Jason Taylor traded to Skins!!!!!!

[DolFan619]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/07/20/thanks_for_the_memories_jt.html

Thanks for the memories, JT

By Edgar Thompson | Sunday, July 20, 2008, 10:57 PM

Everyone expected this day to arrive.

Now that it’s finally here, how do you feel about the Dolphins’ decision to trade Jason Taylor?

It has to really hurt a lot of Dolfans if they take into account not the past several months, but the last 11 seasons.

The six Pro Bowls, the team-record 117 sacks and 130 consecutive games played, the NFL-record eight TDs by a defensive lineman. Forget “Dancing With the Stars,” Hollywood’s blinding bright lights and the stand-off with the Big Tuna.

When you look back on Taylor’s career, what will you remember most?

A particular play? A dominating performance? An autograph? A high five?

I feel cheated a bit, having covered Taylor during the most disappointing season of his career.

He rarely flashed Hall of Fame ability during a miserable 1-15 season, while many of his teammates barely flashed Arena Football League ability. Taylor had back-to-back games without a tackle and had eight games without a sack.

In the Dolphins’ only win, against the Ravens, Taylor did show the ability that made him one of the NFL’s best defenders for 10 years. He finished with two sacks, three quarterback hurries and blocked a kick.

The Dolphins will need some performances like that this season. Any season.

But it’s going to be a lot to ask. After all, there’s not many players like No. 99.

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_seasonticket/2008/07/fins-jt-traded.html?cid=123108090#comment-123108090

Fins: JT traded (aftermath, #1)

Bill Parcells declared that Jason Taylor would play for the Dolphins or retire.

Jason Taylor danced around the subject of whether he wanted to remain a Dolphin.

None of that posturing (and that's all it was) matters now.

Taylor was traded, as most media observers expected would occur.

He gets what he wanted: an exit to a potential contender.

The Dolphins get what they need: more rebuilding chips they must use wisely.

But Taylor's reputation took a hit in the process.  In a sense, Zach Thomas was fortunate. He wanted the same result as Taylor (to get a contender), but the Dolphins didn't view him as having enough value to hold for a trade. So Thomas is still universally beloved here.

Several questions remain.

We'll start with these two:

Now that it's over, will you root for Taylor?

And how will you view his career here?

> Posted by Ethan J. Skolnick at 10:16:19 PM

[DolFan619]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-fl1ahydex0721pnjul21,0,678606.column

Taylor deserves a proper farewell

Dave Hyde
Sports Columnist

July 21, 2008

His grandfather sat at a Smith-Corona typewriter each New Year's Day and pecked out annual goals that he'd then read to the family. Jason Taylor inherited that idea. He arrived as a no-name Dolphins rookie in 1997 and wrote three goals on an index card that he leaned against his nightstand lamp.

That way, he saw them first thing in the morning and last thing at night:

1. Make the team.

2. Improve each day.

3. Start on opening day.

Let's remember that today. Let's remember how his Dolphin time began as we get swamped by its ending. Let's note how Taylor achieved those early goals, then added bigger ones each year. Become the team's Most Valuable Player? Lead the franchise in sacks? Become the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year?

By the time Taylor left Sunday night in a trade that benefits the team more than it does him, those football goals were only part of what he achieved. Let's note that, too. He made the kind of bond with a community that only the best players do, the ones great enough on the field and good enough off it are able to do.

He gave kids school clothes in one charity function, opened a football camp for underprivileged youth, even started a reading room in Miramar where dozens of teenagers got extra schooling every day. Among pro athletes who gave back, Taylor belongs in the class with Dan Marino and Alonzo Mourning.

That matters. At least it should. And it's why a proper goodbye should be said today, one without the bile of these recent months, one that puts 11 years of good work into the perspective it deserves as he goes off to Washington.

Oh, Taylor asked for a trade like this. Sometimes you don't get exactly what you asked for. That might be the case here, because instead of a championship-ready team Taylor goes to one that eked into the playoffs last year and then got blown away in the first game.

Maybe the Redskins are young and coming. Maybe they need a veteran like Taylor. We'll see. All we know today is Washington lost starting defensive end Phillip Daniels to injury and so paid the asking price for Taylor of a second-round draft pick in 2009 and a fifth-round pick in 2010.

