During the course of the past couple of seasons, I have lost some respect for Jason Taylor. Between "Dancing with the Stars", leaving the Dolphins because Parcells wasn't "respecting him", and a mediocre season with the Redskins (3.5 sacks) he dropped a couple of levels in my book.
However, he has regained all of my respect this off season. Jason has presented himself as a family man for the past couple of seasons. He has talked about taking off some time to be with his family and watch his kids grow up. I think that it is enormously respectable for an athlete to make public such a commitment to family. That being said, I think some people say this and then make decisions that seem completely contradictory to this commitment. Not Jason Taylor.
Apparently, Jason made an offer to the Miami front office that said what's a number that makes me coming back to the Dolphins financially sound for you. He put his pride and issues with Parcells aside and made being in the Miami area (for his family) a priority. The number that the Dolphins came back to Jason with was $1.5 million. This is quite possibly the best discount that anyone will get on a product in the whole country for the next five years (sorry bargain shoppers, you lose). Granted, Jason Taylor is 34, but he is still in good shape and will be able to contribute to a young Dolphins defense that will be switching between a 3-4 and 4-3 schemes as the year progresses. What are other DE's in the league making next year? Aaron Schobel (Bills), who is a little younger, and perhaps slightly less talented than Taylor will be looking at around $6 million for next year. As another point of reference, when Taylor left the Dolphins to go to the Redskins, he walked away from $7.5 million from the Dolphins. That's a six million dollar discount (almost all of T.O.'s salary for next year with the Bills)!!!
Hopefully, Jason's stats will improve next year along with the respect earned from putting his family first and returning to his home team in Miami.
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Taylor definitely showed his class with this move, and I think Miami fans will embrace him. This team may not be the most talented, but it's hard to argue with the character they possess. Ricky Williams came back, checked his ego and baggage at the door, and is a big contributor again, and Chad Pennington is showing off his leadership well.
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