Raiders' Trey Taylor Ready to Carry Lessons Learned at Air Force to NFL Career

Every NFL Draft prospect has experience entering the league, but not all experience is the same.

Las Vegas Raiders safety Trey Taylor, the 2023 Jim Thorpe Award winner, not only brings value to the Raiders as a football player but also as a man. Taylor came up through the Air Force Academy, where he received some of the best education one can get when it comes to self-development.

For that, Taylor feels he's going to fit in well with the Silver and Black.

"I've talked to a lot of the staff there," Taylor told reporters after he was drafted. "I’ve talked to the weight staff, I talked to the coaches and talked to a lot of the key personnel, and you can tell they run a tight ship. And I love that, I love that. But it fits me well coming from the Academy and I feel like I'm a killer on the field. Like, I have a different instinct when I get on the field and I brought that from the Academy, and I'm hoping to bring it onto this team. And I feel like there's a lot of people who have the same mentality on that team. So, definitely ready to go take on that identity.”

Taylor learned many life lessons while at the Academy.

"It taught me a lot about who I really am, the maturity I have as a person, taught me how to grow, how to spread my wings and made me the person I am today," he said. "So, I give everything I got back to the Academy and what it's done for me. I wouldn't be here without it, so I'm really happy I chose that.”

Taylor is now a little fish in a big pond. Being a seventh-round pick, he understands what his role could be.

“Especially in the later rounds, going to say they would love a special teamer out of me and I'm
going to do what the team needs me to do as soon as I get on there because I feel like I'm going to make my team better wherever I'm at," Taylor said. "But I'm competing for a starting spot wherever I go. So, I'm glad I landed at a spot like Vegas where they got a lot of good safeties there. They got a lot of good depth there on the defense period, but I have a really good feeling they're going to allow me to compete and do I love to do. I'm at my best game when I’m able to compete. A goal of mine is to be able to start this year and so that's what I'm [going to] look forward to.”

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