Read the full transcript from S Michael Taaffe's media availability on April 27, 2026.
(The burning question I had on my mind was, I believe you had a scholarship to Rice it was, and you decided, "No, I want to go walk on at Texas." Walk me through that decision.) – "I was a fifth-generation Longhorn, so all my life I wanted to go to Texas. My great-great-grandfather was there. My grandfather swam there, was an all-American swimmer. My parents went there. My older brother and older sister were there. We grew up watching Texas games. Friday we were going to Westlake varsity games, Saturday we were going to Texas games. That's just what we did. The thing at Texas was you sing 'The Eyes of Texas' before the game and after, and so we're standing from eyes to eyes, is what we like to say, and I just knew that if you believe in yourself and you do what your heart is telling you to do and you just keep pushing and put the team first, anything is possible."
(You walk on, obviously had success. Make it to captain, All-American. How does someone do that? We talked about that belief in yourself. Just how big of a role did that play in your journey and what do you believe that leadership component, bringing that to Miami, what do you think the power of that is?) – "Yeah, I think what you can do off the field is essential in the game of football, first off. But how I did it, I never once told myself I was going to go be an All-American and all these accolades, I just cared about the team. Wen I got there, I was like, 'All right, I'm going to make an impact for the University of Texas,' and that's what I wanted to do. It was never really about myself, and once I got that opportunity, it was like, wow, look what putting the University of Texas first, putting your team first, putting your teammates first can really get you. I was proud of what we were able to do at Texas, but it all started off the field with the ability to be a leader in there and what culture we brought. Our freshman year, we were 5-7, and with the help of my coaches and my teammates, we brought a team to two semifinals, a conference championship, three back-to-back-to-back 10-plus-win seasons. It started with what nobody could see on the field; it started inside those four walls in the locker room and the brotherhood that we made. It's definitely a way different way to lead, going in the NFL and being a rookie, but you've got to earn your stripes early. You've got to put your head down and not say a word and be humble. Once [it's] your time to talk, then that's when you use your voice. There can be leaders from the bottom to the top; it's not always the rah-rah guy. There's different ways of leading, and I'm going to find out and I can't wait to learn from the leaders above."
(I understand from the social media video of your phone call with Head Coach Jeff Hafley that was unveiled on social media that you and QB Quinn Ewers are very good friends from obviously time together at Texas. What interactions have you had with him since your draft selection?) – "Yeah, so I actually put my phone down right after I got drafted, and my agent was a little bit mad at me because he tried to FaceTime me. He's giving me all the intel, so I should probably text my agent right after I get drafted but I put my phone down and my buddy came up to me and was like, 'Hey, I don't want to bother you, keep celebrating, but Quinn is on the line. He just FaceTimed me.' So within two minutes of getting announced, Quinn FaceTimed me and I got to talk to him, he was just so fired up. His girlfriend and my girlfriend are really close also, so I think she's just as happy. I'm really excited because we played each other in the state championship game my senior year against each other, and then we came together at Texas to play together, and now I guess we're going to be teammates again. Man, it's so awesome. Who would have thought when we went out there as captains in the state championship game that it would turn into teammates in the NFL in Miami, so pretty awesome."
(What do you think it'll do for you to have familiar faces and not only him, but then also coming in the same draft class as a couple of your Longhorn teammates?) – "It's so awesome to me to have those familiar faces around me, knowing that you've got to learn a lot as a rookie and you've got to be humble and not say a word and just come in and earn your stripes first through work and effort and just being a good teammate. Quinn (Ewers) can teach me what it's like to do the good things of a rookie and to do the bad things of a rookie. He can tell me all the little things that you need to know, so I'm going to be leaning on Quinn a ton."
(I want to ask you whether you view yourself as an underdog, going to Texas as a walk-on and being a lower round draft pick. On the other hand, you did go to the University of Texas, you were an All-American and you did get drafted, you're not a UDFA. So do you view yourself as an underdog? How do you view yourself coming into this?) – "Yeah, I mean I'll always be an underdog in my opinion. I think rookie is essentially a walk-on all over again, because besides maybe the first round, no matter what pick you got picked, UDFA, second through seven, you've got to go earn your stripes, and they're going to look at you just as the same as they look at somebody else. I'm going to use that as my advantage because there's no politics when it comes to production and it comes to the NFL like some other places. It's about who can produce, it's about who's the best fit and who can learn the system the quickest and stay there and stick. I'm definitely looked at as an underdog and I want to keep that underdog mentality, keep that chip on my shoulder. I'm really excited for it, but this is the first time somebody actually picked me. I didn't get recruited in high school, barely anything. In high school, I was JV B-team my sophomore year. So this is my first time somebody really picked up the phone and said, 'Michael Taaffe, we want you,' and so that means a lot. I owe a lot to these coaches that they believed in me, I've got to go make them right."
(With special teams, I mean is that going to be crucial to you making the 53 do you think?) – "Of course, yeah. Obviously my goal is to play on defense, play on special teams. I'm going to do everything I can to learn as much special teams as I am going to learn defense too. I think everybody goes in there as like, 'I just got drafted as a safety.' That's true, yes; I'm going to do everything to learn everything about a safety and try to go earn a starting job, but special teams is just as important. I'm going to be really excited to figure out what spots I'm playing on special teams and grind my butt off to try to go earn a starting job on special teams as well."
