The Pittsburgh Steelers asked veteran cornerback Ike Taylor to take a $4.25 million pay cut this offseason and apparently he’s still not very happy about it.
“I’m pissed off about it, still am pissed off about it and I’m going to be pissed off until the end of the season about it,” Taylor told The Jim Rome Show. “Did it hurt me? Hell yeah. Does it still hurt? Yeah, it hurts, but hopefully I can go in and bounce back this year, do what I need to do on the field and we will see what happens after.”
This is really the first time that Taylor has spoken out this negative about the situation and he admitted Monday that he thought about exploring the free agent market.
“I had seen a few guys who didn’t take pay cuts and went to other teams and it didn’t work out for them,” said Taylor. “So, at the end of the day, I didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh, point blank, period. I’ve got a lot of relationships – I have a lot of friends, I gained a lot of business relationships in Pittsburgh. Just hearing from other guys coming from other teams and being on the team with Pittsburgh, they say it’s like no other; it’s like day and night, so I’ll listen.”
Taylor admitted a few weeks ago that 2013 was a “so-so” year for him and that he has to get better this season. In an effort to do just that, he also recently said that he modified his offseason training. According to Pro Football Focus, Taylor allowed a 62.8 completion percentage last season. Had he not taken a pay cut and been released, he more than likely would’ve had to settle for a one-year deal very close to the minimum, so the fact that he’s still earning $2.75 million this season shows he made the right decision.
Taylor is entering his 12th season in the league and thinks the pay cut that he took will be all for nothing if the Steelers don’t win it all in 2014.
“Year 12 means nothing, if I don’t win a Super Bowl,” said the 34-year-old.