This was the ending that had to come, the sooner the better, because no one came off well in this long goodbye. This new Dolphin regime had an odd, passive-aggressive treatment of Taylor, one week saying in a snit he'd never show up to practice and the next attending his charity events. And if Taylor's Dancing With the Stars commitment was one thing, his tap-dancing over whether he wanted to be traded was another.

Thankfully, that's all passed now. The angst will be quickly forgotten, as will Bill Parcells' March comment that, "The only way Jason Taylor doesn't play for the Dolphins in 2008 is if he retires. The team is not going to trade him."

Everyone knew such bluster was for show when he said it and so can't hold him to it now. Everyone played his part in this parting. Again: This trade had to happen. Again: The sooner it was done, the better.

And again: Taylor will be missed, in the way all great players are. He was the last Dolphin on the marquee, too. There will be others, perhaps soon. But who's left to put up there now? Zach Thomas was released to Dallas months ago. Now Taylor's gone. That's about it as far as forever Dolphins of late.

Consistent? Taylor started 130 straight games, a team record. Talented? He had 117 sacks, another team record. And tough? Well, that was a given, considering at 5, he got into a fight with a dog and bit it.

But then he had an unusual background of a tank commander for one grandfather, a University of Pittsburgh quarterback for another and a home-schooling background at a time that was just coming into vogue. At 12, he had a home-repair business. At 14, he memorized the Book of James.

At 22, he became a Dolphin and he kept growing up before everyone's eyes in the way that doesn't much happen in sports anymore. Sometimes players aren't good enough to last. Sometimes the money takes them to another city.

And sometimes it wasn't pretty with Taylor. That's part of it. We're all frail. He got into an ugly affair with his stepfather that landed in courts. He admitted to personal problems that nearly ended his marriage with Katrina, Thomas' sister.

In other words, he grew up in the headlines in a manner a lot of sports stars do. His problems weren't unusual, just magnified. He never ducked the issues. All the while he gave his best on the field and gave back to South Florida in a manner only a couple of athletes have.

Suddenly, he's another city's star, another team's hope.

"As you might imagine, this is a bit overwhelming right now and I probably need a little time to digest it all," Taylor said in a statement Sunday night.

The timeline was all wrong here. Taylor, at 34 next season, is nearing the end. Parcells and his team are at the beginning. It was best this ending came before the start of Friday's training camp. Taylor gets the start he wants. And the Dolphin era that advertises "A New Beginning" has a complete one.

The last few years on the index card he still kept on his nightstand, Taylor started with one word, always the same one:

Win.

It looks like that's the ending here. Taylor wins in getting to Washington. The Dolphins win in getting a couple draft chips for the future. But, given everyone wins, it doesn't feel like that today. It feels like a goodbye. And, if necessary, those aren't always something to celebrate.

[DolFan619]

http://www.miamiherald.com/616/story/611599.html

Trade removes talent and distractions

By ARMANDO SALGUERO
Miami Herald

The Dolphins rid themselves of their biggest offseason headache and what promised to be training camp's most uncomfortable drama.

Jason Taylor is gone to the Washington Redskins in a trade.

And yes, that means the 2008 Dolphins suddenly got a whole lot less talented Sunday in the hour or so Redskins executive vice president Vinny Cerrato said it took his team to work a trade.

Gone is the team's most productive defensive player the past 11 seasons. Gone is the consistent pressure he generates against opposing quarterbacks. Gone is Miami's biggest-name player.

Also gone are those ridiculous rumors that Brett Favre might somehow end up in Miami this season. In case you missed the rest of the offseason, this trade proves Miami is building for the future, not for today. Adding a soon-to-be 39-year-old quarterback doesn't really make sense under that plan.

So the Dolphins are diminished on the field. But think of it as addition by subtraction, because Sunday's trade also eased Miami of all that baggage Taylor recently was carrying.

The Dolphins no longer have to worry about whether Taylor is unhappy. They don't have to fret he will be a bad influence on younger players in the locker room. And those daily reports on whether he was showing up for the start of camp are moot now.

Until the trade, those issues threatened to sour Tony Sparano's first Miami training camp and cast a shadow over the authority vice president of football operations Bill Parcells and general manager Jeff Ireland held over the locker room.

