Stepfan Taylor Rookie Fantasy Spotlight
Byron Lambert, Rosterwatch.com

Photo By Alex Dunlap

Height: 5’9″
Weight: 214 Pounds
40-Time: 4.68
Drafted: 5th Round (Arizona Cardinals)

Scouting Report:

Our first impression the week of Senior Bowl practice was that Stepfan Taylor is a plodding and unspectacular between-the-tackles runner. Attributes which showed up during his god-awful 4.76 40 yard dash at the Combine, a number he was able to slightly improve at his college pro-day. As the Senior Bowl week progressed Taylor grew on us in a very sneaky way. He was productive. Something about his style had “NFL-ish” written all over it. Compelled to go back and watch more tape, we saw a tough runner with a low center of gravity that has some short area burst and good enough feet to make a few nifty moves around defenders.

These are the traits the Arizona Cardinals saw when they drafted him. Taylor’s former head coach at Stanford, David Shaw echoed those sentiments during the Draft. Adamantly saying Taylor is a very NFL-ready back who will have a productive career. Stanford runs a pro-style system and Shaw is highly respected in NFL circles.

Eventually, Stepfan Taylor and 6th Round rookie classmate RB Andre Ellington will have the opportunity to be a Thunder / Lightning running back duo for the Cardinals- with Taylor assuming the workhorse role. It’s not a stretch to imagine Taylor becoming the next late round running back gem in the Vick Ballard / Alfred Morris mold. Ballard (5’10”, 219 lb, 4.65) was a 5th round pick last year and Morris (5’9″, 219 lb, 4.67) was a 6th round pick.

Fantasy Analysis:

For the foreseeable future this is Rashard Mendenhall’s job to lose. He is the most talented runner on the Cardinals roster by a significant margin. Still, we know that Mendenhall is an odd duck who has an injury history. Most pundits will recommend Ryan Williams as the handcuff to own in Arizona. We say bologna. Williams went down way too easily on first contact last year and we know he already has a significant injury history of his own.

While we admit a Mendenahall injury probably leaves fantasy players with a cluster-fudge option in the Cardinals backfield- we will get out in front of this one and predict that Stepfan Taylor is the handcuff option to own here. Which leaves Taylor as a late-round flier in deep leagues or more likely a free agent watch-list candidate in standard leagues. We fully expect Taylor to get a legitimate crack at the job in the next 2-3 yr which makes him a better option in keeper leagues and a virtual must-own in Dynasty formats.