Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

Devin Taylor has made two starts in his NFL career and was a healthy inactive for a Week 2 loss to the Minnesota Vikings last season.

But after the defensive end proved to be an effective pass rusher down the stretch last year, the Detroit Lions appear ready to hand him the starting left end job as a fourth-year player this fall.

"I think he’s capable (of having a bigger role)," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said at the NFL's annual spring meetings last week. "I think, you look at him, he’s improved. He was a better player last year than he had been the previous year. He’s a better player that year than he was the year before that."

A fourth-round pick out of South Carolina in 2013, Taylor was in and out of the defensive line rotation for the Lions his first two seasons. As a rookie, he filled in some after Jason Jones' season-ending knee injury but Taylor languished on the depth chart in Caldwell's first season with the Lions (2014).

Last year, the Lions benched him in favor of backups Darryl Tapp and Phillip Hunt against the Vikings, but he shined during the team's 6-2 finish, posting 4.5 of his career-high seven sacks in the final six games. He was especially dominant in a Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, when he had two sacks and forced a fumble but was called for a late facemask penalty that helped set up quarterback Aaron Rodgers' game-winning Hail Mary.

Caldwell said he doesn't think Taylor's Week 2 benching was the reason for his big finish.

"I don’t think that was necessarily a knock against him or something that propelled him, unless he tells you that," he said.

Regardless of who else the Lions bring in at the position -- they're expected to add two more defensive ends in the second wave of free agency, through a trade and/or via the NFL draft -- Caldwell said Taylor could be in a line for a big year this fall.

"This guy, he doesn’t talk much," Caldwell said. "He works at it. And he’s also a guy that’s got some intestinal fortitude. So I think all of those things lend to a guy that could certainly play a little bit bigger role in the things that we do."

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Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett

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