Jason Taylor Doesn't Love You...

...or me.  In fact, he doesn't know any of us and he doesn't owe any of us a damn thing.  He loves his wife and his kids.  He loves his brother-in-law and probably some of his teammates, past and present.  And that's it.  He's just a guy with a job and a family, and he's trying to figure out what the best thing is for him to do at this point in his life.  The company he has worked for his entire professional life has switched bosses for the fourth time.  They are hiring younger guys to do his job and cutting loose the guys he has been working with since he graduated college.  He only has so many productive years left and the number one goal he had set has become all but unattainable.  He received an exciting new opportunity that showed him that a new life and career might be available, one that could last longer and continue to keep him living the life to which he and his family have grown accustomed.

I have always been very appreciative and respectful of Matty I, but I think the recent comparison of Jason Taylor to Nick Saban is ridiculous.  Nick Saban was the coach, GM, and newly-appointed dictator-for-life of this franchise 3 1/2 years ago.  He lost interest in the team and his responsibilities within 18 months of signing his contract.  He alienated and ignored players and front-office personnel alike in a very short period of time.  He lied methodically beginning halfway through his second season with the team and jumped ship at the first opportunity he was offered.  As the literal figurehead of the entire franchise, his departure left everything in a shambles.  It was also a very consistent move for this snake-oil salesman of a coach.  Just ask all the nice people who cheer for Michigan State and LSU (and Alabama....soon... just you wait, you'll see).

Jason Taylor, meanwhile, has been a good soldier and loyal employee for the most poorly-run snake-bitten franchise since his entry into the league 11 years ago.  He has secured his place as one of the five greatest Dolphins of all time.  He has been a model citizen on and off the field.  This year, for the first time ever, he has taken a non-football road during the off-season and drawn a little attention to himself in a positive way.  Millions of people were discovering him for the first time ever and becoming fans.  Meanwhile, the NFL and the Dolphins (save for some very small-print back-page coverage) virtually ignored his efforts.  Back home, the writing was on the wall that this team was getting younger and his friends were finding work elsewhere.  Rumors were flying that he was on the trading block.  The new VP wouldn't address the issue.  The new GM wouldn't talk to him.  And this is the guy that was the model for a giant robot in London during the NFL's first foray into Great Britain just eight months ago.

This isn't comparing apples to oranges.  This is comparing apples to steaming hot piles of dog crap.

If Jason Taylor does move on, either through retirement or trade, it does not take down the entire franchise the way losing a head coach/general manager does.  It sucks to lose him, but Jason Taylor wasn't our ticket to the Super Bowl this year or the next (and probably not the next one after that, either...sorry).  He is simply a great player on the downside of a great career who probably has enough in the tank to make a difference for a contender over the next 2 to 3 years.  He has been handsomely compensated, for sure, and he is still under contract, but losing him does not break this franchise the way Saban's shenanigans did 1 1/2 years ago.

Personally, if he isn't traded, I think he shows up in the Fall and eases back into the game and everyone will hug each other and smile and act like nothing happened.  And that's great by me.  Really.  As long as this team is on the right track (finally), that's all that matters.  With or without Jason Taylor, this team is moving in the right direction for the first time since............1993?

One side note (and if you've read this far, kudos to you my good fellow), since he came into the league 11 years ago, Jason Taylor has shown a lot of enthusiasm for some bad coaches.  He loved JJ, of course, who drafted him and then burned out and took a giant mustachioed dump on the team.  He loved Wanny...ugh.  He was all fired up about Saban...bleh.  He even sang the praises for Cam in the early going.  Not to disrespect the guy, but it does make one wonder if Jason Taylor has spent so much time in this fetid environment that he couldn't smell a winner if it farted in this face.  Maybe his rejection of the Trifecta is a sign that we are on the winning path after all?  Who knows?

Jason Taylor, if this is the end of your time in the Aqua and Orange, then good luck to you and thanks for the memories.  You don't owe any of us a damn thing.  You played like a champion from day one until the end, and you never offered excuses or threw any of the pieces of crap you were forced to play with (and for) under the bus.  I hope you come back, but if you don't, then no hard feelings and I hope you shake your head and laugh while you're watching the Dolphins win the Super Bowl in 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014.  As long as you don't retire as a Jet, Pat, or Bill, then you have secured your spot in the ring of honor and (I believe) the Hall of Fame.

Now let's read some more stuff about Philip Merling and Kendall Langford.  And Jake Long.  And Lex Hilliard and Jalen Parmele.  I want to read about football...

Go Dolphins.