Jason Taylor rebuffs Pats, Jets in favor of Miami Dolphins
BY ARMANDO SALGUERO
ASALGUERO@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Aspiring actor Jason Taylor already has a penchant for drama.
He returned to the Dolphins on Wednesday, a hero who turned down the temptations of more money and grander promises from those villainous New England Patriots and New York Jets.
He's back home, where he belongs, because his family and his hometown are more important than the lure of Broadway's lights or a Patriots-engraved Super Bowl ring. He returns humbled, motivated, underpaid and ready to help the team he loves. [img_r]http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2009/05/13/15/204-jthelp11_dolphins_spts_jml.embedded.prod_affiliate.56.JPG[/img_r]
It's a perfect scenario. If this were a TV show, rather than a real-life production, it would have a title: MiamiTwice.
Taylor accepted a bargain-rate contract to play for the Dolphins. He basically forced his way out of Washington this offseason and forfeited his $8.5 million salary in the process. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder flew to South Florida and met with Taylor at Joe's Stone Crab to try to convince the player to stay with the Redskins.
It didn't work.
''Look, if Jason was going to play it was going to be with Miami,'' agent Gary Wichard said. ``That's how he wanted it.''
Taylor turned down promises of a bigger contract offer from the Patriots and didn't even let the Jets or Packers get deep enough in conversations to talk money.
The Dolphins' all-time sack king just wanted to come home and sign a below-market one-year deal worth $1.1 million plus $400,000 in incentives.
Bill Parcells has to be smiling now. The Dolphins architect traded Taylor for a second-round pick last year, set the blueprint for raising the franchise out of its 1-15 ashes, and now has the player he took with Washington's pick in addition to Taylor to defend the AFC East title.
And Parcells does this while beating out dreaded division rivals New England and New York in the chase for Taylor.
Everyone knows the Patriots made a strong play for Taylor, but few recognize that the Jets also called. That call from New York offered Taylor a chance to unite with coach Rex Ryan, the architect of Baltimore's ferocious defense the past few years.
It offered Taylor a chance to be a star as close to Broadway as anyone can get without actually performing in a play. But Taylor rebuffed that flirtation because he passionately dislikes Jets fans to the point that playing for them is slightly less preferable than death.
New England?
It was tempting.
The Patriots, for all their proven allegations of cheating and fanciful manipulations of injury reports, are a signature NFL franchise. Robert Kraft is perhaps the best owner in the business, and he actively and openly recruited Taylor.
Bill Belichick called Wichard and also tried to get Taylor's signature on a contract that included many more digits than the one he signed with Miami.
Taylor was also enticed by the fact New England quarterback Tom Brady is a friend. Although both are married now and limit their relationship to text messages, there was a time they hung out socially. (Wonder which one was the wingman?)
But let's face it, Taylor doesn't belong in a New England huddle any more than Dan Marino belonged in a Minnesota or Pittsburgh huddle after the Dolphins dismissed him in 2000.
Taylor knew it. We all knew it.
Taylor does belong in New England's backfield, sacking Brady, stuffing Fred Taylor, causing potential Randy Moss touchdown passes to never happen.
He is undoubtedly diminished compared with that player we remember as the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2006. Time is an opponent even Taylor cannot beat with a swim move.
But Parcells, who studied every snap Taylor took in 2008, obviously believes Taylor still has value. The Dolphins rightfully dismissed their talk about Taylor being a ''progress stopper,'' because they would eventually like the conversation to be about having some game-changers.
So as his 35th birthday looms in September, Taylor is going to play at least one last season with the Dolphins. It has the potential to feel like a Hollywood ending.
It definitely will not lack drama.