Should the St. Louis Rams Consider Signing Phil Taylor?

The Cleveland Browns made the most high-profile cut of training camp this year on Tuesday by releasing defensive lineman Phil Taylor, their first-round pick in 2011. The 6-foot-3, 335-pounder had been decently effective over four seasons in the league, collecting 109 combined tackles and seven sacks over 44 games. His ability to be versatile was especially impressive, as Taylor played nose tackle in both a 3-4 and 4-3 defense and played end last year in Mike Pettine’s 3-4. However, he had dealt with health issues in recent seasons and was limited to just five games (four starts) last season due to multiple knee surgeries.

While the selection of a similar defensive lineman, Danny Shelton, by GM Ray Farmer (who is two administrations removed from the group that selected Taylor), lessened the need for Taylor, there were also undoubtedly frustrations with Taylor’s health that led the Browns to part ways with their talented former first-rounder. Taylor immediately flirted with the former enemy, visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday, but the Steelers reportedly had concerns about Taylor needing another knee surgery and will not offer him a contract.

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With Taylor now freely available on the open market, one team that might make a lot of sense for him would be the St. Louis Rams. Though the Rams have one of the best top-three defensive tackle depth charts in the NFL, they’re quite bare beyond that point. Converted defensive end Ethan Westbrooks currently looks like the favorite, and though he’s reportedly bulked up to 280 pounds (he’s still listed at 267 pounds in the team’s official media guide), he still seems ill-equipped to back up the 6-foot-5, 326-pound Brockers at what has become a true nose tackle position with Donald’s emergence as a pass rusher.

While the Rams undoubtedly like the flexibility that the versatile Westbrooks gives them, as his presence could theoretically allow them to comfortable carry eight defensive linemen on the roster (four ends, three tackles, and Westbrooks as a hybrid), they really could use another legitimate defensive tackle and a proper backup for Brockers. They don’t have one in the system right now; Westbrooks’ chief competition for a job is 6-foot-1, 290-pound undrafted rookie Louis Trinca-Pasat, and the Rams released their only other pure nose tackle, 6-foot-5, 318-pound Doug Worthington, earlier this week. Taylor would give them insurance if Brockers, who’s dealt with numerous minor injuries throughout his short NFL career, ends up missing time this season.

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Of course, this is all assuming that Taylor can actually play. It’s not a given that he’ll have to have knee surgery—each team’s doctors have their own philosophies, and some may see things as more serious than others—but if he does, that would definitely complicate things. Then again, it’s always possible that the surgery could be a relatively minor arthroscopic operation that would probably sideline him for three or four weeks. If that’s the case, it might be smart for the Rams to lock him up as soon as possible so that he doesn’t sign with another team. They’re unlikely to even dress their eighth defensive lineman on gamedays unless an injury occurs, so Taylor could simply fill an inactive spot that otherwise would have gone to a healthy player.

If Taylor’s injury concerns are more serious than that, but still benign enough to allow him to contribute at some point this year, then he might not be worth giving a roster spot to early in the season—other teams likely aren’t going to have space for him, either—but he’d definitely be an interesting player to look at once he’s healthy, especially if the Rams suffer any injuries on the defensive interior.

With that said, the Rams haven’t been afraid to take chances on guys with health concerns before; they gave a big contract to tackle Jake Long, even after he had ended back-to-back seasons on injured reserve with a torn biceps and triceps, they handed out big money to guard Rodger Saffold, who reluctantly returned to St. Louis after the Oakland Raiders nullified their agreement with him following concerns about a shoulder injury (which ultimately did require surgery), and they traded for quarterback Nick Foles (who, granted, was less risky than the player he was swapped for, Sam Bradford) after his 2014 season was ruined by a collarbone injury. It’s notable that the two former moves have been failures to date, but it seems quite clear that this Rams front office is willing to accept injury risks in the name of a possible good value.

Taylor could play a similar role to the one that Shaun Rogers played on Gregg Williams’ New Orleans Saints defense in 2011. While that was by no means the best season of the 6-foot-4, 350-pounder’s career, he provided a very unique element to the Saints’ defensive tackle rotation and collected 22 tackles over 16 games and helped the team out on their way to the divisional round of the playoffs. If the Rams could get that kind of production out of Taylor and in the process acquire a reliable backup for Brockers, it would be a move worth making.

At this point, Taylor is a low-floor, high-ceiling player with plenty of risk attached to him, but if the Rams can get a valuable backup off the scrap heap at a position where they don’t have that much depth, what’s the sense in not at least considering it?

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