Taylor Knows About Full-House Backfields

Patrick Taylor has overcome a lot of adversity to battle for a roster spot in the Green Bay Packers' backfield.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers running back Patrick Taylor went undrafted and sat out his rookie season following foot surgery.

While not the ideal way to start an NFL career, he kept things in perspective.

“It can always be worse, right?” Taylor said after Wednesday’s practice.

It was an easy perspective for Taylor. When he was 7, Hurricane Katrina brought devastation to New Orleans. The Taylors had moved from the city years before the storm struck, but a lot of family members felt Katrina’s wrath. So, his parents had about 50 people living in their home in Humble, Texas.

“That’s mostly where I got my selflessness and servant [attitude] from my parents because when they were there, we had to feed them and stuff like that,” Taylor said. “It was fun being able to spend time with our family. It was tough times for our families during that time of Hurricane Katrina, them coming down and some losing their homes.”

At the University of Memphis, Taylor emerged as a star with 546 rushing yards as a freshman, 866 yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore and 1,122 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior. He entered his senior season as one of the better running back prospects for the 2020 draft. Instead, he suffered a dreaded Lisfranc foot injury in the 2019 opener.

Taylor was given two options: one that would allow him to return to action and one that would end his season. Taylor, eager to cement his draft status, took the first option. The injury didn’t heal properly, though, and he had a second round of surgery after the 2020 Scouting Combine.

“Nothing on Memphis,” Taylor said, “but you offer a kid that’s 20 years old at the time and had aspirations of going to the NFL and getting drafted that year, possibly upgrading his draft status, and you tell him, ‘Hey, we can get you back in six to eight weeks if you do this surgery or you do this sixth-month surgery and miss the whole year?’ I’m going to go with the six to eight weeks. Nothing against those guys. It was my decision.”

Taylor’s second surgery was done by Dr. Robert Anderson in Green Bay. The city didn’t leave a favorable first impression.

“It was freezing and snowing – snow everywhere,” Taylor said. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that I’d come here, right?’”

Taylor, of course, did come to Green Bay as an undrafted free agent, even though there was no expectation that he’d be healthy enough to contribute as a rookie.

“It means a lot,” he said. “I just owe them so much, and what I can do for them is be an asset to this football team, try to help in any way that I can whether that’s on special teams or on the offensive side of the ball. I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity that they’ve given me, to take a chance on me being hurt and sticking with me up until now.”

At 6-foot-2 and 217 pounds, Taylor is a big man with a running style similar to that of former Packers standout James Starks. In 44 career games at Memphis, he rushed for 2,884 yards and caught 55 passes. He’s caught the ball well throughout training camp, and his size showed up as a blocker during a one-on-one pass-protection drill on Tuesday. Moreover, coach Matt LaFleur has lauded Taylor for his intelligence twice over the past week and a notebook “as good as” some quarterbacks.

“I feel like I can bring a number of things,” Taylor said. “Being able to understand pass protection, being able to protect on third down as a big back, being able to catch the ball out of the backfield as a big back and sometimes line up in the slot, out at wideout. Being able to run inside and outside the tackles and also contribute on special teams on all four phases – kickoff, kickoff return, punt and punt return.”

Having sat out his rookie season and not played since scoring a touchdown against Penn State in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 28, 2019, Taylor is eager to suit up for the preseason opener on Saturday night against the Houston Texans. He’s put himself right in the mix to be the No. 3 running back, a battle that includes Dexter Williams and seventh-round rookie Kylin Hill.

“Man, I haven’t played real football in so long,” Taylor said. “I’m excited to finally get out there and play against somebody else. I’m excited about that.”