New Orleans Saints defensive back Alontae Taylor's improvement fueled by acceptance

'If I'm going to play the nickel, then I'm going to be the best nickel I can possibly be'

Aug 02, 2024 at 05:34 PM

John DeShazier

Senior Writer

Full coverage of the New Orleans Saints workouts during 2024 Training Camp at the University of California, Irvine on Wednesday, July 31.

Irvine, Calif. – Acceptance was incomplete to the point of distraction last year for Alontae Taylor.

He considered himself a cornerback, and still does. And playing slot corner didn't fit his agenda, desire or taste. So when the New Orleans Saints asked him to do it anyway – trusting in Taylor to the point that starting slot corner Bradley Roby was traded days before the regular-season opener – Taylor didn't fully embrace the faith that had been placed in him.

Eight practices into training camp at Cal-Irvine, and an offseason of reflection, study and acceptance, have helped put Taylor in a frame of mind to be what the Saints need him to be. And while it has been evident during team drills, the one-on-one work he has put in against receiver Chris Olave has been eye-opening.

An aggressive, handsy Taylor has been a formidable foe for Olave, his draft classmate – Olave was a first-round pick in 2022, Taylor was a second rounder – and a 1,000-yard receiver in each of his first two seasons. They've found themselves repeatedly lined up against each other in one-on-ones.

"It's great," Taylor said Friday. "I think Chris is seeking out for me, too. We're making each other better.

"Today after the last rep, he kind of said it, 'Keep going, we're going to make each other great.' I told Chris before camp started, I told him there was no reason he shouldn't be an All-Pro receiver this year, no reason he shouldn't be a Pro Bowl receiver. I'm going to push him every single day, he's going to push me and make me better every single day. I love it.

"I think it's like 50-50, we kind of go neck-in-neck, not he's killing me or I'm killing him. Learning something every single day and I'm excited to have him on my team. I'm going to seek some Rashid (Shaheed), too. I need some Rashid reps, not just Chris."

What Taylor needed – total devotion to his position – is what he now has.

"The one thing I've seen out of Alontae is a want-to and a willingness to do the job that we're asking him to do," Coach Dennis Allen said Friday. "That's one of those things where, look, there's a lot of noise outside the building as to, should you be a slot corner or an outside corner? What's a slot corner get paid, what's an outside corner get paid? Blah blah blah, all this B.S.

"And it's like, just go and make plays. And if you do that everything kind of takes care of itself. I think that's something that he has really embraced this season. He's embraced that role as the slot corner. There's still some things that he's got to improve on, but if you just said – and we're in practice No. 8 into training camp – and where we're at now at practice 8 compared to where we were last year at practice No. 8, I think he's leaps and bounds ahead of where he was last year.

"I see a guy that's highly competitive and wants to take that next step and be not an elite slot corner, not an elite outside corner, but an elite player in our league. The thing I've been most impressed with is his mind-set."

All-Access Photos: 2024 Saints Training Camp practice 8/2/24