Taylor set to enter Hall of Fame without a ring
During a half-hour interview in advance of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jason Taylor asks himself the best question of all. “Would I,” he says, “trade the Hall of Fame for a Super Bowl?”
During a half-hour interview in advance of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jason Taylor asks himself the best question of all.
“Would I,” he says, “trade the Hall of Fame for a Super Bowl?”
Taylor is bound for Canton but never made it to an NFL title game, which still gnaws at him five years into retirement.
He played for 15 years, mostly with the Miami Dolphins, and ranks among the greatest defensive playmakers in league history. No player recovered more fumbles or scored more touchdowns on fumble returns, and no lineman scored more on interception returns.
Even so, Taylor was surprised to be selected for the Hall of Fame in February.
“I didn’t think I would be a first-ballot guy,” Taylor says. “I thought the lack of a Super Bowl, the lack of playoff success, would come back to bite me.”
Taylor played from 1997 to 2011, and aside from one season each with the Redskins and Jets, he was with the Dolphins, playing for seven coaches who combined to win three postseason games — none after 2000.
Taylor was a 36-year-old rush linebacker with the 2010 Jets when they lost to the Steelers 13-6 in the AFC championship game. That’s the closest he came to a Super Bowl.
“I still regret I was never able to play in one or win one,” he says. “You’re in this game to win championships, you know? But I didn’t earn it. We just didn’t earn it. We had some pretty good teams a few years; it wasn’t meant to be. It stinks, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
The list of Hall of Famers who never played in a Super Bowl is long. Among others, it includes Dick Butkus, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers, Lee Roy Selmon, O.J. Simpson and Derrick Thomas.
Taylor is surprised to hear such esteemed names on the list.
“Really?” he says. “Wow, I never would have thought that.”
So he’s in good company, and a defensive end has only so much influence on wins and losses. But the irony is that few defensive ends had more impact on the scoreboard.
Taylor’s 29 opponents’ fumble recoveries are tied with Jim Marshall for the league record. His six fumble returns for a touchdown are a record. His three interceptions returned for a touchdown are tied for most among defensive linemen. And his nine touchdowns are the most by a player whose primary position was linebacker or in the defensive line.
“A lot of players make plays,” former Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson says. “Jason made plays that won games.”
Taylor was an undersized lineman from the University of Akron when Johnson picked him in the third round of the 1997 draft. As a rookie, Taylor says, Johnson had more faith in him than he had in himself.
“In 1997 I thought to myself, ‘Man, maybe the NFL is not for me,”’ Taylor recalls. “Jimmy’s the guy who gave me a chance to play defensive end in the NFL at 240 pounds. People were saying, ‘He’s not big enough, he’s not strong enough.’ Jimmy believed in me from Day One, and showed me what it took to be successful in this league. That was a great foundation.”