notably better than his 2023 season, with a PFF grade of 87.3 in the former and 74.8 in the latter. Had he declared after 2022, it is very possible that Taylor would not only have been drafted, but taken much higher. For reference, the first defensive tackle taken in the 2024 draft was Byron Murphy II, who had a PFF grade of 91.1. For further reference, Jer’Zhan Newton was a defensive tackle who was taken in round 2 an he had an overall PFF grade of 84.9 this eason.

Most importantly from my perspective, Taylor fits the mold for what the Jets value in their defensive linemen. Specifically, Taylor excels as a pass rusher. In support, here are some of his PFF grades from 2023:

• Pass rush grade: 82.3 (~95th percentile)
• True pass set pass rush grade: 82.4 (95th percentile)
• Pass rush win rate: (14.7% 95th percentile)

2023 was his worst season, and this also applied to his pass rushing. By comparison, his pass rush grade in 2022 was slightly higher at 85.5.

Where Taylor’s profile lags behind is his run defense, where PFF gave him a grade of only 64.4, which was approximately a 30th percentile score among defensive interior lineman with 300+ snaps. While undoubtedly important, the Jets have given less value to this aspect of defensive play in recent years, which may make this a lesser concern for the Jets than it would for other teams.

Overall, this seems like a situation where the player’s skillset and the team he landed with are perfectly aligned. Beyond that, Taylor’s potential is rather high by UDFA standards, which may give him a leg up on other players in the event that their level of play in camp is similar. Taylor seems like a UDFA who could stick on the roster, so he’s likely a name to keep an eye on.