Pittsburgh Steelers veteran free agent cornerback Ike Taylor has likely played his last down in the NFL after 12 seasons, judging by a report this past week made by Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. If so, that doesn’t mean that Taylor will be stepping away from the game completely.
According to Dulac, Taylor has said he is no longer training with Tom Shaw in Orlando at the Wide World of Sports complex as he is now considering a future in television that could include him working for the NFL Network and NFL Films.
“I’ve been talking with them,” Taylor said, according to Dulac.
On his Tuesday radio show, that can be heard weekly on Trib Live Radio, Taylor also told Steelers linebacker James Harrison that he looks forward to seeing his longtime teammate this summer at the team’s offseason practices.
“I’ll be out there for OTAs,” Taylor told Harrison. “I told you what I’ll be doing, but I ain’t be letting anybody else know.”
It sounds like Taylor plans to either be covering the Steelers practices for a media outlet or quite possibly even trying his hand as a coaching intern. We’ll have to wait and see what ultimately happens with Taylor, but it’s obvious that he wants to stay as close to the Steelers organization as possible now that his playing days are likely over.
Taylor recorded 636 total tackles to go along with 14 interceptions and 140 passes defended in the 174 regular-season games that he played for the Steelers. The 34-year-old cornerback, who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft out of Louisiana-Lafayette, only played in five games in 2014 due to various injuries and declining play.
