Second-year wide receiver Trent Taylor is working his way back onto the practice field. His back started bothering him during the offseason. Taylor took part in the San Francisco 49ers' first practice of organized team activities in May but didn't look or feel right.
"I've kind of always had low back pain, I guess," Taylor said on Tuesday.
The 49ers receiver wanted to get his back issues fixed sooner rather than later so the decision was made to have a procedure to shave down bone spurs in his lower back. After that, there was a whole lot of waiting around for his body to heal. Taylor missed most of the team's OTAs and a mandatory minicamp that followed.
Now, the 49ers are easing Taylor back onto the practice field. He took part in team drills for the first time on Sunday and had a nice one-handed catch during Tuesday's session.
"After the procedure, it was a lot of relaxing, taking it slow," Taylor said. "So getting back into it. You've got to get used to making those cuts again. So that's what we're in the process of doing."
Taylor was an important part of the 49ers offense last season. He registered 43 receptions for 430 yards with two touchdowns during his rookie campaign after San Francisco made him a fifth-round draft pick out of Louisiana Tech in last year's draft.
"It's all good now," Taylor said of the back issues. "Good to be back at practice, out here with all the guys, back to playing football."
Other than some typical training camp bumps and bruises, Taylor feels healthy and believes he will be ready for the start of the 2018 season.
"It's been frustrating for me just not being able to play football," Taylor said. "I've never dealt with an injury or ever had surgery like that before. Throughout all of high school and college, I never missed a football game. So just to have to sit back and watch OTAs go on and practice early on in camp, it's been tough, but that's just part of the process that I got to go through, and it is what it is. I'm going to grow from it."
One player who is excited to have Taylor back is quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
"Trent's a smart player," Garoppolo said on Sunday. "He's a smaller guy, but he likes to go in between the linebackers and things like that. He finds the soft spot in the defense and gives you an easy throw on third down. It's just one more thing for the defense to think about."
