Defensive end Taylor plans on remaining with Dolphins
Defensive end Jason Taylor expects to suit up in a Dolphins uniform next season and continued to dispel talk Saturday that he would play elsewhere in 2008.
"Look, I'm under contract with the Dolphins," Taylor told Sirius Satellite Radio. "That's where I want to be. It's where I am, and I'm not retiring. ... There's been no agreement. Is it possible that something happens in the future? They can decide to do whatever they want. They're in charge."
Earlier this month, Dolphins executive vice president of football operations Bill Parcells told ESPN's Chris Mortensen that Taylor will play for Miami in 2008 unless he chooses to retire. Those comments refuted a published report that said Taylor and the Dolphins would part ways prior to April's NFL draft.
Taylor, an 11-year veteran who has played all of his 172 career games for the Dolphins, is a six-time Pro Bowler who was the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2006.
Taylor had 11 sacks last season for the woeful Dolphins, who finished 1-15. Miami hired Parcells to run its football operations in December. Despite the sorry state of the franchise, Taylor told The Associated Press on Sunday that he wants to remain with Miami.
"Heck, yeah, that's where I've been for 11 years," he says. "Where else would I want to go? That's home."
Taylor recently was selected to be a participant this spring in ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" -- the NFL's first active player to join the show's celebrity cast. Jerry Rice was the first former NFL player to be a contestant, and former Cowboy Emmitt Smith followed Rice.
Taylor, who is on his sixth head coach with the Dolphins, is now taking instructions from his dancing partner, Edyta Sliwinska.
If Taylor and Sliwinska do well, the show could keep him in California until May. Then it will be back to football -- at age 33, he says he plans to play a 12th NFL season.
But he has yet to speak with Parcells. Taylor says he doesn't know whether the new regime is unhappy he's doing a TV show in Los Angeles rather than taking part in the team's offseason training program.
"I don't really care, either, to be honest," Taylor says. "Everybody has different interests. Coach Parcells likes horses. I'm not a big horse guy. Should I gripe about him liking horses? No.
"There are a lot worse things I could be doing in the offseason than working out every day and dancing and getting in great shape. I'm not the only guy in NFL history that hasn't worked out in the offseason program every day."
Taylor's agent, Gary Wichard, also defends the decision to take part in "Dancing With the Stars." He says Taylor has a bright future after football, with movies as one possibility, and the show will raise his profile in Hollywood.
"He's not going to pass up something like this," Wichard says. "Peyton Manning and Eli Manning are probably doing 52 commercials this offseason. Bottom line, it's Jason's offseason. And when it's time to play football, nobody will be in better shape."
Taylor says dancing will help his football by improving his footwork, agility and balance. And the athleticism that makes him one of the NFL's best pass-rushers helps his dancing.
"A lot of things translate to both playing fields," he says.
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