(I wanted to ask you man, because stories like yours to me are the best part of sports. I don't know the odds of going from walk-on to draft pick, but I'm sure it's not very large. I'm wondering if there was a moment where it kind of clicked for you at Texas, where you thought maybe like, "Shoot, I could play at the next level." Did that occur to you at some point at Texas?) – "When I got some burn a little bit my sophomore year, so redshirt freshman year, I played a tight end and he ended up getting drafted second round. He didn't have a catch on me the whole game and I was pretty much man-to-man. And I was like, 'Man, I've got to get bigger, a little bit faster, and I've got to keep earning my starting job,' because I wasn't starting at the time at Texas. I've got to go earn a starting job, but what happens if the chips keep aligning and you keep working hard, keep putting your head down, I think this can become a reality. This is kind of a funny story. Freshman year, I hadn't even gotten to Texas yet. I was walking on and I was at one of my sisters, she's two grades above me, at one of her parties. One of our closest family friends came up to me, and he was like, 'So what do you want to do with this sport management major?' I said, 'I don't really know, man. I mean, like this and this.' He was like, 'I can tell that's BS. Like, what do you really want to do? Just say it, I don't care.' I was like, 'I want to go to the NFL, but I know I'm a walk-on and I haven't even started at Texas yet.' And he goes, 'Dude, it doesn't matter where you're at right now. If that's your dream, go chase it and go say it confidently.' So ever since then, when people ask, I said, 'I want to go to the NFL,' and some people probably laughed at me. Some people probably talked behind my back right after that, but that's what I believed and look at us now."
(You talked about Quinn Ewers a little bit already, but I'd love to get a scouting report from you on our other two new teammates here that were past teammates. What are we getting with G DJ Campbell and LB Trey Moore here in Miami?) – "Obviously coaches talked about it all the time in these press conferences about the versatility. I think that that shines with Trey Moore. He came in from UTSA as an edge guy and I think had one of the most sacks in the country. Came in and we had some really good edges at Texas too, so they're rotating and he's getting a bunch of sacks. Then Anthony Hill breaks his wrist, last game of the season. He goes and starts at off-ball Mike backer wearing the green dot, he's so versatile. I think for DJ (Campbell), his athletic ability, I don't know if y'all ever watched him as a high school recruit, but he was a five-star. He was one of the biggest recruits we got in the last four years, five years that I was there. It was because of his talent and his athletic ability as an o-lineman. He's really physical. He'll let you know, too, so it was a lot of fun going back and forth with him, four years at Texas.
(You left out the best part of the QB Quinn Ewers-Texas 6A Championship Game. Can you please tell us who won and if you made any plays in that game?) – "I like the film to speak for itself, but Westlake Chaps – my team – won, and I picked off Quinn twice. (laughter)"
(It says here one of the picks – I have to find the video – was a one-handed grab. Was that a pretty good OBJ-type grab or what?) – "At the time, that was probably the coolest moment in my life because it was a SportsCenter Top 10, and No. 2 was Aaron Rodgers. No. 1 was little Michael Taaffe, walk-on at University of Texas. So pretty cool to know that you jumped over 'A-Rod' on SportsCenter Top 10. (laughter)"
(Who was the tight end that you mentioned that you lined up against, do you care to share that name?) – "I'm going to keep it to myself, but he went second round."
(Is your voice hoarse or is that how you normally talk?) – "Totally hoarse, y'all are going to get used to it. After every game, the media guy came up to me and gave me a cough drop. I lose it pretty quick when I'm playing football. This time, I wasn't playing football on Saturday. I was just doing a lot of screaming and celebrating, so pretty hoarse still."
(What was that like? Did you know or have a level of absolute confidence that you would be drafted?) – "Obviously there's always doubt that creeps in your mind, but I was pretty confident that I was going to get drafted just based off the feedback. It's pretty cool – that morning my agent was going through all the teams, and I vividly remember being like, 'All right, well, what about Miami? They had a fourth-round grade on me.' He was like, 'Yeah, we'll see what happens. I don't know if they'll take a safety here, but that could be a possibility.' He had said some other teams before then, he was like, 'You know, I bet there's other teams that grab you in the fourth before their pick. I wouldn't have expect them.' But it's pretty cool that I ended up mentioning Miami, that was the only team that I asked my agent about at 8:30 a.m. in the morning. Man, the experience was so awesome. I had so many of my – I just posted a picture of all the past teammates that were there at the house for the draft and to show the love that they had for me, is so awesome."
(You seem like a pretty popular guy. Is it just the story, the charisma, your personality? I've got to admit you have – I'm pretty good at this and you have that head coach/GM-kind of feel to you. What do you want to do when you're finished playing?) – "I don't know. I know for sure I want to be a leader in life. I've always had a Plan A type of a mindset just because I had to, you know? The story that I was living, the way that God was giving me B-team and then walk-on and always the underdog story. I had to just have a Plan A, because the second that I told myself, you know, 'Maybe let's look into a Plan B,' is the second that I wasn't going to make it – it's the mindset that I had to have. As far as the popular gene, I don't know about all that but I think I just love a lot. I have a lot of joy, and I feel like that's all you can do in this life. It goes by quick and there's no point of being angry. Obviously, I'm not perfect; I fail a ton, but I love to have joy in my life. I love to just be around people that share the same mindset as me."
(One final question, because they have you listed as 190lbs. Is that like the "I put on the most weight I had to get to for the NFL Combine," or are you naturally at 190?) – "I'm 194 right now. I think at the Combine, you fly in there – and I was in California, so I had to take two connecting flights. You don't eat anything because they're taking a picture of you in your underwear, so you better eat healthy. (laughter) And then that whole week, it's 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. – you're going and going and going. You're getting medical exams and this and that and the other, so the only time you were able to eat was your agent or your trainer would DoorDash, Uber Eats and would get you Chipotle or something like that. I wish I could show that I was 194 because that helped, but I left San Diego for the Combine at 195, and I guess I didn't chug enough water that morning to weigh in. (laughter)"
