No one can blame Alontae Taylor for leaving the New Orleans Saints when the Tennessee Titans put a $60 million bonus on the table. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Taylor agreed to a three-year deal with the Titans that includes $42 million guaranteed — a huge payday for the veteran cornerback. This contract is larger than the contract his old teammate Paulson Adebo received from the New York Giants last offseason (three years, $54 million, of which $38.5 million is guaranteed).
This shows how much teams covet Taylor on the open market. His misses with the Saints may have come from too many missed tackles and poor defensive assignments, but he also made a lot of plays. He is the only cornerback in the past four years to have more than 50 passes defended and more than 20 tackles for loss. Factor in his versatility in the slot and outside and his prototype size, and you’ve got a pretty good player.
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Good luck to him in Tennessee. Taylor will likely spend more time guarding the boundary and matching up with opposing WR1 players than he did in New Orleans, where the Saints liked to play him in the slot. This allows him to get at the quarterback with well-designed blitzes to disrupt the running game. He can still do those things with the Titans, but with a higher salary comes greater responsibility.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: NFL Free Agency: Saints CB Alontae Taylor signs $60M deal with Titans
