Yeah, I know he's not in a Redskins uniform, but that little blip in DC is, in my mind, best forgotten. Taylor will always be a Dolphin and nothing else. He gave us fits for years and was Brady's nemesis in the East (we do play our division rivals twice a season, dontcha know). Tom Terrific had this to say:
“I think (Matt) Light and I popped a cold beer when I saw that transaction,” Brady said last summer. “We were the two most excited players in the NFL. We were hugging each other. It was awesome.”
Of course, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; Hoodie has similar praise:
“Jason is a terrific football player,” Belichick said. “He has a big motor. He comes hard every play. He has a lot of upfield speed that has a good counter move inside. He can bring some power, even though he is primarily a speed guy, but if you start playing him soft for his speed, he can bring the power. He is relentless. He has long arms. He does a good job of reaching the blockers and grabbing them from behind and jerking them and throwing them off balance. He is a guy that, obviously, you have to identify.”
Belichick is famous (infamous?) for "scouting" players he plays against. He looks for guys who make him work hard at scheming against them. Take, for example, another former Dolphin, Wes Welker. The Little Engine that could drove Belichick nuts. When he was free, BB swooped in. Taylor, in my mind, is the same. He's well respected by this organization and has the goods.
Now, we've already gone through the whole DE in a 4-3 converting to OLB in a 3-4 when discussing the Julius Peppers situation. There's a number of differences with the two situations; foremost are money and length of contract. In all honesty, Peppers was franchised so the Panthers could get something for him. Like Cassel, $16.5 million and change is simply too much cap space to handle for Carolina, so I'd think they'd want to dump him quick. He's going to be very expensive from a contract perspective and would most likely cost us a few draft picks. We haven't even mentioned he'd want a long term deal. Hoodie would NEVER sign up for that kind of a project.
On the other hand, Taylor is approaching the end of his career and, apparently, wants to pursue acting (I'm not making this up). I think he'd go for a short term deal with some decent cash and I believe Belichick wouldn't have any problem putting Taylor at OLB. Remember, we have Adalius Thomas and Pierre Woods as likely starters, so we wouldn't be totally reliant on Taylor.
Again, given the fact that Belichick is fond of hiring former rivals who have given him fits, this doesn't seem like a stretch to me. And, he can dance, too.