Signing Jason Taylor Will Cost 2nd Round Pick
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins are rumored to be in the market for Jason Taylor. John Clayton reported yesterday that the Dolphins and the Patriots are the two teams most likely to land the former NFL DPOY. Taylor was released by the Washington Redskins early in the free agent period after being traded last year from Miami for a 2nd round pick. Now, it seems that the pick may be going back to Washington…if JT signs with the Phins.
An NFL rule filed under “Penalties for Unfair Acts” allows the Commissioner to revoke any trade compensation if a player who is traded returns to his original team within 365 days of his trade. Section 9.1 (E) of the NFL Constitution and Bylaws states:
"The Commissioner’s powers under this section (UNFAIR ACTS) include the imposition of monetary fines and draft choice forfeitures, suspension of persons involved, and, if appropriate, the reversal of any trade compensation. Should a trade be player for player, the infringing team will lose draft pick compensation upon review of the Commissioner commensurate with the value of said trade."
The Dolphins however can wait until after the draft in April and sign Taylor at that point. A loop hole in the wording of the rules does not allow for future draft pick penalties and since the draft would be over the team would not be penalized the 2nd round pick and Washington will not receive the pick back. However, the team itself would still face possible fines from the Commissioners Office.
To read more about re-signing a player that was traded within a 365 calendar date, read “forfeit under No. 1 of “Authority of Commissioner’s Office” : draft pick compensation.
The Dolphins of course could wait until the start of training camp and re-sign the DE without any penalty at all. The issue with that of course is that Jason would have missed all of the off-season workout programs, something that was at the heart of Bill Parcells’ ire last off-season leading to the trade.
You can read more of the NFL rules here.
UPDATE: For those of you that forgot, yesterday was April Fools day. While I normally don’t participate in such childish antics, I awoke yesterday feeling rather…”ornery”. So the idea of this article came to me and I ran with it. Had you clicked on the 2nd link in this article you would have been directed to the Wiki April Fools day page. Now, I realize that some of you are rather displeased right now, so are the 50 plus of you who decided to angrily take your frustrations about the article…being true…on me in my Email. While appreciate your love for the Dolphins…you can all take a great big sigh of relief and now concentrate on hoping that JT does in fact sign with Miami….Sorry guys…and gals…just a wee bit of fun!