How Close was JT from being Traded?
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins shipped Chris Chambers to the Chargers for a 2nd round pick. There was much speculation that perhaps Jason Taylor would be traded as well. After a long day and the passing of the league mandated 4Pm trade deadline on Tuesday, Jason Taylor is still in a Dolphins uniform. Still, How close to being traded was Taylor?
Realistically? We will never know. However, in a mid-afternoon press conference, Randy Mueller was asked about Jason and callers for his service. His response? Vague at best, yet there seemed to be an indication that Taylor may have been discussed.
Mueller would not directly answer the question instead opting for a more straight line answer. “I would only say this: We have a lot of communication with a lot of teams and I kind of like to keep all of that private. So I really wouldn’t comment on any players or teams that we talked to.” Had Mueller actually NOT held talks about potentially trading Jason, he simply would have said so. Instead, the interpretation is he tried.
That will obviously lead to more speculation at the conclusion of the season. This in all likelihood is Jason Taylors’ last as a Miami Dolphin if not the last of his career. I would not be buying any JT merchandise right now, that’s for sure.
The next logical question would be to whom and what for, followed closely by, what happened?
The last question is the answer we may never know. Was compensation that low that Mueller would not pull the trigger for his Miami mainstay? Was the demands of Mueller out of the realm of reasonable? What about Jason himself? Did he throw a wrench into the wheels of talks by refusing to leave Miami or refusing to restructure? So many questions, so little, or rather zero answers.
As for possible targets, well that would all be nothing but conjecture as well, but realistically, any team that would be inquiring about Taylor would have to be a playoff contender and have a realistic shot at the Super Bowl. Perhaps Indy, Dallas, and maybe a team like Green Bay.
Compensation, like the two questions before it is something that likely will not be know as well. What we do know with certainty is that Jason Taylor will remain a Dolphin. At least through this year. The Dolphins likely fielded calls about him and somewhere along that line of communication, someone could not get what they wanted, and those calls broke down. What seems to be likely though, is that on Tuesday October 16th, Jason Taylors’ name was likely mentioned and now we can only speculate on how close he came to being somewhere else.