Taylor Gabriel

Taylor James Gabriel (born February 17, 1991) is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Abilene Christian and was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2014. He has also spent time with the Atlanta Falcons and Chicago Bears.

Taylor Gabriel
Gabriel with the Cleveland Browns in 2015
Free agent
Position:Wide receiver
Personal information
Born: (1991-02-17) February 17, 1991
Dallas, Texas
Height:5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight:168 lb (76 kg)
Career information
High school:John Horn (Mesquite, Texas)
College:Abilene Christian
Undrafted:2014
Career history
Career NFL statistics as of 2020
Receptions:228
Receiving yards:2,860
Rushing yards:191
Total touchdowns:15
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Early years

Gabriel attended John Horn High School in Mesquite, Texas, where he played football, basketball, and ran track for the Jaguars athletic teams.[1] In football, he was a three-year letterman at wide receiver, cornerback, and kick returner. He was an All-District selection as a junior after he had 47 catches for 588 yards and four touchdowns. He earned Class 5A TSWA All-State as senior in 2008 after totalling 90 catches for 1,354 yards with 13 touchdowns for a 4–7 team with the school’s first playoff bid.[2] He was also named APSE second team all-state and was the District 11-5A MVP.[3]

College career

Gabriel enrolled to play college football at Abilene Christian University, where he holds the record for most career touchdowns, from 2010 to 2013. In the 2010 season, he finished with 26 receptions for 295 receiving yards.[4] In the 2011 season, he had 64 receptions for 988 receiving yards and ten touchdowns.[5] In the 2012 season, he finished with 52 receptions for 684 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.[6] In his final season with the team in 2013, he had 73 receptions for 1,060 receiving yards and ten touchdowns.[7] He finished his career, second in school history with 215 receptions for 3,027 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Professional career

Cleveland Browns

Gabriel was signed by the Cleveland Browns after going undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft.[8][9]

Gabriel made his NFL debut on September 7, 2014 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, recording one reception for five yards.[10] In Week 9, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he caught 34-yard pass from quarterback Brian Hoyer for his first career touchdown reception.[11] He finished the 2014 season with 36 receptions for 621 yards and a touchdown.[12] In the 2015 season, he recorded 28 receptions for 241 yards.[13] On September 3, 2016, Gabriel was released by the Browns.[14]

Atlanta Falcons

Gabriel was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Falcons on September 4, 2016.[15] In Atlanta's Week 12 game against the Arizona Cardinals, he scored two touchdowns, helping to lead the Falcons to a 38–19 win.[16] In Week 14 against the Los Angeles Rams, he had three receptions for 82 yards and scored one touchdown in the 42–14 victory.[17] He played a significant role for the Falcons throughout the season, which was successful and resulted in an appearance in Super Bowl LI, where they lost to the New England Patriots in overtime by a score of 34–28.[18] Gabriel had three receptions for 76 yards in the Super Bowl.[19] Overall, in the 2016 regular season, Gabriel recorded 35 receptions for 579 yards and six touchdowns.[20]

On March 8, 2017, the Falcons placed a second-round tender on Gabriel.[21] He officially signed his tender on April 22, 2017.[22] In the 2017 season, Gabriel played in 16 games with four starts, recording 33 receptions for 378 yards and one touchdown.[23]

Chicago Bears

On March 14, 2018, Gabriel signed a four-year $26 million contract with the Chicago Bears.[24]

2018 season
Gabriel in 2018

On September 9, Gabriel made his Bears debut, catching five passes for 25 yards in the season-opening 24–23 road loss to the Green Bay Packers.[25] On September 30, 2018, he caught a season-high seven passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns in a 48–10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[26] This was the second time he caught two touchdowns in a single game, the last time was with the Atlanta Falcons in 2016. On October 14, Gabriel had five receptions for 110 yards in the 31–28 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 6.[27]

Gabriel finished the 2018 season with the Bears with 67 catches for 688 yards and two touchdowns.[28]

2019 season
Gabriel in a game against the Washington Redskins

During Week 3 against the Washington Redskins, Gabriel caught six passes for 75 yards and three touchdowns in the 31–15 road victory,[29] though he exited the game with a concussion. He was the 35th player in NFL history to score three receiving touchdowns in the first half of a game and the first Bears player to do so in the Super Bowl era.[30][31] Gabriel was also the fourth player in Bears history to accomplish the feat in one quarter after Red Pollock (1935), Frank Minini (1948), and Gale Sayers (1965).[32] Gabriel was forced to miss the following week's game against the Minnesota Vikings. Without Gabriel, the Bears won 16–6.[33] He finished the 2019 season with 29 receptions for 353 yards and four touchdowns along with 20 rushing yards.[34]

