WATCH: Taywan Taylor getting the best of the Buccaneers during joint practice

The Tennessee Titans are banking on second year receiver Taywan Taylor taking a big leap forward in 2018. The former Hilltopper struggled to consistently find the field last year, but appears set for a big role with a new staff in place. Taylor showed us why in the early portions of today’s joint practice with the Buccaneers.

First, Taylor won a deep ball by breaking off his route and leaping back over a defender for the grab. There aren’t many questions about his speed and ability to get deep, but it’s good to see him pull in a contested ball like this.

Here you see Taylor working in the intermediate and coming away with another win.

And finally you see him winning on a slant route after selling the go route.

To be fair, the defensive backs are setup to fail in these one on one situations. However, Taylor did what he was supposed to do.

We probably unfairly pigeonholed him as just a slot guy last season. He’s been handling outside work with success so far in camp. It’s even been speculated that he could be the Titans’ version of Sammy Watkins, which could prove to be valuable to other receivers on the team working in the intermediate.

Having that speed element is something the Titans haven’t had in some time. Hopefully Taylor continues his progress and becomes a consistent winner downfield for Marcus Mariota.