Tyrod Taylor gets another chance to show he’s no ordinary journeyman

You go to a Buffalo and win the starting job, and make a Pro Bowl, and end the franchise’s 18 year playoff drought. And then they trade you to Cleveland, and you win the starting job there, then you get hurt and Baker Mayfield replaces you in Week 3. And then the Chargers name you the starter, and you suffer a rib injury in Week 2 pregame warm ups, and have your lung punctured by a painkiller injection and the Justin Herbert Era begins.

And eventually you come to New York, and you replace an injured Daniel Jones , and this time it isn’t a first overall pick like Mayfield or a top five pick like Herbert who replaces you. It is an undrafted rookie free agent named Tommy DeVito, who is known now as Tommy Cutlets. This league can crush your soul if you let it.

But Tyrod Taylor never let it. And so the cruel football gods decided to show him some mercy and allowed him to start this game against the Rams on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, and maybe the regular season finale against the Eagles to finish his two year career as a New York Giant before he surely moves on to his seventh franchise.

It has been a journey alternatively exhilarating and exasperating for the journeyman, playing 13 years for the love of a game that can force you to endure a dizzying roller coaster ride and leave lesser men asking “Why me?” His teammates will tell you it is the way he carries himself that has earned their universal respect inside 1925 Giants Drive.

Once A Pro’s Pro, Always A Pro’s Pro. Or perhaps: Once A Pro’s Pro, Only A Pro’s Pro. “It’s hard to be in this league as long as he’s been in this league,” Darius Slayton said. “It’s hard to play at the level he’s played at.” It’s easy to look up to the example he sets. “The way he handles things, he don’t ever cause any problems, but at the same time he has a lot of confidence.

He gives guys advice when he can, he encourages guys if they’re down,” Slayton said. “If you were a young guy, a rookie or something, that’s somebody that you want to emulate as a pro.” They say the same thing about Tyrod Taylor that every teammate and coach should say about his quarterback: first one in the facility, last one to leave.

Same guy every day. “The previous two years before he came here I trained with him in Atlanta,” Slayton said. “A lot of people are different people in different settings. But I can say that I’ve been around him in a few different settings, he’s always been the same. He always was good to me even when he didn’t know me from a can of paint.

I think that says a lot about a person.” It says a lot about a person who can overcome the kind of adversity that has followed Tyrod Taylor across the years. “Now kinda being around him, knowing who he is as a person, you could see why he was able to push through that adversity,” Xavier McKinney said.

“He never changes regardless of the situations, or even when it’s not in his favor, he always stays himself.” He never flinches. Go ahead and throw him into the fire in the second half in Philadelphia. “Especially in this business, it’s hard to not show that you’re affected by the things that happen,” McKinney said.

“It could be tough at times, especially in that position playing quarterback.” Taylor three years ago posted on Instagram: “Adversity will teach you lessons that mountain tops never will.” “He just has that leadership ability of like when he says something, people listen,” Isaiah Hodgins said.

No one should expect Taylor to win any shootout with Matthew Stafford on Sunday. At the very least, he will bring a sense of calm to the huddle and give the Giants a chance. “I think Ty’s a guy that’s always just kinda looking forward, trying to get better each and every day, and no matter where he’s at in his career or what he’s doing, he’s just true to himself,” Parris Campbell said.

There isn’t a place Tyrod Taylor would rather be than on a football field … or maybe fashion show. “I’m a big fan of his fashion,” McKinney said. McKinney, asked to describe Taylor’s fashion style, said: “Versatile. He’s able to do different things with what he wears. He’s able to put together different combinations of different things.

You could tell that when he wears his fit, they’re well thought out. A lot of people don’t think about what they’re wearing, you can tell with him when he wears it, he wears it with confidence and he calculates it very well, and I think that’s super important when you’re talking about fashion.

He’s one of the guys that I admire and look up to when it comes to the fashion world. He’s been able to establish his own clothing line, which is something that I want to do in the future. But he’s laid the groundwork. I was telling him like, ‘Bro, you’re showing me the way to do it, the right way to do it too.’ It’s impressive to see him be able to put the football together and the fashion together at the same time.” There won’t be any Italian hand gestures on Sunday unless DeVito on the sideline deems the moment right.

Tyrod Taylor is thrilled to death that he gets this chance to make the moment right. “He can go start on any team in this league,” McKinney said, “and I truly believe that.” Even more important, Tyrod Taylor, 34 years young, has never stopped believing that..