Alontae Taylor on recovery from injury, Kyler Murray | New Orleans Saints

Alontae Taylor on recovery from injury, Kyler Murray | New Orleans Saints

Andre, how are you feeling right now physically dealing with the injury that you had during the preseason? Um, I feel feel healthy, feel strong. Um, you know, just got to continue to stack the days, continue to build that confidence, um, mentally. Uh, I think other than that, like I feel pretty good. What did you do to stay mentally ready even though you weren’t able to get the reps, you know, with the new system and everything? Yeah, I really just try to stay tapped in. Um, you know, watch film, um, you know, kind of go to some of the meetings that I can make it to. I think the hardest part about being injured is not being around your guys. um you kind of feel in a way left out. You know, you miss one meeting, you kind of feel like you’re way behind. So, you know, I try to just stay tapped in with the guys and uh go to those meetings when I could when I wasn’t uh rehabbing. Um but, you know, the guys has been open arms and, you know, kind of checking on me and things like that, which allow me to stay locked in. How ready do you feel for week one? I don’t know. We’ll see. Uh you know, I’ve I feel like I’ve been very intentional about this. Um don’t want to get out there too early. You got a long season. Uh definitely want to play though. definitely want to be with the guys and you know um go out there and prove it. Uh but um you know we’ll see. How hard has that been to be patient and try to like trust that process, make sure you’re healthy? Super patient. Uh I know was on the field Deario and then was like uh you know we see you itching over there want to get out there and this was probably going into the last preseason game. Um but you know injuries are things that you can’t control but for me in my situation is very frustrating. Um, but you know, I’ve been, you know, praying a lot, stay, like I said, staying connected with the guys, uh, staying connected with my family, my friends, and, you know, they’ve kind of kept me up and going. And so, um, like I said, I’ve just been very intentional, making sure I’m doing the right things, and, you know, pushing my body when I need to push it, letting the trainers know that I can go a little bit more if I can. Um, and so, uh, it’s been good. Speaking of health, how what do you expect from a healthy Kyler Murray on Sunday? I mean, he’s done it for for a while now, right? guy who can run the ball, throw the ball, can throw anywhere on the field regardless of his size. Uh, but you know, I think he’ll be ready to come out there and play, but I think we’ll also be ready to go play. How crazy is it just like when you think back to when you got here, the guys that were in the secondary as opposed to like he’s here now? Like change over like Yeah. Um, you know, I came into a loaded uh DB room when I got here. Um, and you know, with with JT with JT being gone, um, you know, it kind of leaves me as far as what that group looked like, but uh, super excited about the guys we have. I know I built a really good relationship with Kool-Aid. Um, and so, uh, you know, having them and having Ike come back and things like that. Uh, you know, I don’t feel like I’m alone in there, even though it’s a lot of new faces, but, um, you know, the room looks different and I mean, I’m only in year four. Uh, you know, it’s the nature of the business. It’s how it goes. Uh, but like I said, we’re we’re jelling together. We’ll be ready. Do you try to be like a bridge at all? Like from like the old culture to this culture, bring like some of the the good lessons from men in the district like like are you like like a leader in that room now? Like kind of? Yeah. Uh I mean I think I learned a lot from those guys and the guys who’ve come into the room, they came from places they’ve learned a lot too. So we all just kind of gel those things that we’ve learned together and just bring it into our DB room. But you know, the Saints always brings the right-minded guys here. I think everybody that’s here, the same minded people that we had before, right? So dogs, guys who gonna go play hard, got that swag. Um, I think like I said, we haven’t really missed a step. I would say a lot of people probably think so, but you know, this room is really special. What makes you and Kool? I don’t know, man. I think it probably comes a little bit from, you know, that that southern lifestyle. Um, and then, you know, him coming from Bama, uh, with that Nick Saven system and then, you know, me being with Jeremy Puit at Tennessee with that system. So, when we came in communication wise, we kind of, uh, related things to the Bama calls or Tennessee calls and from there, you know, we just kind of clicked. Um, you know, we hang out off the field. um we kick it. So, uh super excited for him and the role that he has this year. Do you guys complement each other like play style wise as well? Like is there kind of like a yin or uh Yeah. Uh you know, Kool-Aid, like I said, you got that swag. Kool-Aid, you know, he’s probably a little more raw. Uh and I think I was a lot more raw my rookie year. I think I kind of calmed down a little bit from that. But, you know, Kool-Aid kind of keeps me in that balance, though. Like, he’ll he’ll bring that spark out of me when when he feels like I need it. Uh but I think we kind of, you know, can keep each other mentally there in the game. And you know he make a play, I got to go make a play. I make a play, he know he got to go make a play. And with your injury too going back to that, like was it something you felt right away? Like how did you kind of discover it? Yeah, I felt it right away. Um played two more plays and then just kind of told the trainers what it was. I tried to tough it out. Uh but I’m glad that, you know, we went and got imaging and we went through the process that we went through. Uh so I can