Defensive Notes

Star defensive end Jason Taylor is moving up to Washington, and his fantasy value in IDP leagues is moving on up with him. Taylor's future in Miami looked sketchy all offseason, with new decision-maker Bill Parcells reportedly cool toward him and Taylor himself sounding a lot like football wasn't the most important thing in his life anymore. (Fans of "Dancing with the Stars" got to see Taylor's primary offseason activity each week on ABC.) Throw in the fact that he's 34 years old (in September) and the Dolphins are basically starting over from scratch, and it just didn't look like a relationship that had much chance of working out. And that's how things have turned out.

Give Washington, which lost starting defensive end Phillip Daniels for the season to a knee injury on Sunday, plenty of credit for moving quickly. Just hours after Daniels was carted off the practice field, the team swung a trade for Taylor, who said he's willing to play under the terms of his existing contract, which has two more years on it.

In Miami, Taylor projected to play outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense, which hurt his fantasy value -- there are more top performers at that position than defensive end. In Washington he'll play end again, and figures to be a top-20 player at his position; maybe top 10 (for now we're putting him 15th, with teammate Andre Carter a few spots behind). Washington's defense also gets a bump and will show up in the top 20 of our next rankings, while Miami's drops a couple spots (not that we were terribly interested in them to begin with). With Zach Thomas and now Jason Taylor gone, it will be a surprise if Miami even achieves respectability on the defensive side of the ball this season.

ESPN's story on the deal can be found here.

—Andy Richardson

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