Did Zac Taylor play in the NFL?

The Cincinnati Bengals hired Zac Taylor as their head coach in 2019 and after two not-very-good seasons that saw him win six games, he now has the stripes as one of the best teams in the NFL. Yes, of course, a lot of this is due to Joe Burrow but Taylor's impact on this team is hard not to see. The players like him and that's huge.

Before Taylor was hired by the Bengals, he was the QB coach for the Rams in 2018. That year saw the Rams make it to the Super Bowl, only to lose to the Patriots in a stinker of a game. He was the assistant wide receivers coach in 2017 for the Rams.

Before he joined the Rams, Taylor spent one year with the Cincinnati Bearcats as their offensive coordinator and QB coach in 2016. Prior to that, he was with the Dolphins from 2012 to 2015, serving as the assistant QB coach in 2012, QB coach in 2013-2014 and the offensive coordinator and QB coach in 2015.

Taylor got his coaching career started at Texas A&M in 2008 and stayed there through 2011. He was a graduate assistant for the Aggies.

What did Zac Taylor's NFL career as a player look like?

Taylor played for three different schools in college. He started off at Wake Forest in 2002 before transferring to Butler Community College in Kansas in 2004. He spent the final two years of his college eligibility at Nebraska and went 9-3 with the Cornhuskers in 2006, earning the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year award.

Taylor did not hear his name called in the 2007 NFL Draft and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent. He never made it to training camp, however.

From there, Taylor signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League and never took a snap for them. Taylor said that he knew his NFL career was over when he signed with the Blue Bombers.

"Zac Taylor knew his playing career was over when he picked up a Canadian ball for the first time. “That ball is bigger, which was a shock,” he says. “I first arrived at midnight, the GM picked me up and drove me to the stadium. I remember thinking the moment I picked up the ball, ‘This isn’t going to go well.’”"

- Andy Benoit

So, to answer the question, while Taylor technically made it to an NFL roster, he never took a snap so no, he never played in the NFL. He spent a very short amount of time with the Buccaneers but didn't make it to training camp.

Hey, he's still a hell of a coach though!