Any Interest in Jason Taylor? Anyone? Bueller?

msnbc.com

Normally, I could care less what a football player does in his off season.  If he wants to take long distance learning classes to be a sports attorney, be my guest.  If he wants to raise alpacas in a remote area of South America, cool.  Even if he wants to dance on Dancing with the Stars, all the power to him.  I only have 2 requests: 1) stay in shape so you're ready when your team's "voluntary" camps start and 2) don't be a jackass.  Jason Taylor can only seem to manage one of those (apparently dancing has put him in the best shape of his life ).

I don't often write stories about non-Patriots.  This is a Patriots blog and should be about our team.  However, while reading Ask PFW , I came across this Q&A:

Hey guys, I have been wondering with all this talk about Taylor leaving Miami. What do you think of a move to New England chances, pros and cons etc. ? It’s probably just the fan in me wanting to see another great player come to New England but I was just also wondering why there is so little interest in him elsewhere?
James Sully

Put me at the top of the list of people who would love to see Taylor in a Patriots uniform. But I also need to claim a spot atop the list of people who think there is no chance we’ll see Taylor in a Patriots uniform. Clearly Taylor and the Tuna are butting heads in Miami and it looks like the star defender’s days are done in South Beach. From what I’ve read the best deal the Dolphins have been offered is a fourth-round pick. That stuns me. I know Taylor will be 34 before the season starts, but I think he’s one of those guys that still has a few good years left in the tank. He’s in great shape (even if I don’t buy the idea that his spring Dancing with the Stars experience has him in five times the shape he was in during his best NFL season) and has been exceptionally durable over the years. He hasn’t missed a game or had less than 8.5 sacks since 1999. We’ve all seen the damage he’s done to Matt Light, his buddy Tom Brady and the Patriots over the years. How a team wouldn’t want to give up a third- or second-round pick for him sort of boggles my mind. If I ran a team that was a playoff/Super Bowl contender I’d ship a No. 2 pick to Miami right now and get Taylor in my system ASAP. I’d pencil him in for 16 starts and somewhere in the range of 10 sacks this fall and never look back. The only problem is, I don’t see Bill Parcells sending his best defensive playmaker and top commodity right now to Bill Belichick and a division rival. I know the Dolphins are as far from New England in the standing as you can get and might be a couple years from truly competing with the Patriots for a division title, but you still can’t help out the top team in the division like that. My guess is that even though the Dolphins seem to be digging in and calling Taylor’s bluff right now, sooner or later they’ll swallow their organizational pride and ship ol’ twinkle toes to another team right before training camp. I just don’t think it’ll be the Patriots.
Andy Hart

I usually like Andy Hart, but I think he missed the side of the barn on this one.  You want him in your system ASAP?  Are you nuts?  This guy has done everything, but flip Parcells off in public.  Why on earth should he be in a Patriots uniform?  Yeah, he's a great LB and all, but he has ZERO character in my mind.  If you sign a contract with your team and they keep their end of the bargain, you should keep yours.  It's "superstars" like Jason Taylor that cause teams to lose.  Sooner or later, the guys around him stop getting his back.  Hey Jason, you're a star.  You can make those plays yourself!

Poor Jason.  He has to choose between a serious SB contender and striking while the acting buzz is, well, buzzing.  He could use his second place finish on Dancing with the Stars to launch his acting career and become the next Rock.  The problem with this is The Rock was a solo act; ending his wrestling career most likely didn't negatively affect too many people.  Jason, on the other hand, is a veteran and a cornerstone of the Dolphins.  He's respected and looked up to by younger players.  Or, at least he was.

No, I say stay away from Jason Taylor.  Far, far away.  When you have guys like Tom Brady taking pay cuts and demanding way under what he could get , Taylor's brand of jackassery just wouldn't cut it on the New England Patriots.  Play out your contract like a man and then weave baskets if you want to.  Just go away.