Jason Taylor, preferring to remain a Dolphin, is content to wait until May or June to resolve his future, barring an extraordinary offer from a contender. The Taylor camp has been left with the impression the Dolphins still will consider re-signing him. A lot will depend on the draft. Agent Gary Wichard told WQAM-560 that he encouraged Taylor to meet with the Jets, who have interest in signing him, and that meeting will happen in the next couple of days. But Wichard said Taylor prefers to stay with the Dolphins and Miami has not ruled out keeping him.

darn you Big Dave and with a post much nicer than mine!


;) You can just close mine this template is better

I think I just lost what little respect I still had for JT.

Jason Taylor visiting with Jets today
Jason Taylor boarded a 7 a.m. plane to New York today. He is visiting the New York Jets as an unrestricted free agent, according to his agent Gary Wichard.

"I pushed him up there," Wichard just told me. "I twisted his arm. He loves the fans in Miami and he gave up $8 million last year to play in front of fans. I am the one to push him to go up there because I don't know what will be available to on April 23 or 25th or whatever."

According to Wichard, Ryan started calling, trying to get Taylor signed the same day they lost kicker Jay Feeley to Arizona in free agency. The Jets are a Final 4 team and can add unrestricted free agents when they lose unrestricted free agents.

"How do you say no to Rex Ryan? Wichard said. "You got to listen to him. I cannot explain to you how much Rex wants him up there."

...

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins ... z0kQj7j2UP

Taylor would help Jets, be disaster for Dolphins

> Posted by Dave Hyde on April 7, 2010 10:56 AM
Jason Taylor’s plane landed at 10:05 a.m. this morning in New York to meet with Jets coach Rex Ryan and is, “going to be treated like a five-star recruit from the movie Blue Chips,” according to agent Gary Wichard.

At the very least, this is a public-relations nightmare for the Dolphins of their own making. At the most, the Dolphins legend could address one of their biggest rival's pressing needs.

“He’s the guy they’ve targeted,’’ Wichard said. “Rex said, ‘Gary, I don’t want him to do anything more than get to the quarterback. That’s what we need.’ That’s music to Jason’s ears.

...

It’s hard to see how Taylor couldn’t help a Dophins outside linebacker corps of Quentin Moses, Charlie Anderson and Cameron Wake (depending on where Karlos Dansby plays). And fans again are in the middle of a developing situation between the Bill Parcells regime and Taylor.

...

That would be a tough one to stomach for the Dolphins. It also would represent a blunder on the Dolphins front office, virtually hand-delivering help to your biggest rival.

We haven’t really spoke to the Dolphins about Jason,’’ Wichard said. “I spoke to (general manager Jeff Ireland) once and that was more about a college guy I represent.”

...

“Jason didn’t want to go at first,’’ Wichard said. “I said, ‘Go up there, see what it’s like in New York.’ He and (wife) Katina are going for two days. He wants to play football for two more years and he wants to try to win a Super Bowl. The Jets were a game away from the Super Bowl last year. We’ll see what happens.”

The Jets' pursuit of Taylor is not new, sources told The Miami Herald. The team has actively and aggressively tried to convince the linebacker to make the jump to the AFC East rival since the start of free agency.

Taylor has been privately confused about how to handle the situation, but he is also growing antsy by the Dolphins' hesitations to bring him back. The team does not want to make a commitment to Taylor until after the NFL Draft.

With the Jets, Taylor has been told he would be able to play his ideal position: simply rushing the passer rather than being required to drop into coverage on other downs. Ideally, it's a likable scenario, but Taylor has long voiced his public hatred for the AFC East rival.

Money could become something of an issue if Taylor decides he's willing to play for the Jets. NFL rules state the Jets could only offer Taylor a salary equivalent of the one paid to Feely last season (as part of the Final 4 rule).

Feely earned $1.5 million, but Taylor has made it privately clear that New York's offer is for more than that, as much as $3 million for a one-year deal. Whether the team can circumvent those rules with in-season roster bonuses and easily reached incentives is not yet known.

The NFL has not yet responded to requests seeking such information.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/07/1 ... z0kQqWlTXd

Why? The guy can still play football. He's made public his interest in staying with Miami, yet the team continues to ignore him. If the Jets are a team showing interest, he has every right to go there. Like BD said, it would be our own fault for letting him slip away.

Well, maybe my choice of words were a little strong. If he did sign with the Jets, however, I would lose some respect for him. Zack Thomas had interest from New England and chose to go with Dallas. If JT can still play, and we don't re-sign him, I wish he would pursue some team outside our division. Just my opinion.

Truth is, my stomach has been a little queasy since the Dolphins re-signed that other Jason, the one who is under an eight-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy and who may be close to retirement anyway because of his age, 35, and a long rehab from quadriceps surgery.

Yep, that's a long list of reasons not to promise money to a guy, but Jason Ferguson, a veteran player at a highly valued position, nose tackle, got a new contract from Bill Parcells last month, and just a few days after the suspension was announced.

Now, with the NFL Draft a couple of weeks away and teams preparing to address all their weak spots, Taylor, also 35, can't get the Dolphins to verify that he's in their 2010 plans by talking about a new contract with the league's career sacks leader among active players.

Can't blame JT for getting antsy. He's been famously stiff-armed by Parcells before, back when Jason's Hollywood career was infringing on off-season workouts and the Dolphins traded him to Washington for a couple of draft picks. Why, even after coming back to Miami in 2009 for peanuts and playing more than anyone foresaw, should one of the franchise's greatest defensive players expect to be treated as kindly as, say, Ferguson?

Hopefully in their next get together Zach Thomas slaps him silly.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/dol ... s_dolphins

ProFootballFocus has Furgeson ranked 25th at his position. It has Taylor ranked 8th at his position. Furgeson gets a contract and Jason gets treated like ...?

http://www.profootballfocus.com/by_posi ... numgames=1