That is no longer an issue.

Now someone else has to worry whether the talented defensive end will play only one more season. Now someone else will have to figure out what offseason camps he might miss as he juggles a budding movie career.

That drama goes away. That headache is gone. And that's good.

Now the drama the Dolphins will see this training camp will have mostly to do with, you know, football.

The petty stuff like trade rumors will defer to more important theater like a quarterback competition.

We will be rightfully absorbed by the twin returns of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. We will be scrutinizing whether rookie Jake Long is worth the paycheck that makes him the NFL's highest-paid offensive lineman. We will be measuring the progress of Ted Ginn Jr. from Year One to Year Two.

We will be doing exactly what Sparano and his coaches and his bosses want: Thinking about football instead of a player who might not have reported to the first day of training camp.

From a purely football perspective it is impossible to argue the Dolphins were trying to make a short-term improvement by making this trade.

Yes, that second-round pick next year will come in handy especially if the Redskins, who play in the NFL's toughest division, struggle to make the playoffs. But that pick's contribution is 12 months away.

Today, the Dolphins have to find a pass-rusher on the outside.

Linebacker Charlie Anderson came from Houston as an unrestricted free agent and is now the most likely replacement at the outside linebacker spot for which Taylor seemed suited. There is also the chance the Dolphins might use Joey Porter in a greater pass-rushing role.

But it seems if the Dolphins are going to produce significant pass-rush pressure, it will have to come from unproven players. It will have to come from rookie Kendall Langford, who seems suited for the task, or maybe rookie Phillip Merling, who projects more as a run-stopper.

Neither can guarantee making up for the double-digit sacks Taylor typically produced. But watching whether they can is the drama the Dolphins prefer.

[DolFan619]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/07/what-everybody.html

What everybody is saying about the JT trade

The Dolphins, Redskins and Jason Taylor have released quotes about tonight's trade that sends Taylor to the Washington Redskins for a second-round pick in 2009 and a sixth-round pick in 2010.

Here is what Taylor said:

"As you might imagine, this is a bit overwhelming right now and I probably need a little time to digest it all. I love Miami, will always cherish my 11 years with the Dolphins and can't thank Mr. Huizenga, Bryan Wiedmeier and countless coaches and teammates enough for what they have all done. I will be a Dolphins fan now and wish them the best. Tony Sparano is great and I know I would have enjoyed working with him. And what can I say about the fans? This town has been supportive beyond belief, through good times and bad and I wish I could thank everyone personally.

"Having said that, I'm looking forward to meeting with Mr. Snyder and getting to know my new coaches and teammates. I'm just proud to be representing our nation's capital as a Redskin."

From the Dolphins the team released statements from managing general partner (owner) Wayne Huizenga and GM Jeff Ireland.

"I want to thank Jason for all of his contributions to the Dolphins and to South Florida," Huizenga said.  "Ever since he joined the team as a rookie he has been outstanding on the field and a leader in our community. Whether it was his intensity between the lines or his commitment to his charitable works, he made a lasting impact here. I will miss Jason, and on behalf of the entire Dolphins organization I want to wish him the best of success with the Redskins."

From the Redskins perspective executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato was thrilled:

"We are fortunate that there was a player of his caliber available on the market, especially after one of our players got hurt. Normally there is nobody on the market of his caliber. [Taylor] is a six-time Pro Bowl player, and he was the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2006. The timing was right.

"His play speaks for itself. It is easy to talk about Jason Taylor. His statistics back up everything that he has done. I think one of the more impressive accomplishments is that he played 90 percent of the plays on defense last year. We had to act after losing our starting defensive end Phillip Daniels."

So what do I think? You can check that in the column I wrote in Monday's Herald. Basically, the Dolphins are less talented as a result of this trade. They just lost a double-digit sack player and have no real dependable replacement for him.

But they just may be a stronger TEAM because they don't have the Taylor distraction and all the drama that goes with him as training camp looms. The Dolphins, by the way, talked to at least two teams about trading Taylor on Sunday but believed the Redskins deal to be the best for them.

Now you get your chance. What are you, the fans, saying...

[Thundergod]

It's plain and simple. If Philip Daniels, who is a good defensive end had not gotten hurt, Jason Taylor would not be headed to Washington. Washington had a desperate need and filled the need. Dan Synder would have traded for Hornswaggle the midget of the WWF if he had to to get a defensive end.

