The initial reaction is to believe the Dolphins are in chaos and that the circus we have come to expect in recent years is still in town because a couple of deliberate sentences from the team have rolled back the curtain on the estrangement with Jason Taylor.
Relax.
Things are going to be just fine.
The only thing that has changed since coach Tony Sparano announced Wednesday that Taylor is not reporting for the start of training camp is that we actually know what we suspected all along.
That is interesting because it makes for good gossip. But it doesn't really change anything.
Taylor is still a Dolphins defensive end today. The team is still trying to trade him, even as you read this. And barring a trade that doesn't give him away cheaply, Taylor will either have to play for Miami or retire.
Didn't Bill Parcells already say that, or at least part of that, about two months ago?
Sparano spoke out Wednesday, most assuredly with Parcells' agreement because he wanted to eliminate a distraction, not incite one. Sparano understood that Taylor's absence at every ensuing conditioning session from now to July would draw attention to, well, Taylor.
SHARING NEWS
So Sparano shared what the team knows, what Taylor's representatives have told Parcells and general manager Jeff Ireland -- that Taylor wants to be traded and will not report to training camp if he is not.
And now the Dolphins will shut up and not address the issue anymore.
The next you hear from the Dolphins about Taylor is when he either reports to training camp or is traded.
On the delicious subject of that trade, you should know every player on the Dolphins' roster, save Jake Long, is on the trading block.
Taylor is not unique. But Miami isn't going to give Taylor away.
So this might take a little while to get resolved, likely into the middle part of training camp. And what if there is no palatable deal available for Taylor by then?
The team believes, as most teams rightfully do, that when the regular season and its mammoth-size paychecks beckon, Taylor will report.
Of course, that is not Taylor's view of things. He is spending the coming holiday weekend with his Los Angeles agent, and they will plan a strategy during that time. Afterward, you might see a series of interviews in which Miami's best player suggests he is ready to retire if he doesn't get a trade.
Taylor, after all, considered the retirement possibility in February, when he didn't know if Hollywood thought him employable. It is definitely an option now that he has a talent agent to go along with his football agent -- and both are fielding show business offers.
But let's be real here. All coming retirement bluster aside, Taylor doesn't really want to retire. He very much wants to play in 2008. He has told teammates that. He has told friends that.
Despite his Hollywood lunches with Denzel and Pacino and Twentieth Century Fox executives, Taylor still considers himself a football player.
There is, of course, no arguing that the rift between Taylor and the Dolphins didn't have to get this ugly. If the Dolphins had jettisoned him before or during the last draft, the issue would be resolved.
But it is wrong to think the failure to trade Taylor was a mistake.
We should applaud the team for trying to maximize its return for a great player. It is a sign the Dolphins are in control rather than spinning out of it.
NO GOOD OFFERS
It also is not the Dolphins' fault that -- despite published and Internet reports -- Miami got no better than a fourth-round offer for Taylor in April.
The Cowboys gave a fourth-round pick for Adam ''Pacman'' Jones, and he's on suspension, so the Dolphins weren't about to settle for that price, even though Taylor is playing only one more season.
So where does that leave us today?
The blaring headlines and screaming radio shows will have you believe chaos is indeed the order of the day at the training facility. The Dolphins have heightened their disrespect of Jason Taylor. Taylor is threatening to retire. Cats and dogs are living together.
Relax.
Taylor will be traded. Or he will play for the Dolphins. Or he will retire.
But what happened Wednesday didn't make any one of those possibilities more or less likely.
