Adarius Taylor (born Adarius Glanton on September 21, 1990) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

who is currently a free agent. He first enrolled at Iowa Western Community College then

Eastern Arizona College Eastern Arizona College (EAC), is a community college in Graham County, Arizona. The main campus is in Thatcher, with satellite locations in Gila County, and Greenlee County. It is the oldest community college in Arizona and the only community ...

before transferring to

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

. He attended

Lake Gibson High School Lake Gibson High School is located in Lakeland, Florida, and was established in 1979. Athletics Lake Gibson offers a wide variety of sports for boys and girls including: Baseball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls cross country, weightl ...

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

. He has also been a member of the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

, and

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

Early years

Taylor participated in football, track and basketball for the

Braves.

College career

Taylor first played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Gila Monsters. He was named first-team All-Conference and All-Region as a sophomore, recording 85 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles. He later transferred to play for the

Florida Atlantic Owls The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of Conference USA. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accep ...

from 2012 to 2013.

Professional career

Carolina Panthers

2014

On May 10, 2014, the

signed Taylor to a three-year, $1.53 million

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

that includes a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $16,000. Throughout training camp, Taylor competed for a roster spot against Anthony Morales, Jason Williams, and Denicos Allen. On August 30, 2014, Taylor was waived as part of the Panthers’ final roster cuts, but was signed to the team's practice squad on September 1, 2014. On October 19, 2014, Taylor made his professional regular season debut as the Panthers’ lost 38-17 at the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. On December 21, 2014, Taylor earned his first career start in place of A. J. Klein who sustained an ankle injury the previous week. Taylor finished the Panthers’ 17-13 win against the

with a season-high six combined tackles. In Week 17, Taylor recorded five combined tackles and forced the first fumble of his career during a 34-3 win at the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. He finished his rookie season in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

with 12 combined tackles (eight solo) in ten games and two starts.

2015

Taylor entered training camp as a backup linebacker and competed for a roster spot against A.J. Klein. On September 5, 2015, the Carolina Panthers released Taylor as part of their final roster cuts and signed him to their practice squad the next day.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On November 30, 2015, the

signed Taylor off of the Panther's practice squad. Head coach

Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 to 2016, he served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a ...

named Taylor the third middle linebacker on the depth chart, behind

Kwon Alexander Kwon Alexander (born August 3, 1994) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at LSU. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Alexander has also played for ...

and Bruce Carter. Taylor appeared in five games, primarily on special teams, and did not record a statistic during the

2015 NFL season The 2015 NFL season was the 96th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL), and the 50th in the Super Bowl era. To celebrate the 50th season of the Super Bowl, a gold-plated NFL logo and other various gold-themed promotions w ...

2016

On January 6, 2016, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced their decision to fire head coach

after they finished with a 9-7 record and did not qualify for the playoffs in 2015. On January 15, 2016, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially promoted offensive coordinator

Dirk Koetter Dirk Jeffrey Koetter ( ; born February 5, 1959) is an American football coach who is currently serving as the interim offensive coordinator at Boise State University. He was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football Lea ...

to head coach. During training camp in 2016, Taylor competed for a roster spot as a backup middle linebacker against Luke Rhodes. On November 3, 2016, Taylor collected a season-high six solo tackles during the Buccaneers’ 43-28 loss against the

in Week 9. On January 1, 2017, against the Carolina Panthers,

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point attempt ...

Andrew DePaola suffered a torn ACL late in the third quarter. Taylor then served as the long snapper for a successful extra point late in the fourth quarter to help the Buccaneers win by a score of 17–16. He finished the

2016 NFL season The 2016 NFL season was the 97th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL) and the 51st of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 8, 2016, with defending Super Bowl 50 champion Denver defeating Carolina in the NF ...

with 13 combined tackles (11 solo) in 16 games and zero starts.

2017

On February 28, 2017, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers assigned a one-year, $690,000 tender to Taylor as a restricted free agent. On April 18, 2017, Taylor signed his one-year, $690,000 restricted free agent tender to remain with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Throughout training camp, Taylor competed against

Devante Bond Devante Bond (born July 3, 1993) is an American football linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He played college football at ...

Kendell Beckwith Kendell Beckwith (born December 2, 1994) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Louisiana State University (LSU). Professional career Coming out of LSU, Beckwith was projected by the majority of NFL draft expert ...

, and

Cameron Lynch Cameron Ellis Lynch (born August 4, 1993) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Syracuse. He signed with the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2015. College career Lynch played college football for ...

to be the starting strongside linebacker after it was left vacant by the departure of Daryl Smith. Head coach Dirk Koetter named Taylor the backup middle linebacker, behind Kwon Alexander, to begin the regular season in 2017. In Week 3, Taylor collected a season-high eight combined tackles during a 34-17 loss at the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. On October 5, 2017, Taylor recorded seven combined tackles, forced a fumble, and made his first career sack during a 19-14 loss against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in Week 5. Taylor sacked Patriots’ quarterback

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

for a six-yard loss in the third quarter and forced a fumble by Brady that was recovered by teammate Will Clarke. On December 18, 2017, Taylor started in place of

Lavonte David Lavonte Lamar David (born January 23, 1990) is an American football linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Nebraska, and was drafted by the Buccaneers in ...

who was inactive due to a hamstring injury and made four combined tackles before being carted off the field during the third quarter of the Buccaneers’ 24-21 loss against the

in Week 15. Taylor sustained a broken

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

and

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

after colliding with teammate Robert Ayers as both attempted to sack Falcons’ quarterback Matt Ryan. On December 20, 2017, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially placed Taylor on injured reserve. Taylor finished the

2017 NFL season The 2017 NFL season was the 98th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL) and the 52nd of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 7, 2017, with Kansas City defeating defending Super Bowl LI champion New England in ...

with 31 combined tackles (22 solo), one pass deflection, and one sack in 14 games and four starts.

2018

During training camp, Taylor competed against

to be the starting strongside linebacker. The role was left vacant after

sustained a broken ankle during a car accident. Head coach Dirk Koetter named Taylor the strongside linebacker to begin the regular season, alongside Lavonte David and middle linebacker Kwon Alexander. In Week 9, he collected a season-high nine combined tackles (four solo) during a 42-28 loss at the

Cleveland Browns

On March 14, 2019, Taylor signed a two-year contract with the Cleveland Browns. Taylor was released by the Browns on February 17, 2020.

Carolina Panthers (second stint)

On July 27, 2020, Taylor was signed by the Carolina Panthers. He played in nine games before being placed on injured reserve on November 11, 2020. He was activated off of injured reserve on December 12.

Personal life

Taylor had his last name changed to honor his father Basil George Taylor who died when Taylor was 16 years old. Before he changed his last name, it was Glanton, which is his mother's last name. Taylor's father was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica and immigrated to the USA in 1979.

References

External links

NFL Draft ScoutCarolina Panthers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Adarius Living people 1990 births Players of American football from Florida Sportspeople from Bartow, Florida American football linebackers African-American players of American football Eastern Arizona Gila Monsters football players Florida Atlantic Owls football players Carolina Panthers players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Cleveland Browns players 21st-century African-American sportspeople