The Dolphins caught a stroke of luck on this one. It's good to go to mass sometimes.

So now all of a sudden, Parcells is a genius when he was probably sweating bullets from opening up training camp with Jason Taylor not being there and having to ask questions about Taylor each day. Parcells was spared the pressure of having news vans in front of the Davie complex looking for Jason taylor to part through the skies and report to training camp.

You have to ask yourself, what if Daniels wouldn't have gotten hurt? I believe it's tougher to trade a player during pre-season because on many teams, you have guys that are being evaluated and many are surprises to the coaching staff. Rarely do you see trades in pre-season or during the season anymore.

It's not quantum physics. You knew that Parcells wasn't going to send Taylor to the Cowboys. Ditto for the Patriots or Chargers.

Well said Ethurst.

As for Jason, good luck JT!! I'm sad to see ya go man, and I hope nothing but the best for you. Thanks for everything you've done/put up with down here in Miami. Our POS offenses wasted 2 great defensive players' careers in Thomas and Taylor. Now go sack the hell outta Romo. 

[TEKGOD]

Ethurst, I have to disagree on this one.  If Phillip Daniels had not gotten hurt, I'm sure some other contending team's DE would have, in which case, Parcells would listen to offers for JT from that team. 

By waiting till training camp to unload him, Parcells increased JT's value big time.  If the best offer he got during the draft was a 4th round pick, now all of a sudden he bags a second rounder and a sixth rounder, what does that say about the Redskins and their sudden need for a capable DE? 

Doctor D was dead on in his call that Parcells would wait till training camp to make a trade. 

What are you talking about? Nobody was shopping for Taylor until the Deadskins moved in. Ethurst is right, this saves fat Tuna from the media circus. Thank you JT for the blood, sweat, & tears -- when its all over come back & get your well deserved inclusion in the ROH, but meanwhile I will now root against you - so that 2nd round pick comes back nice & shiny.

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/07/who-replaces-ja.html?cid=123137766#comment-123137766

Who replaces Jason Taylor?

Jason Taylor's departure creates a huge void on the roster that likely won't be easy to fill. But the Dolphins do have options. Not many, but there are player that could make the 3-4 defense work.

Joey Porter is a comparable athlete to Taylor. Or at least he was. Before his disappointing 2007 season Porter was considered one of the elite 3-4 linebackers in the NFL, and who knows, he still might be. This season will likely tell us.

I suspect Porter becomes the band-aide that fills in for Taylor as the jack, which is the outside linebacker who lines up against the left tackle and moves around the field to create confusion.

Porter filled in for Taylor some during OTA's and minicamp and I can see the move from left to right being permanent. But if Porter moves over who fills in for him you ask?

Reggie Torbor finished last season as a starting outside linebacker for the Giants and was likely going to play a duel role this season if Channing Crowder and Akin Adoyele won the two starting spots on the inside.

Crowder's likely a lock to start if he's healthy because he's in the final year of his first contract and the Trifecta needs to showcase him to determine if he's worth of re-signing. Even if they don't ink him to a new deal a good season for Crowder warrants a better compensatory pick in return for letting him walk as a free agent.

As one of the Dallas defections Ayodele is probably more familiar with the defense these coaches are trying to run than every other player, so he's a front-runner to start on the inside. However, Ayodele can also serve as an outside linebacker considering that's where he began his career with the Jaguars.

Charlie Anderson, a career special teamer in his first four seasons in the NFL, will likely be given first crack at replacing Taylor. The Trifecta has been high on Anderson ever since his college days because of his combination of size and athleticism. But how much of a pass rushing threat can he really be considering he's contributed all of three sacks in four seasons.

Quentin Moses will also get a crack at replacing Taylor, but this is the first season the former college defensive end will be playing linebacker. That move back a few feet is a difficult one to make, so the adjustment could take time.

The coaches experimented with moving defensive end Matt Roth to outside linebacker this summer. Roth has the size and pass rushing skills to make a move like that work, but I'm not sure he has the speed to cover a tight end or tailback coming out of the backfield. However, moving him would open the door for Randy Starks, Phillip Merling or Kendall Langford to serve as the starter opposite Vonnie Holliday.

