Taylor to Return w/o Restructure or Paycut

The guy is a HOF player who had devastating injuries last year. If healthy JT could be a real beast for us. He's in great shape and is only 34. Come on guys, most were excited about this move last year. It's his contract. It's what we accepted.

Plus, regardless of how he plays this year he's going to be off the books at the end of the season. It's not a classic Snyder move where he'd be restructured for 2 more seasons to spread the cap hit.

I like that he's coming back for another season.

-It's not up to him to decide to restructure. The Redskins should go to Taylor and his agent if they want to restructure, not the other way around. And, I don't consider myself a cap expert, but I'm sure there are good reasons for not restructuring his deal where it potentially hurts us more in the long run.

-He has no reason to ask for a pay cut. He earned his contract...by being one of the best defensive players in the league for the past decade. The fact that he was hurt last year is irrelevant to the contract he signed before he arrived.

-There seems to be a prevaling gloom and doom feeling that he's about to have a Simeon Rice like drop-off and be a worthless scrub...or he could bounce back from injury at his age and have a strong season a la Michael Strahan.

-He had one of his best seasons ever, I think he even won defensive MVP, playing a lot of linebacker back in 2006.

-I don't know what the plan is for him and Andre Carter. Carter did have some success last year when they lined him up at LDE against the Vikings. Two things to consider though, a stalwart-Daniels-was lined up on the other side and the Vikings are not really a passing threat anyway. Either way, JT showed he can still play the game during the albeit limited time he was healthy. And, like I said before, he's one of the best defensive players to play the game in the last decade and he hasn't really had any injury problems until his one injury last year. It's up to Blache, Olivadotti, and Palermo to take advantage of his incredible talents and put him in the right positions to succeed.

I have made my peace with Taylor coming back, but i'm not happy that the team seems to have no interest in restructuring his contract or extending it to lower the cap hit. After a horrible 2008 season, the knee-jerk reaction would be to cut him, but i think keeping him is a smart move by our team. We gave up alot for him, he suffered a life-threatening injury early in the season that was difficult to recover from, and we were playing him at a position he had never played in before... so its really prudent to give Taylor a "pass" for his sub-par performance in 2008 and hope he rebounds in 2009.

Taylor is going into the season knowing it could be his last ever if he choses to retire when his current contract is up; Or, hes going into the season playing for his NEXT contract - either way, he has all the incentive in the world to play his guts out.

Also, 2009 will likely be Carters last year with the team, so having Taylor around puts us in a position where we wont have to be looking for two new DEs in 2010... if Taylor continues to play DE for us. I personally think we'll be better off in 2009 starting Evans and Carter at DE with Taylor taking Washingtons spot at OLB. Then, on passing downs, Evans can move inside and Taylor can slide down to DE.

-He has no reason to ask for a pay cut. He earned his contract...by being one of the best defensive players in the league for the past decade. The fact that he was hurt last year is irrelevant to the contract he signed before he arrived.

There you go using blatant reasoning again! This line of thinking exists in exactly .73% of all sports fans. The rest are willing to let a guy play at all-pro level for less than he should be making but once he signs a fair deal and eventually his play drops then he is "stealing from the team". Hypocrisy at its best.

I agree with you. He earned his deal. It's on us for acquiring it. He was a great football player and maybe he still can be. One year at that salary won't kill us long term. Restructuring it to save a few mil and pushing it forward just kills us long term. In this case I'd prefer we take one year of greater risk rather than three of lesser, yet still substantial risk.

I like that he's coming back for another season.

-It's not up to him to decide to restructure. The Redskins should go to Taylor and his agent if they want to restructure, not the other way around. And, I don't consider myself a cap expert, but I'm sure there are good reasons for not restructuring his deal where it potentially hurts us more in the long run.

-He has no reason to ask for a pay cut. He earned his contract...by being one of the best defensive players in the league for the past decade. The fact that he was hurt last year is irrelevant to the contract he signed before he arrived.

-There seems to be a prevaling gloom and doom feeling that he's about to have a Simeon Rice like drop-off and be a worthless scrub...or he could bounce back from injury at his age and have a strong season a la Michael Strahan.

-He had one of his best seasons ever, I think he even won defensive MVP, playing a lot of linebacker back in 2006.

-I don't know what the plan is for him and Andre Carter. Carter did have some success last year when they lined him up at LDE against the Vikings. Two things to consider though, a stalwart-Daniels-was lined up on the other side and the Vikings are not really a passing threat anyway. Either way, JT showed he can still play the game during the albeit limited time he was healthy. And, like I said before, he's one of the best defensive players to play the game in the last decade and he hasn't really had any injury problems until his one injury last year. It's up to Blache, Olivadotti, and Palermo to take advantage of his incredible talents and put him in the right positions to succeed.

Good points.

Personally I would like to have his cap space, but we should be able to free up an ample amount with other moves.

I never agreed with flat out cutting him. When healthy and used properly he's a game changer. I'm hoping we'll turn him loose and get creative in finding ways to let him get after the QB. He was clearly handcuffed last year and of course the injuries didn't help.

i dont mind it. he plays another year, gives him a chance to bounce back, him staying negates us having to fill another starter spot, but the big thing is his contract comes off the books after next year.

i would rather look to find his replacement next year (or in this years draft).

really i just like the idea of keeping him and his contract which ends next year vs. having to go and find his replacement which would require a multi-year deal when none of the FA out there are a good long term solution.

even if we draft orapko i wouldnt want to trust him to start week 1.

go skins!!

publically going on record saying we are keeping him also gives us more options in disguising our intentions in free agency and the draft. plus we always have the ability to trade him. Some team that grearing up for a SB run in 2009 could have a DE go down in training camp and offer us something in a trade for Taylor next year. Its not that teams werent interested in Taylor last year... Parcells was just adamant about the compensation a trade would require and we were the only team desperate enough to give him a 2nd and 6th round pick... we could easily move Taylor for a 4th if we were so linclined.

I have made my peace with Taylor coming back, but i'm not happy that the team seems to have no interest in restructuring his contract or extending it to lower the cap hit. After a horrible 2008 season, the knee-jerk reaction would be to cut him, but i think keeping him is a smart move by our team. We gave up alot for him, he suffered a life-threatening injury early in the season that was difficult to recover from, and we were playing him at a position he had never played in before... so its really prudent to give Taylor a "pass" for his sub-par performance in 2008 and hope he rebounds in 2009.

Taylor is going into the season knowing it could be his last ever if he choses to retire when his current contract is up; Or, hes going into the season playing for his NEXT contract - either way, he has all the incentive in the world to play his guts out.

Also, 2009 will likely be Carters last year with the team, so having Taylor around puts us in a position where we wont have to be looking for two new DEs in 2010... if Taylor continues to play DE for us. I personally think we'll be better off in 2009 starting Evans and Carter at DE with Taylor taking Washingtons spot at OLB. Then, on passing downs, Evans can move inside and Taylor can slide down to DE.

Very good point, I think knee-jerk reactions have gotten this team in trouble in the past (i.e. the trade for Duckett).

:laughing- I thought the knee-jerk reaction was to sign him for 8.5 and give up 2 draft picks for him last year when Daniels went down.

:laughing- I thought the knee-jerk reaction was to sign him for 8.5 and give up 2 draft picks for him last year when Daniels went down.

Well the old Redskins would have given him a big fat new contract after trading for him a la Brandon Lloyd. Besides, only the 2nd round pick hurts in that trade.