Ja'Sir
Taylor.
Ja'Sir
Taylor.
Wake Forest
"He set a Wake Forest record by appearing in 62 games and never once looked like an outside corner, which is exactly why the 214th pick worked: a nickel body with special teams equity that four NFL teams have now found a use for."Pre-draft read
A slot-sized, sub-package corner whose value was always going to come from volume snaps on teams and inside coverage reps on third down. At 5-10 1/2 and 186 pounds with 30 7/8-inch arms, Taylor is compact and thickly built rather than long, and he plays with the short-area quickness the pro day numbers promised: a 4.25 shuttle, a 6.84 cone and a 37-inch vertical off a 4.47 forty.
He is at his best with his eyes in the backfield, triggering downhill on screens and flats, and tackling in space, where five college seasons of special teams work show up. Outside against size he is a mismatch waiting to be found, and his ball production stayed modest: six interceptions and 24 pass breakups across 62 games in Winston-Salem.
A nickel-heavy match-quarters defense that keeps its slot corner near the line and asks him to blitz, fit the run and carry option routes rather than travel with a No. 1 receiver.
Year 1: fifth defensive back and core four teams player. Ceiling: a full-time nickel who plays 500 defensive snaps in sub packages.
A press-man defense that leaves its corners isolated outside the numbers against tall receivers with no safety help over the top.
His floor is the kicking game, which is why he has kept getting signed even as the defensive role has moved around.
Wake Forest's Ja'Sir Taylor Takes A Kickoff Back 99 Yards
The 2021 opener against Old Dominion, the play that made him ACC Specialist of the Week.
2017 NSD Highlights: Ja'Sir Taylor
The New Jersey high school tape Wake Forest signed in January 2017.
Ja'Sir Taylor | 2024 Highlights
His last full season of Chargers snaps before the trade to New York.
Taylor was a three-star recruit out of Brick Township in New Jersey who committed to Wake Forest in January 2017 over an offer from Temple, then never left the field. He appeared in all 13 games as a true freshman, starting two, and finished with 27 tackles and five pass breakups. That set the pattern for a five-year career in which availability was his loudest trait.
The production arrived late. He had 30 tackles and two interceptions as a junior in 2019, then broke out in the shortened 2020 season with 42 tackles, two interceptions and six breakups in nine games, including a 45-yard pick-six at NC State that was Wake Forest's first since 2018. As a fifth-year senior in 2021 he posted career highs of 60 tackles and 47 solo stops, added two more interceptions and tied for the team lead with three fumble recoveries, and took the opening kickoff of the season 99 yards for a touchdown against Old Dominion.
That return made him the first Demon Deacon to score on his first career kick return. He earned honorable mention All-ACC in both 2020 and 2021, played in the East-West Shrine Bowl and set a program record with 62 appearances. Teams saw a sixth-round nickel body with special teams equity and no outside-corner projection.
- 01
Program-record availability
62 career appearances at Wake Forest, five straight seasons on the field without a lost year.
- 02
Short-area explosion
a 4.25 shuttle, 6.84 cone and 37-inch vertical at his pro day, the athletic profile of a natural nickel.
- 03
Special teams equity
a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown against Old Dominion and ACC Specialist of the Week honors in 2021.
- 04
Turnover instincts late
six career interceptions and three fumble recoveries as a senior, with a 45-yard pick-six at NC State.
- 05
Downhill tackling
285 career tackles from the secondary, including 47 solo stops in his final season as a fifth-year senior.
- 01
Size limits alignment
at 5-10 1/2 and 186 pounds with 30 7/8-inch arms, he has no realistic projection as an outside corner.
- 02
Modest ball production
24 pass breakups and six interceptions across 62 games is thin output for a five-year starter-level career.
- 03
Late bloomer profile
his first interception did not arrive until his junior year, and half his tackles came in the last two seasons.
- 04
Recovery speed
a 4.47 forty is adequate rather than a weapon, and vertical routes from the slot can stress him downfield.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Wake Forest | 13 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2018 | Wake Forest | 13 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 2019 | Wake Forest | 13 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2020 | Wake Forest | 9 | 42 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 2021 | Wake Forest | 13 | 60 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Career | — | 62 | 285 | 1 | 6 | 24 | 1 |
Season and career lines come from the Chargers' 2022 draft-pick bio, which reproduces Wake Forest's official collegiate statistics table; the five seasons sum exactly to 62 games, 285 tackles, one sack, six interceptions, 24 pass breakups, one forced fumble and three fumble recoveries. Tackles for loss are only listed where cfbstats verifies them (1.0 in 2020, 4.0 in 2021) and are left out of the other seasons rather than filled with zeros. cfbstats credits him with 14 games in 2021 because it counts the bowl game; the official 13-game figure is kept so the season lines still add up to the program-record 62 appearances. Zeros shown are verified zeros.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Late-round nickel body whose roster value rests on special teams volume with spot defensive snaps.
Undersized slot defender who built a long career on run fits, blitzing and toughness rather than length.
Sixth-round corner who never turned early rotational reps into a stable defensive role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Los Angeles took him 214th and used him exactly as drafted. He played all but one game as a rookie in 2022 with three starts, 22 tackles and 268 special teams snaps, then took a real step in 2023: 16 appearances, six starts, 532 defensive snaps, his first interception, eight pass breakups and 32 tackles as the Chargers' nickel. That year was the return on the pick. In 2024 his role shrank to 15 games, two starts and 22 tackles, and he finished the season on injured reserve in January 2025.
The 2025 season turned into a relocation. He was a reserve for nine games in Los Angeles with eight tackles before the Chargers traded him to the Jets on November 4 for a 2028 seventh-round pick, and he made eight appearances with one start and 13 tackles in New York. Cincinnati signed him to a one-year deal on April 2, 2026, then placed him on injured reserve on August 30 as the Bengals cut to 53. Through four seasons he has 47 games, 11 starts, 97 tackles, one interception and 15 pass breakups — a sixth-rounder who gave his drafting team a year as a starter and three more as a teams-first depth corner.