There are also a few long-shots to make the roster who COULD potentially step up their game in a major way.

Junior Glymph, who spent last season in Dallas' training camp, has history with these coaches. Rookies Keith Saunders and Titus Brown showed flashes of athleticism and speed during OTA sessions, and might be worthy of an investment. But that investment might be practice squad, not the 53-man roster.

Rob Ninkovich, a waiver wire pickup last season, is a former college defensive end who has been working on that conversion to outside linebacker for the past couple of seasons.

Ninkovich has just as much of a chance to surprise the world as anyone else. He's one of the many bodies on the roster (and possibly on someone else's roster) who will be pushing themselves this summer to fill JT's very large shoes.

So, which way do you go in replacing Taylor?

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 7:58:50 AM

[Rick]

What are you talking about? Nobody was shopping for Taylor until the Deadskins moved in. 

  If you READ  the article Titled "What Everbody is saying about the JT Trade", you will see that at least 2 other teams were in talks with Miami on Sunday to deal for Jason Taylor.....therefore you are wrong in your statement.....they took the Skins deal because it was the best offer on the table.....Mr. Parcells/Mr. Ireland and Coach Sparano did a GREAT job of handling this situation

  Good call DoctorD!!!!

[Sunstroke]

What are you talking about? Nobody was shopping for Taylor until the Deadskins moved in.

And was it already the middle of October...you know, the trade deadline? Or do you think that the majority of defensive starters that will get injured this season will get injured from this point forward? Nobody else was shopping for JAT at that point yet because nobody had put together their shopping list yet.  Are you reeeeeally telling me that you believe that NOBODY would have been interested in dealing for JT between now and mid-October? Or are you admitting that your statement above is just a wee bit on the premature side?

Bottom line...Parcells did get lucky that a desperate man with a penchant for impulse-buying (Snyder) showed up at Miami's door the moment the store opened for business, but JT was destined to be traded at some point this season regardless.

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_seasonticket/2008/07/fins-jt-trade-1.html

Fins: JT traded (aftermath #2)

Reading through some of the previous posts, and many good points were raised.

I want to highlight some of them.

Thought we'd start with this one:

Is Washington truly a contender, even with Jason Taylor?

Yes, the Redskins are in the weaker conference.

But they play in the NFC's best division.

They have the most questionable quarterback situation in that division.

They have a good running game, and Chris Cooley is a solid player, but they had trouble getting the ball to their receivers last season.

They remind me a little of the Jay Fiedler teams that were good, but not good enough. They rallied emotionally to make the playoffs after Sean Taylor's murder, but I never saw them as a serious threat to reach the Super Bowl. And that was under Joe Gibbs.

On paper, they still aren't close to the Cowboys. They also fall behind the Giants and Packers, and are in the mix with the Seahawks, Bucs, Vikings, Eagles and maybe the Panthers and Cardinals.

And they have a first-year coach (Jim Zorn) with an offensive background but no NFL head coaching experience. We know how well that worked for Taylor the last time around.

I expect them to fall between 8-8 and 10-6.

Your prediction: does Taylor make the playoffs this season?

> Posted by Ethan J. Skolnick at 10:46:02 AM

[Fau Teixeira]

no .. JT does not make the playoffs .. and in year 2 of his redskin experience, they also do not make the playoffs while the dolphins do

[masterfins]

Good Luck to Jason Taylor, I hope he makes it to the Super Bowl with the Skins, he's earned it!!  Always a good performer for the fins, very few injuries over the 11 years in aqua & orange.  If I recall Zach said he had to talk him into playing last year, so it's not like he's going to play much longer.  The Tuna definately did good for the Fins in the long run, although the defense will be a little worse off this year.

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

I am sad to see him go. After watching him over the last decade he was one of my favorite players along with Zach Thomas. Now they are both gone. It sucks but he wanted out and I can't blame him. This team is pathetic and has been for a few years now and he is nearing the end of his career. I do not think he will win a SuperBowl in Washington either but I wish him the best. Thanks for all of your years of service Jason you will be missed.

[dolfan13]

lebatard has a funny take on this whole thing... jt is playing for a team with a pretty good defense, new coach, and crappy starting qb/offense. its not like he hasn't been in this situation before....