SOFI DRAFT LAB – The picks continued to go by throughout the day and into the seventh round, so Jason Taylor II and his mother stepped outside to weigh his options and prepare for the possibility of signing with a team as an undrafted free agent.

Then everything changed with a phone call from the Rams ahead of pick 234.

"She was able to hear and be there with me when that actually came through, and I was able after that to go inside and be with the rest of the family and tell them the news and be waiting for it to come up on the screen," Taylor said. "We have so much video and stuff (of their reaction to the news), but obviously I have the greatest family in the world and they're full of support, and they're going to support me as they always have. I just felt love in that moment, they were so happy for me, and I'm just blessed."

Taylor now begins his NFL career with a Rams secondary that had two starting safeties depart this offseason in Nick Scott and Taylor Rapp, which opens up plenty of snaps and competition for newcomers.

Still, all he could think about was the fact that he had just been drafted.

"Yeah definitely," Taylor said, when asked if it's exciting for a young player to come into a situation like that. "I haven't really tried to think about the ins and outs of who's there, what the dynamics are gonna be with playing and things like that. I'm just so thankful and grateful to be picked. This is all so quick. I just got drafted, and I'm here talking now, and I'm just full of happiness and gratefulness, and that's kind of where I'm at right now."

Choking back tears, having his family by his side on Saturday, the people that had been with him throughout the whole process, was what made the moment most special for him.

"We went through this process together just to get to this point, and the fact that I got a lot of my family here enjoying each other, having a good time, I haven't got to see everybody in awhile, and I think that's what makes it special," he said. "My family, we've been through a lot, and I'm just happy I was able to enjoy this with them."