LA Chargers: 3 Bold predictions for Tyrod Taylor in 2020

Tyrod Taylor Bold Prediction Number One: Career-high in rushing touchdowns

That record currently stands at six, back when he did that in 2016 for the Bills. My thinking behind him breaking this particular record is threefold.

First, I think they’re going to use his legs a lot this year, particularly in the red zone. That has been an area in which this team has struggled for years, they were especially bad in 2019. If they had the capability to be a more efficient red zone team in 2019 they probably could have at least won eight games; at minimum they would have won in Oakland and Mexico City.

In 2018, they likely could have gotten the number one overall seed if they had managed to put Denver away like should have.

Second, Head coach Anthony Lynn has talked all season about being better in two specific areas in 2020: protecting the football on offense and taking it away more on defense. This is one reason I believe that he has basically staked his job on Taylor.

He has never thrown more than six interceptions. I think he’ll throw more than he ever did in Buffalo, but I’d be surprised if he throws more than 10 interceptions this year.

Lynn NEEDS Taylor to succeed if he is to stick around long term in Los Angeles. We all know that he sticks by his guys and I expect this particular relationship to be no different.

Lynn is going to get every ounce of versatility he possibly can out of Taylor and a lot of that is using him in creative run packages, which will ultimately help the team score more points. You can do a lot of fun things with an athlete like Taylor on offense, check out this thread on twitter for some examples of that.

Tyrod Taylor is still a pretty fascinating QB

Browns-Taylor was a calamity, but his starting time w/the Bills was many things, but I don't think you can say it was bad.

He's got elite athleticism, a plus IF you design structures to use it

He could keep Herbert waiting a while

— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) July 15, 2020

Lastly, the LA Chargers painted Melvin Gordon out to be a physical runner who could finish in short-yardage situations. That obviously did not work out the way any of us had hoped. There’s real doubt if they really have that guy on the roster. As much as I love Austin Ekeler, he struggled a lot to punch the ball into the end zone in numerous goal-line opportunities and fumbled a couple of times down there too.

Joshua Kelley was clearly that guy at UCLA and showed the potential to serve as the short-yardage/goal line running back this year, but he’s a rookie and like all rookies, he will not have the benefit of a normal offseason.

This all leads me to think the team will lean on Taylor more than ever in his career. I expect him to have over 100 carries on the year. Since I am expecting him to see an increase in usage around the goal line, I could see him getting eight to ten rushing touchdowns this season.