Jags Release Running Back Fred Taylor

The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the process of rebuilding the team from scratch, with a healthy infusion of young players and less of an emphasis on high priced veterans.  The team had already released its two biggest free agent signings from a year ago, wide receiver Jerry Porter and cornerback Drayton Florence.  On Monday, the rebuilding process claimed arguably the biggest name in franchise history as 11 year veteran running back Fred Taylor was released by the team.

Jags General Manager Gene Smith explained the free agent bloodletting as follows:

"In going through our personnel evaluations and roster analysis, we are making decisions that we believe will help improve our team for the 2009 season and beyond."

Jags owner Wayne Weaver admitted the signings of Porter and Florence were “mistakes”:

"Obviously, I endorsed them or we wouldn't have done them, so I'm not going to go back and second-guess what was done. We just have to learn from our mistakes and move on."

Taylor is a different matter—he’s arguably the historical face of the expansion franchise and has been a highly productive asset for the team.  He’s currently at #16 on the NFL’s all time rushing list with 11,271 yards, putting him 81 yards behind John Riggins for #15.  Much of the Jags’ rushing problems in 2008 were due to an injury depleted offensive line, but despite this setback Taylor became the team’s #2 option behind Maurice Jones-Drew.  At age 23 and making over $5 million less than Taylor, Jones-Drew had other obvious upsides for the Jaguars as well.

The Jags make try to re-sign Taylor at a lower pay scale, but there are suggestions that he’s more interested in being a starting running back elsewhere.  In any case, he’ll ‘test the market’ first and will likely end up back in Jacksonville if there’s no interest among the other NFL teams in using him as a ‘featured back’.