Jason Taylor deserved better. Certainly better than having to join the Jets. Now his former teammate Zach Thomas, who spent 11 seasons with the Dolphins himself and is Taylor's brother-in-law, is calling out the front office for their shady and disrespectful handling of the situation.
"I'm not trying to be hard on [Dolphins General Manager] Jeff Ireland. But he's saying it wrong, especially for a guy who has so much history with the Miami Dolphins. He's the all-time sacks leader among active players, and you're going to talk about him like he's a first- or second-year player. He should know how to respect guys that have been great to the game. ... That's fine if you don't have a need for him. But you tell him up front. And you don't go through the media and act like you're shocked that it's being brought up. I don't like the organization to look bad that way," Thomas told Sid Rosenberg yesterday on WQAM.
"I get disappointed when I see guys that have put everything on the line for the Dolphins organization and have a Hall-of-Fame career like Jason Taylor and it goes down like it has the last couple weeks," Thomas continued.
"Look, I know everyone's going to be in an uproar because everybody hates the Jets -- I hate the Jets -- but he has to what he's got to do and get respect. You're driven by respect as a player, especially the good ones. And he's got that from Rex Ryan. Hopefully, [the Dolphins] will learn from this... Jason wanted to be wanted. The Jets wanted him. They're a team on the rise. I hate to say it, they've got the No. 1 defense and now they're going to be even stronger."
Taylor and the Jets will now face the Dolphins in our home opener. Here's the Fins complete 2010 schedule:
