Saturday, May 16, 2009

The Return of Jason Taylor



Jason Taylor returns! Less than a year after the Dolphins traded him to the Washington Redskins, the man is back in aqua and orange. Past Interference’s reaction to the 2008 Taylor trade was mixed; I approved of the move, Jeff hated it. But all Dolphin fans agreed it was a sad day to see the greatest defensive player in Miami Dolphins history leave to play for another team. But Taylor is back and his return not only washes away all that bad feeling, perhaps more importantly it sends yet another signal that this franchise has completely turned around under the leadership of Bill Parcells. You may recall the Dolphins received Washington’s 2009 second-round pick in exchange for Taylor, a pick subsequently spent on QB Pat White. In exchange, Washington received Taylor’s services for 2008 and those costly services wound up being nearly nonexistent. Taylor missed half the season with an injury and when he did play he wasn’t much of a factor. And Miami, finishing with their best season in years, certainly didn’t miss him. Now just a year later Taylor’s back as a free agent while costing Miami very little to sign. So essentially Miami got a second-round pick for free. Do you know how incredible that is? For most of this decade the Dolphins were known for trading away valuable draft picks for virtually nothing (see A.J. Feeley, Lamar Gordon). Even if Pat White or Jason Taylor do little in 2009 the team at least won’t have lost anything (and I believe White will in fact make important contributions). It’s just nice to see the Tuna emphatically end the team’s era of trade futility. Plus Jason Taylor’s a Dolphin again. Good times.

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