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For the past 12 weeks, Brandon Taylor has patiently bided his time. With the team deep at safety, the third-round draft pick out of LSU has yet to be active for a regular season game. 

Now, he is excited to be let loose upon the NFL.

With Atari Bigby suffering a season-ending groin injury and Darrell Stuckey dealing with a hamstring ailment, Taylor is expected to make his professional debut this week against the Bengals.  He fully expects to make the most out of the opportunity.

“This year’s been a learning experience for me,” he said following Wednesday’s practice. “I know you have to be patient in this league and wait your turn to get your opportunity on the field. This week is my opportunity.  I have to take advantage of it. I need to go out there and play my kind of football and make plays.”

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Taylor’s brand of football is a punishing, physical style that dominated the SEC for four years with LSU. He finished with 160 tackles, 115 tackles for loss and four interceptions from 2008-2011. As a senior, Taylor served as captain for the nation’s second leading defense in total yards and points allowed. Taylor says fans should expect him to go out and put forth the same effort he did all those years down in Baton Rouge.

“Expect me to go out there and play my hardest,” he said. “I’ll play with effort and to the best of my abilities.  I’m going to play my style of football.  I know the calls and I’m going to go out there and make big plays.”

Head coach Norv Turner is one of many who are excited to see what Taylor will do on game day.  Even though he has yet to be active this season, Turner has the utmost confidence in the young safety and extolled his virtues.

“Brandon’s been practicing and been in every meeting,” said the head coach.  “He’s going to get the opportunity to play. He’s a good player.  He’s an aware player and a physical player.  Obviously he played at a high level in college, so this game won’t be too big for him.  It does come fast, so he will have to adjust quickly. But he can handle it.”

Taylor expects to not only handle it, but to thrive as well.

“At the end of the day, its football and I’ve been playing the game for a long time,” he said. “I know what I’m capable of. I’m just very excited.  I’ve been waiting for this a long time, and I’ve just got to take advantage of this opportunity.”