DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Phil Taylor wants to retire as a Cleveland Brown

From the Browns official website:

Kevin Jones
Staff Writer

Defensive lineman believes in where Mike Pettine is taking the franchise

The 2014 season was Phil Taylor’s fourth as a Cleveland Brown. He’s seen his fair share since being drafted out of Baylor in 2011’s first round.

Injuries limited Taylor to just five games last season, but his swift moves on the defensive line contributed to the biggest win of the season.

When Cleveland romped the Bengals, 24-3, on Nov. 6, Taylor willed himself back onto the field after missing four games with a knee injury. Taylor posted three tackles in the game and plugged holes like a cork in a wine bottle. The 26-year-old’s presence helped shore up a run defense that was in desperate need of some answers.

“Getting Phil back was a good spark for us,” coach Mike Pettine said at the time. “He gave us some quality reps. He was very disruptive.”

Taylor suffered a setback with his knee during the win against Cincinnati and was put on the injured reserve list. Part of the reason the Browns’ run defense struggled later in the season was because of the absence of the 335-pounder. There was just no replacing Taylor’s size.

Though he travels frequently during the offseason, Taylor spends a chunk of his time in Cleveland, frequenting Cavaliers games and checking in with other teammates at the Browns’ facility in Berea. Younger Browns players recognize Taylor as a leader. When he speaks, it carries weight.

Though he admits it took him some time, Taylor grew fond of the way Pettine commanded the team – a missing element in years past.

“My first impression of coach Pettine was that he has that same look on his face all the time – everybody wondered if he was mean,” Taylor said with a laugh. “And then once you start talking to him, you realize he’s more than all right. He’s cool. He’s a great coach, everybody loves his coaching style. We had a great season with him in his first year.”

So in Taylor’s mind, the Browns can check off one major building block off their list. Well, make that two.

Because of the additional lower level seating, new audio and visual boards at FirstEnergy Stadium, Taylor felt like there was a true home-field advantage for the Browns. He’s convinced the fans had more passion, which led to wins against the Saints, Steelers, Raiders and Buccaneers.

“The stadium was beautiful,” Taylor said. “Just coming from my rookie year to how it was looking, to now – we actually have Swagger the dog mascot now. It was truly an awesome atmosphere.”

In addition to Pettine and a rocking FirstEnergy Stadium, a fully healthy Taylor could also add to the Browns’ win total. The 2015 season will be the final year of Taylor’s contract, and he’ll be out to verify he’s worthy of an extension.

“I want to be in Cleveland as long as I can,” Taylor said. “I want to retire as a Brown.”

Good to hear.

Now, if you want to stay.............get yourself in shape, play harder, stay on the field for more than two plays, honor your gap responsibility, and stuff the run.

Yeah definitely nice to hear players say that. I hope it works out. I'd love to see more games like he played in that Bengals game (without the injury of course.)

Sadly, Rubin said the same thing last offseason and had a down year. Here's to a good year, Phil.

Rubin was also injured and playing with injury. Ankle which I cannot recall word for word, but I think he said it himself in one of his few pressers that it effected his play and that it wasn't until late in the season where he said he started to feel like his old self.

Hopefully Phil can stay on the field all year and maybe shed up a few pounds and be more in shape. He's got the brute power and it fits his aggressive style play, so I'm for sure rooting for the man. I love the comments. Get it done Big Phil! Pancake a few running backs and quarterbacks and I think this staff will grant you a generous contract offer!

All JMO

I think we should hang on to Taylor this year rather than cutting him. He's in his contract year, thus he will probably have a good year.

With that said, he reminds me of many other guys w/the same character. He'll have a big year this year, just like he did in his senior season at Baylor, and then slip back into his same old, lazy habits.

Let someone else pay him huge dollars after next season. Let him walk.

Alot of our D was playing with injuries this year. Phil, Ayta, BM just to name a few not to mention all the guys that missed games yet our D hung in there and played pretty well. I believe with 2 or 3 additions we have the makings of a top 10 D.

He won't be cut, unless he becomes a complete disastrous disruption to the team. (something he has never been)

When the team picked up his option, IIRC, that guaranteed his salary for next year.

Highly agree with Vers

I hope he plays well enough where this is true.

j/c:

Love Phil Taylor. Probably more than most on here. He reps Cleveland all the time, is seen with fans at Cavs games, etc. I truly think he likes the town, his team, and the most importantly, he understands the fan base. Also, and I could be wrong, he is one of the few players that stays in Cleveland during the offseason.

That being said, I question his fit in the defense as a 3-4DE and really hope (based on current personnel) we move him over to NT. It's frustrating enough that he is one of a handful of players drafted for one scheme and playing in another, but he just didn't seem to fit well at DE. Injury MIGHT have had something to do with it, but he played much better in the 3-4 under Horton when at NT.

Now, if we want to ditch those 2-down lineman sets and maybe run 4-down lineman sets at times with Taylor at DT, even better. That's what I think he best at and we definitely have the personnel to do it.

I do wish he'd be on the field more. The past couple of years he's been absent on third downs altogether.

Even if the team was on-the-fence about PT this year, I think the rush of injuries last season will compel the team to keep as many guys as they can, even if fit might be an issue. Except for Rubin....he needs to go.