go out there and just be the better version of myself. So that was in that final practice before the Chargers game. Yeah. Did the summer allow you to slow play it at all or was this always going to be like a multi-week? Um, you know, me, I just want to be on the field, man. So, I don’t think I was going to slow play anything. Like I said, I just wanted to make sure I was intentional with my process and making sure I communicate with the training staff the right way and I tried to be too strong, too tough, cuz like I said, we got 17, 18 games, right? So, you can come back week one, but if you out by week four, it didn’t matter. So, I just want to make sure I’m uh, you know, available for the guys. Uh, if it’s week one through 17, then it’s that. Was this the schedule? like are you on schedule with what was originally kind of presented to you? Uh no, I’m way ahead of that. Uh but like I said, just intentional and praying and making sure I do my part and uh being open in communication. How how excited are you to kind of get started on this like where you’re in a defense where you could really be like one of the identifying pieces of of what Staley wants to do? Super excited, man. I think, you know, I was having a pretty solid camp um with the with the system and I was getting very comfortable in there. Uh, you know, being back out on the field today with the guys, you know, there was some some rust I had to knock off. Um, but I’m super excited, man. I think Stale is going to put everybody in the right position to go make a lot of plays um from the outside, from the inside, from the Dline. Uh, so, um, super excited to see what we can do, you know, um, all 11 of our starters out there for a full game. You know, you kind of got a taste of it preseason, but, you know, come Sunday, you kind of get to see it going for sure. feel like it’s a dumb question, but like do you feel like you’re in a good position to show everyone like what you want to show them and what you can do and all that stuff? Yeah. Uh I got a I got a pretty good chip on my shoulder going into this year. A lot to prove. Um but you know, I’m ready for it and excited. How does the kind of the energy and surrounding week one under a new regime compared to any anything that you’ve experienced since you returned from? I think, you know, all my experiences in life has kind of prepared you for stuff like this. What I mean by that is, you know, at Tennessee going in my senior year. We had a whole new coaching staff change and uh, you know, we went out there and played our first game and I mean, you kind of buy in, you got a lot of time, uh, to build and, you know, here you don’t have to worry about class and meetings and stuff like that. So, you know, we had a lot of time to build camaraderie. We did a lot of things off the field and so I think as far as us being ready for this game and I mean you can talk about the excitement but I think guys are just ready to go play ball with one another uh for four quarters and and just kind of see what we have as a team. Yeah. I mean there’s a lot of curiosity isn’t there though when you have new staff, new system, a lot of new players just to see what it’s going to look like in a Yeah. I mean game. Yeah. I mean in practice though we have a lot of good chemistry. I think we communicate very very well. I think guys fly around and we feed off each other every uh every single uh practice and play. Uh, so now it’s kind of ready to go see that in a dome and see like a full dome and see uh, you know, the the fans and just see how excited these guys are because I know the fan base is excited about the change. So, yeah. Did uh, did you see the other day that it was floating around on Twitter, but like you hold the most all time sacks for a guy in a number one jersey? Yeah, I seen Yeah, I’ve seen that. Um, but you know, Michael Parsons, who Michael Parsons is, and um, that’s his job, right, to go get sacks. So, he’ll definitely beat me there. But, um, you know, I’m going for sure, you know, try to add some numbers to that for sure. When you when you played for Tennessee, would you have envisioned, um, one of your best friends in the pros being an Alabama guy? Um, nah, not really, but I also didn’t think too much about it, but um, they hate each other on the field for sure. Um, but you know, uh, those are some good guys over there, too. Yeah. So, you were roommates with Bailis? I was. What was that like and now being on the same team? Um it was it was exciting. Um you know it kind of like was a process. It was like I think my senior year. Uh you know we both declared for the draft that year and so you know he’s having Zoom calls with different teams. I’m having Zoom calls with different teams. We’re communicating like what round we’re going to go and what we think we’re going to go and uh but you know to kind of see that full circle u it’s pretty dope. Um I’m super excited for him. He’s been you know a little different journey than mine but you know he’s here and he’s putting his head down. He’s working. So excited for him to embrace that journey and you know being close to home too so family can come see him play. Uh so you know just ball boys being V boys. He said that you guys had a lot of competitions on the field and we won all of them. Yeah, I would. Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t believe that at all. And yeah, I wouldn’t believe that though. He’s the fastest guy on the top. I don’t know. We all got to race. We’ve been talking about that since I got here with me She and Chris with what? Speed. Oh yeah, I’m definitely top five. Yeah, I’m top five. Ain’t nobody might be top three for sure.

New Orleans Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor speaks with the media ahead of Week 1 vs. the Arizona Cardinals from the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Wednesday, September 3, 2025.
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