On February 21, 2020, Gabriel was released by the Bears after two seasons in a move to create cap space.[35]

Regular season
SeasonTeamGamesReceivingRushingFumbles
GPGSRecYdsAvgLngTDAttYdsAvgLngTDFUMLost
2014CLE 1623662117.37014102.58000
2015CLE 134282418.65600000011
2016ATL 1333557916.576T645112.827100
2017ATL 1643337811.540T18496.115000
2018CHI 16116768810.35429616.820011
2019CHI 972935312.25343206.714000
Total83312282,86012.576T14281916.827122

Postseason
SeasonTeamGamesReceivingRushingFumbles
GPGSRecYdsAvgLngTDAttYdsAvgLngTDFUMLost
2016ATL 30917119.0370100.00010
2017ATL 20242.070000.00000
2018CHI 114379.319022010.021000
Total611521214.13703206.721010

References
  1. "Former Mesquite Horn receiver Taylor Gabriel on playing in Super Bowl with Falcons: 'It's like a fairy tale'". SportsDayHS. February 3, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  2. Dunne, Tyler. "Taylor Gabriel's Long Road from Grieving Teen to Falcons X-Factor". Bleacher Report. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  3. "Taylor Gabriel - 2013 Football Roster - Abilene Christian University Athletics". www.acusports.com.
  4. "Taylor Gabriel Statistics 2010". Abilene Christian Athletics. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  5. "Taylor Gabriel Statistics 2011". Abilene Christian Athletics. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  6. "Taylor Gabriel Statistics 2012". Abilene Christian Athletics. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  7. "Taylor Gabriel Statistics 2013". Abilene Christian Athletics. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  8. "Do the Browns have a diamond in the rough in undrafted WR Gabriel? - FOX Sports". September 5, 2014.
  9. nulrich. "Browns undrafted rookie Gabriel making case for himself in receiving corps desperate for help".
  10. "Taylor Gabriel". pro-football-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  11. "Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Cleveland Browns - November 2nd, 2014". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  12. "Taylor Gabriel 2014 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  13. "Taylor Gabriel 2015 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  14. Gribble, Andrew (September 3, 2016). "Cleveland Browns reduce roster to 53". ClevelandBrowns.com.
  15. Jackson, Zac (September 4, 2016). "Falcons claim Taylor Gabriel". NBCSports.com. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  16. "Arizona Cardinals at Atlanta Falcons - November 27th, 2016". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  17. "Taylor Gabriel". ESPN.com.
  18. Chadiha, Jeffri. "Falcons' historic collapse leads to Patriots' fifth Super Bowl win". NFL. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  19. "Super Bowl LI - New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons - February 5th, 2017". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  20. "Taylor Gabriel 2016 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  21. Conway, Kelsey (March 8, 2017). "Falcons Place Second-Round Tender On Gabriel". AtlantaFalcons.com.
  22. Bergman, Jeremy (April 22, 2017). "Falcons' Taylor Gabriel signs second-round tender". NFL.com.
  23. "Taylor Gabriel 2017 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  24. Mayer, Larry (March 14, 2018). "Roster Moves: Bears land five unrestricted free agents". ChicagoBears.com. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  25. Hurley, Parker (September 10, 2018). "Chicago Bears snap counts: Taylor Gabriel true WR2". Bear Goggles On. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  26. Finley, Patrick (October 1, 2018). "Good, bad and best: How the Bears fared in Week 4 vs. Buccaneers". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  27. LeGere, Bob (October 17, 2018). "Gabriel catching on fast with Chicago Bears". Daily Herald. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  28. Mayer, Larry (February 6, 2019). "Bears 2018 position review: Receiver". Chicago Bears. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  29. "Trubisky, Bears get offense on track, beat Redskins 31-15". www.espn.com. September 22, 2019. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  30. Scott, Jelani (September 24, 2019). "Bears' Taylor Gabriel suffers concussion vs. Redskins". National Football League. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  31. Ponciano, Jorge (September 23, 2019). "Bears WR Taylor Gabriel is 3rd player in NFL history to record three first-half receiving TDs on Monday Night Football". Clutch Points. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  32. Mayer, Larry (September 26, 2019). "Chalk Talk: Who was last punter to kick FG?". Chicago Bears. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  33. "Bears lose Trubisky, shut down Cook in 16-6 win over Vikings". www.espn.com. September 29, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  34. "Taylor Gabriel 2019 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  35. Biggs, Brad (February 21, 2020). "Bears release cornerback Prince Amukamara and wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, clearing $12.5 million in salary-cap space while creating 2 needs". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
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