I was excited when the Browns drafted him. I think he could have been dominant if it wasn't for injuries and a questionable work ethic. His has the physical tools. Unfortunately, he hasn't panned out the way I and many others had hoped. He's still young, though, and has time to turn things around. He could still be dominant, but he needs to step his game up to achieve that. We've seen glimpses, now he needs to be consistent as well as stay on the field.

Can't tell you how many times I've heard this and the player was gone the next year.

Both sides have to want to continue their relationship. Sometimes a guy just doesn't fit the scheme the (then) current coaching staff runs, so he is not going to be able to stay. In (many) other cases, the sentence should go: "I hope to retire as a member of the Cleveland Browns" ........ as long as they pay me the most money.

We missed him after the Bengals game, our run D went south fast ...

I think he's set to become a free agent after the 2015 season.

I'm hoping if he wants to retire a Brown he'll be ready to give us a home town discount to keep him.

I respect Phil Taylor, he needs to show more consistency on the field and stay healthy. He's been injured a lot in the last couple of years.

Yep. We could have used him. I hope he comes back healthy and signs a team friendly long-term deal.

like a rubin deal? those numbers were pretty good i thought,

Phil has a ton of talent...When he was hurt (which is a continuing theme with him and may stay that way...and that may be the biggest worry with him) at the beginning of the year our run D was terrible...then magically it wasn't...when Phil came back...then he got hurt and it was okay, but then he came back and it was great...and then it wasn't...when he went on IR.


Guy is a difference maker that has had bad injury luck. If he can shake that. He is a franchise type player. You cant cut him. Let him play and healthy up, and have protection...just from someone better than Kitchen n Rubin.

Did we? It's not just you, but you guys make so much stuff up.

Let's see........I am going to use facts:

--The game against the Bengals was his first in over a month.

--Taylor played in 5 games all year.

--He had 6 solo tackles.

--He had 4 assists.

--Zero sacks.

--No forced fumbles.

--He played in the first 3 games of the season, missed a couple of weeks, played in 1 game, missed a month, played in 1 more game, and then missed the rest of the season.

And people ask why I mentioned cutting him?

He is fat. He is out of shape. He misses too many games. He misses too many snaps because he is gassed. He is not very good against the run. He is not a pass rusher. He has been a huge disappointment as a pro. People like him because he was drafted by Heckert. That's about it.

he is a good back up/rotation guy. no reason to cut him. jmo. heck. if he comes in the shape he did last year where he missed 2 weeks of training camp because he couldnt pass the physical he might get traded for what we could get?

Like I said earlier, he is in a contract year. Thus, he will probably get in better shape, play more, and put up better numbers. Therefore, I would not cut him this year. I already said that.

However, if it wasn't a contract year, I would say his job security would be in jeopardy.

Let's give him his big year, let him walk, and then be another team's problem.

Phil Taylor is one of most over rated players easy within the last few drafts for the Browns.
every year around these parts we hear how he's finally gonna dominate for 16 games and become a force.
rarely does he make big time splash plays like someone said,he's gassed and out of shape most of the time.
every since he's been drafted,where has the Browns run D been ranked. usually bottom 5 of the NFL.
and he was drafted to rectify that.

there was a significant difference in the Brown's run defense for when Phil played versus did not play. the main problem we have with Phil is that we cannot rely on him to play in the games.

I don't believe that. In fact, my eyes tell me the opposite is true. However, if you have some type of proof I will certainly like to see it.

Not saying this in a hostile way. I am simply saying that over the last few years, the run defense actually looks worse when he is in. I could be wrong and would love to educated.

always good to prove out what the eyes see. I did the math and couldn't draw any absolute conclusions. I think my eyes/memory were thrown off because the 1 game that Phil came back late in the year was the Cinci game. and, we dominated on run defense in that game, then they ran down our throats the next time (w/o Phil).

I'd have to do this for the past couple of years too to see if there are any expectancy curves, but, basically, not too much difference seen here from 2014.


========================

2014 - he only played in 5 games (weeks 1 - 5 & week 9)

wk1 Pitt --- 127yds (4.38YPC)
wk2 NO --- 174yds (6.4YPC)
wk3 Baltimore --- 160yds (4.8YPC)
wk5 Tenn --- 149yds (4.9YPC)
wk10 Cinci --- 86yds (3.9YPC)

5 games = 696yds (4.9YPC) ---> worse than the 4.5YPC overall

But, we have 3 common opponents (out of 5). So, let's see what we did against those teams in the games without Phil:

wk6 Pitt 138yds (4.3YPC)
wk15 Cinci 244yds (5.4YPC)
wk17 Balt 129yds (4.4YPC)

So, we have 1 equal result (Pitt), 1 demonstrably better (Cinci), and 1 somewhat worse (Balt).

Looking at his season, he played in the 1st 4 games of the season, those being Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Tennessee, and then he also played in the Cincinnati game we won on 11-6.

He had 10 tackles all season long. (6 solo and 4 assists) He had no game changing plays .... no forced fumbles, no sacks, nothing. He did have 2 tackles for loss. He also did have, surprisingly enough, one pass defensed.

Overall, though, my recollection of Taylor's year was much like yours. He did very little, when he was healthy enough to actually play.

Thanks

Fourth year and he's talking retirement??

Is he hoping being this close to Canton he can retire there, too??