Last year during camp, I told Jordan Taylor he was my guy. It’s an odd thing for one dude to tell another dude, but I meant it in the football parlance of “you are gonna be the guy that nobody sees coming that’s gonna make this team.”
Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. For the first time in nine years and undrafted rookie did NOT make the 53-man squad, however, the Broncos thought enough of him to put Taylor on the practice squad.
Taylor even got his nickname, “Sunshine,” because of his long hair and his resemblance to the character of the same flowing locks in the movie Remember the Titans. The nickname stuck, because, well, everybody called him Sunshine. The movie character was ambigously gay and a dynamite football player. I’m guessing the nickname for Taylor was firmly rooted in his flow out the back of his helmet.
Sunshine was an interesting part of the Peyton Manning story last year. Manning had a small cadre of players and equipment folk who would train with him in the fieldhouse away from the team. Manning would more or less run the practice himself with cones and drills and anything else he wanted. Just like a real practice, Manning would have the session filmed so he could review it and the coaches could see where he was at. Head coach Gary Kubiak has since spun an infamous tale of Manning giving the coaching staff the bird after a session late in his rehab when he clearly felt he was ready to return.
Sunshine was a big part of these sessions. In fact, if you listen to Manning talk, Sunshine was a superstar during these practices. Most practice squad guys don’t get mentioned EVER by first ballot hall of fame QBs. Sunshine’s name came up again and again and again. “I don’t think I could have gotten through my rehab and gotten back had it not been for him, “Manning stated last season, “I appreciate his help.” To prove that, Manning bought Sunshine a couple of suits for the Super Bowl trip. The legend of Manning grows. But, the story of Jordan Taylor may just be beginning.
On Day 2 of Training camp, Sunshine didn’t need Manning’s help to get attention. During 7-on-7, Sunshine had already made a couple of terrific grabs, beating cornerbacks for a deep touchdown and a tough catch over the middle. Then came the greatest catch anybody has ever seen at Dove Valley. It was right out of the Odell Beckham playbook.
Running against cornerback Taureen Nixon, the ball was flung high and deep along the sideline by Mark Sanchez. I was standing about 10 feet away and thought as the ball was in the air, “no way on this one.” The ball was at a bit of an awkward angle, directly over Sunshine’s head. It just didn’t look like there was any way Taylor could catch up to it, never mind turn to catch it. Taylor then pulled off the impossible, twisting his body in a completely different direction as if it was a back-shoulder fade – which it wasn’t, throwing his right hand in the air in a desperate move, catching the ball with one hand with his back now turned toward the sideline, pulling it in with one hand to his body, falling down and doing a summersault while possessing the ball in bounds. Breathtaking!
After practice, Sunshine gosh golleyed it up and didn’t make a big deal of the play in front of a huge throng of media, but let’s not forget, it was a similiar catch that made Odell Beckham millions of dollars. This catch was just as good. Will this be a million-dollar catch for Sunshine?
Everybody was talking about it. Kubiak praised it. A fan in the crowd tweeted it and many member of the media retweeted it. Eventually, the Broncos went to their practice film and posted it on their website. It most likely will be running over and over again today on ESPN and NFL network. Jordan Taylor’s life will change forever after today and it was pretty cool to be standing ten feet away from this moment as it happened.
The Broncos receiving depth is DEEP. There is no guarantees that Sunshine makes this team, but I think it would be crazy to let him get away. He WILL be on a 53 man roster after this camp and it WILL be because of this catch which will be seen by every single NFL person and fan in the country before the end of the day.
Jordan Taylor was my guy last year. This year – well, he certainly doesn’t need me….or Peyton Manning.
