Eagles’ Davion Taylor is focused after his recovery from surgery. He faces competition at LB.

For the first time in his young career, Davion Taylor has made strategical and meaningful adjustments to his recovery program.

Last year, the emerging Eagles linebacker flashed his talent in several games, and he received a more prominent role that featured more reps within coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s defensive scheme. But Taylor’s breakout campaign ended abruptly in late November when he suffered a partially torn medial collateral ligament, an injury that required surgery and forcefully ended his season.

Nearly nine months later, Taylor, 24, is attempting to regain his footing among a revamped group of linebackers. Others on the depth chart include T.J. Edwards, Kyzir White, Nakobe Dean, Shaun Bradley, Christian Elliss, and JaCoby Stevens, plus outside linebackers Haason Reddick, Patrick Johnson, and Kyron Johnson.

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Part of Taylor’s revitalized recovery program includes daily massages; he’s also taking advantage of advanced rehabilitation methods, such as cryotherapy.

“This whole offseason, I’ve made it an emphasis with my recovery process,” Taylor said. “I’m touching all different parts of my muscles. I’m spending 45 minutes to one hour before practice, making sure I’m doing all those extra things taking care of my body. That’s an emphasis I didn’t do last year. I’m doing everything I can to prevent those soft-tissue injuries, so I won’t have another one this upcoming season.”

As he enters Year 3, the speed of the game is slowing down for Taylor, who was selected in the third round of the 2020 NFL draft. The ability to process offensive plays at a high rate is essential, especially for linebackers, who are responsible for defending the intermediate parts of the field.

“I was kind of rusty,” he said of his return to the field. “But I’m continuing [momentum] from last year. It really has slowed down. I’m able to make some things happen before they actually happen, like putting things into my mind. ... I know the defense like the back of my hand. I’m letting my athleticism take over and [I’m] playing fast.”

Taylor’s contributions in a new-look linebackers room will be dependent on his ceiling, talent, and availability. Besides the MCL tear, Taylor suffered several injuries earlier in his career, including to his knee and calf.

Before his season-ending MCL tear, Taylor logged 41 tackles, and he saw his opportunities increase. Taylor played in just 13% of defensive snaps in Week 2 vs. the 49ers. By Week 9, Taylor’s playing time was up to 71%.

Position coach Nick Rallis has taken notice of Taylor’s ability to anticipate and break down plays as they occur.

“When you talk about instincts, it’s what a player sees with their eyes and what they are processing,” Rallis said earlier in the month. “The biggest thing with [Taylor] starts with his eyes and what he is seeing. Right now, he’s doing a tremendous job, and the game has slowed down for him extremely. He understands when an offense gets in a formation, and he alerts for a certain motion about to happen.

“You can see he’s taken huge strides as a football player. He’s done a great job.”

Taylor concluded: “To be honest ... I’m competing and stacking each day because you never know what can happen.”

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