Sounds fishy, but Taylor thankful to be a Jet
Jason Taylor gets ready for his first game against his former team, the Miami Dolphins. (Sept. 26, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
Considering the contempt Jason Taylor previously has expressed for the Jets and their fans, his recent quotes are surprising, if not downright astounding.
The longtime Dolphins defensive end, who once called the Meadowlands a "hellhole," who once suggested that Jets fans were "ignorant," and who said that J-E-T-S was "the only word they know how to spell," now has a vastly different take on his newly adopted team.
And he insists that there isn't a disingenuous bone in his body when he tells you how thankful he is on this Thanksgiving to be playing for the team he once loathed. "I'm the happiest I've been in maybe the last five or six years," Taylor told me. "I have absolutely no regrets at all. I wouldn't change a thing."
Uh . . . really??
Wasn't it only a few months ago that the Taylor, 36, was holding out hope that the Dolphins, the team he played for from 1997-2007 and then again in 2009, would welcome him back for one more season? Wasn't Taylor waiting until the last possible moment to see if then Dolphins director of football operations Bill Parcells and coach Tony Sparano would come off their refusal to consider re-signing Taylor to the team with which he fashioned a potential Hall of Fame career?
Truth be told, he was. Taylor desperately wanted to stay in South Florida with his beloved Dolphins, and dragged his feet for weeks while coach Rex Ryan tried to convince him to come to the Jets. But when the Dolphins wouldn't re-up after signing him to a one-year, $1.1 million deal in 2009, Taylor signed a deal that will pay him $3.75 million this year with the Jets.
I asked Taylor if he ever could have imagined being this content while pondering his difficult decision to play for the team he once reviled. He said he could not.
"You have emotions involved," he said. "But once you take a step back and realize all the circumstances of why I left [Miami], why I wasn't welcomed back there, you move on."
He insists there are no traces of remorse.
"I'm not one for dwelling on the past," he said. "Once a decision's been made, it's done. I feel like I've done the right thing throughout the decision-making process, and I just keep going. Looking back at it now, I had no regrets the day I signed here, and I have none now."
Taylor says he keeps in touch with several former Dolphins teammates, many of whom express envy over his situation, mostly because Taylor is playing for an 8-2 team that will face the Bengals on Thanksgiving Day. The Dolphins, meanwhile, are 5-5 and down to third-string quarterback Tyler Thigpen.
"They watch what's going on, and they're very supportive of me," he said. "I'm not sure they want [the Jets]to win, but they're supporting me. They say, 'Man, you're lucky to be there right now.'"
As for the state of Taylor's game, he admits he could be playing better. With four sacks in 10 games, he is the Jets' leading pass rusher, but feels his productivity should be better.
"I don't think I'm the biggest disappointment of all the offseason acquisitions, like I've heard, [but] it can be better," he said. "We all want numbers. You have to make the most of your at-bats and keep going."
The Jets will need Taylor down the stretch if they hope to make a meaningful playoff run, but it remains to be seen how much he'll factor into the defense. He has seen less time in the regular defense in an effort to keep him fresher.
Regardless of what happens, though, this much is clear: Taylor loves playing for the team he used to hate.
