On Friday, a report emerged that defensive end Jason Taylor was close to signing with the Jets.
His agent says it’ll be a few more days, at least, until a decision is made.
“It’s not even about a contract,” Gary Wichard told Jane McManus of ESPNNewYork.com. “It’s about Jason making the decision with his wife to move up to New York and play. When that’s decided he’ll have an opportunity to move forward in one direction or another.”
It’s not about a contract because the “Final Eight Plan” caps Taylor’s pay at $1.5 million in 2010 (the same amount former Jets kicker Jay Feely got from the Cardinals for the coming season) and $1.95 million for 2011.
The bigger question is whether Taylor wants to leave South Florida to participate in the offseason program in New York (surely, he doesn’t) and whether he wants to risk the perception among a fan base already inclined to dislike him that he’s getting special treatment if he signs a contract now that exempts him from all or part of the T-shirt and shorts practices.
That’s why we continue to believe that the best approach, if Taylor decides to join the Jets, would be to ink a postdated contract that gets filed with the league office and announced at some point between the conclusion of OTAs and the launch of training camp.
Sure, it would be a technical violation of the rules. But who’s going to complain about it?