Word is that our friends in Miami are dying to get back into the first round for a shot at one of four (4) players. And the bait for other teams is one Jason Taylor.
Your Houston Texans have a first-round pick that would likely allow Tuna & Co. to get one of at least three, maybe all four, of their alleged targets. So here's the question if you're Smithiak: Would you trade that eighteenth pick for the right to have Jason Taylor serve as a bookend to this guy for the next two (2) years? That's how much time is left on Taylor's contract, and there's always the chance you could re-sign him if the marriage worked out.
Then again, Taylor is thirty-three (33) years old. And he has $17,000,000.00 coming to him in 2008 and 2009. But wouldn't it be worth it to have a DE tandem of Taylor and Super Mario terrorizing opposing defenses for the next couple of years? Wouldn't such a move make the secondary significantly better by virtue of not asking them to cover the opposition as long? Isn't Jason Taylor likely to provide more of an impact for the next two (2) years than whichever rookie you get at No. 18?
Awfully intriguing, isn't it? For a team trying to build with youth, acquiring a guy on the wrong side of thirty doesn't make much sense. But you'd have to think about it, wouldn't you? And if your top targets at CB are off the board when you go on the clock at No. 18, I'd be thinking long and hard about it. Especially if Miami was desperate enough to throw something else in. Say, the later of their two (2) second-round picks (No. 57 overall) or their third-rounder (No. 64 overall). That's probably more than the Fins would be willing to part with, but a man can dream.