Jason Taylor to retire after Sunday's game

[Tenshot13]

I think his number should be retired.  He's in the company of HOFers for all time sacks.  I don't know if Strahan's number is, or will be retired, but if his is, then Taylor's should be too.  I know he played for the stinking Jets, and I'm still pretty bitter about that, but him and ZT where the face of this franchise for a long time, and JT has the crazy stats to warrant his number being retired.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

All offense there. It can be argued JT is one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the franchise.

The league strongly discourages teams from retiring a players given that there is a finite number of numbers and you need at least 53 of them to field a team. 

In general the standard is NOT "It can be argued XX is one of the greatest players in the history of the franchise."   "But it can be argued that XX is one of the greatest palyers in the history of the league."  An honor typically only bestowed on folks that are locks to be first round HOF players based solely on their play for that one team. 

 

[Dave Gray]

We should DEFINITELY not retire Jason Taylor's number.  Great player, but not a franchise changer, and he didn't play his whole career here.  Marino is the only guy worthy of that from our team, that I've seen.  Perhaps some of the older guys, but I wasn't around for them.  There is nobody on our team now worthy of that honor, either. 

[Doc-phin]

I would really like JT to come back for one more year.  I understand he has been screwed by too many changes around here and would like to go out his way this time but I think he has one more good year in him and can allow us to develop another pass rusher behind him.

I love how JT was supposed to be a part time guy this year and pretty much became the full time guy right away.  Why?  Because he is still better than most of the other guys at his position.  I rarely see him in a bad position and he does a great job pushing the QB into our other defenders.

ONE MORE YEAR JT!  WE NEED TO DRAFT A GUY AND HE WILL NEED ONE YEAR!  Then you can ride off into the sunset with pride.  You have been a damn good player for us and shame on all the haters.

[Dave Gray]

I think you guys are going really lax on your standards for retiring a number.  It's a really big deal.  It's not something you can do for every elite player you have.  It's only for the very best of the best of all-time, those that define your franchise at its very core.  Jason Taylor simply is not that.  He was a great player, but he left this team (for whatever reason) on 2 different occassions.  He isn't on the level of a guy like Marino.  ...he's just not.

There are a finite number of jersey #s.

Taylor, without question, in my opinion, doesn't apply.

Guys that do -- Peyton Manning, Brady, Favre...guys like that.  ...franchise defining legends.

[MikeO]

I don't want to re-hash the whole Parcells thing, but I thought the Tuna basically ran him out of here.

Correct, the first time he left begging. The 2nd time Miami didn't offer him a deal. My bad

[MikeO]

We should DEFINITELY not retire Jason Taylor's number.  Great player, but not a franchise changer, and he didn't play his whole career here.  Marino is the only guy worthy of that from our team, that I've seen.  Perhaps some of the older guys, but I wasn't around for them.  There is nobody on our team now worthy of that honor, either. 

We have only retired 3. Marino. Csonka. Griese.

And I can't think of another player  in franchise history who deserves the honor to be honest.

[CF DolFan]

Correct, the first time he left begging. The 2nd time Miami didn't offer him a deal. My bad

Wasn't he traded to the Redskins?

[Spider-Dan]

For what it's worth, I'd say Zach deserves it, but it would be hard to retire Zach and not JT.

[MikeO]

Wasn't he traded to the Redskins?

because Parcells ignored him when JT walked into a room and introduced himself to Bill (the tuna was upset JT skipped all offseason workouts), JT got pissed when he was ignored and asked to be traded. He was traded in late July.

[Pappy13]

Guys that do -- Peyton Manning, Brady, Favre...guys like that.  ...franchise defining legends.

So only QB's then?

[MikeO]

So only QB's then?

No, I mean around the league you got Jerry Rice, Lawrence Taylor, Jim Brown, Ronnie Lott, Reggie White....its not only QB's that should get that honor. But the best of the best. Retiring numbers aren't for guys who were "good" or even "great'. It's for legendary players in franchise history.

[Pappy13]

No, I mean around the league you got Jerry Rice, Lawrence Taylor, Jim Brown, Ronnie Lott, Reggie White....its not only QB's that should get that honor. But the best of the best. Retiring numbers aren't for guys who were "good" or even "great'. It's for legendary players in franchise history.

The reason I ask is because you don't seem to have a problem with Griese's number being retired and he's not even the best for this franchise let alone the league. I mean there were quite a few QB's back then could be argued were better than Griese. I think an argument can be made that Taylor is the best DE/OLB that Miami has ever had and he's been at least close to one of the best league wide most of the time he's been playing. He was the defensive player of the year once and the AFC defensive player twice.

I'm not really agreeing or disagreeing that Taylor's number should or shouldn't be retired, I just think we throw around QB's names as legendary a LOT easier than we do for defensive lineman. That's all I'm trying to say.

[MikeO]

The reason I ask is because you don't seem to have a problem with Griese's number being retired and he's not even the best for this franchise let alone the league. I think an argument can be made that Taylor is the best DE/OLB that Miami has ever had.

I'm not really disagreeing that Taylor's number should or shouldn't be retired, I just think we throw around QB's names as legendary a LOT easier than we do for defensive lineman.

They retired Bob's number a year before Dan got in the league. The Fins couldn't predict Marino would be what he turned out to be. Griese was the starting QB to a team that went to 3 straight Super Bowls, won 2, and had a perfect season. His stats aren't great, but any QB that has that on his resume is "legendary." In a 3 year time span in games he started, Miami was 26-4-1 (that's not counting 12 games of the "perfect season"  that he missed.) Few QB's, if any, can match that for a 3 year time period as a QB. The fact he is also in Canton and was the QB of this team for over a decade and when this franchise had its most success ever also plays in his favor.

[Pappy13]

They retired Bob's number a year before Dan got in the league. The Fins couldn't predict Marino would be what he turned out to be. Griese was the starting QB to a team that went to 3 straight Super Bowls, won 2, and had a perfect season. His stats aren't great, but any QB that has that on his resume is "legendary." In a 3 year time span in games he started, Miami was 26-4-1 (that's not counting 12 games of the "perfect season"  that he missed.) Few QB's, if any, can match that for a 3 year time period as a QB. The fact he is also in Canton and was the QB of this team for over a decade and when this franchise had its most success ever also plays in his favor.

So then it's NOT just what you do, it's what your team does while you're on the team as well.  Isn't that a bit unfair to guys like Taylor that just happened to be a great player on an average team? Griese had Csonka and Buoniconti, not to mention Jake Scott and whole host of other guys that were probably better than anybody Taylor ever had the chance to play with other than Zach and Marino at the end of his career.