Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor is widely regarded as one of the best defensive players of all time. But the game has changed quite a bit since he was in the league. And Taylor admitted in an interview on Tuesday that he would struggle to find his footing in the league with the current ruleset in the NFL.
Taylor appeared as a guest on the latest episode of the Let’s Go! podcast with Tom Brady and Jim Gray, where he opened up about the physicality that he believes is being phased out of the game by the current NFL ruleset.
“I don’t think I could finish a game nowadays,” said Taylor. “The game has changed a little bit, you know? Just a couple weeks ago I saw a running back [D’Andre Swift] get fined for trucking. What the h*** is trucking? He got fined for running over the defensive back. I don’t understand that. The game has changed a little bit. I like the era that I played in because if I was playing nowadays, I probably wouldn’t last the game.”
Taylor was asked by Jim Gray to further expand on this. Taylor answered by saying that he believes his style of play would result in countless fines from the NFL.
“Have you ever known me to conform to anything?” Taylor added. “I would get thrown out. It’d been hard for me to play. I may have ended the season owing them money.”
We have seen countless defensive players receive fines for plays that likely wouldn’t have even resulted in a flag back in Taylor’s era. So it would certainly be a pretty big adjustment period for Taylor if he were to play nowadays.
However, Taylor’s sheer skill and strength would likely cater to any era. As long as he adjusted his mindset just a bit, he would surely be just as great in today’s game as he was then.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.