By Scott Sargent
Tuesday afternoon marks the end of the Phil Taylor era in Cleveland. With the Browns needing to reduce their roster to 75 players by 4 p.m., the team announced that they have terminated the contract of the 2011 first-round selection.
The 2011 NFL Draft was one where the Browns’ fortunes were changed during a Week 4 win the previous year. The team would go 5-11 that season, but a three-point win over the Cincinnati Bengals, who finished one game worse at 4-12, meant that the division rival was selecting third with the Browns selecting sixth in what was, at the time, considered to be a five-player draft. With quarterback Cameron Newton, defensive dynamos Von Miller and Marcell Dareus, All-World wide receiver A.J. Green and lockdown cornerback Patrick Peterson (all future Pro Bowlers) off of the board, Cleveland opted to trade down, allowing the playoff-bound Atlanta Falcons to move in to the sixth spot with the basement dwelling Browns going all the way to No. 26—a tough pill to swallow for a team in dire need of a play-making talent.
The team would eventually trade up to No. 21 to select a player who many Browns fans had never considered in Taylor, a behemoth tackle out of Baylor, thus making him the rhyme-based poster child for a draft that had so much in the way of hype, but so little in the way of return worthy of the excitement. Not helping matters: The Falcons selected Julio Jones, an eventual Pro Bowler with the sixth pick; Tyron Smith, J.J. Watt, and Robert Quinn, Ryan Kerrigan and Cameron Jordan—also eventual Pro Bowlers—were also all on the board when the Browns were seemingly out of options. Watt is a three-time All-Pro; Taylor, meanwhile, would have a solid rookie campaign, recording 59 tackles and four sacks in all 16 games. Unfortunately for the big man, this would be his peak, missing eight games in 2012 with a torn pectoral muscle and 11 more in 2014 thanks to his knee, sandwiching a 2013 campaign that saw less than half of his statistical production of his first year in the league.
As if the stepping in to high expectations was not enough to stack the cards against Taylor, turmoil in the Browns’ front office led to changing head coaches, positional coaches and schemes throughout the four years. His first two seasons saw him play inside tackle within Dick Jauron’s four-lineman scheme. In 2013, Jauron was shown the door and Ray Horton stepped in, implementing a 3-4 defense that placed Taylor over the center. A year later, the revolving door continued with Mike Pettine becoming head coach, Jim O’Neil became defensive coordinator, and Taylor being moved to defensive end with Ahtyba Rubin playing in the middle. That last defensive line? Yeah, it was gashed by opposing running backs, giving up a league-worst 2,265 yards on the ground.
The worst part for Taylor was that he was forced to watch most of it in street clothes. He initially injured his right knee in the first half of the team’s one-point win over the Tennessee Titans, a game where he is mostly known for uploading the team’s post-game celebration to Instagram. After missing a handful of games following an arthroscopic scope, he attempted to gut out the rest of the season only to have the discomfort permeate. Seeking a second opinion, Taylor took a trip to Birmingham, Alabama to meet with the three words no fan wants to hear in Dr. James Andrews. It was determined that the best course of action, especially for the long term, would be to shut things down and surgically repair the aching joint. After leading the division at one point in the year, the Browns went on to win just one of their last seven games, finishing dead last.
“It was tough, you know,” Taylor told WFNY. “We had a better year than we thought we would, we just didn’t finish a lot of games.
I’m getting better every day. I’ve been here rehabbing the whole offseason. I’m back to running and doing defensive line drills—things like that.”
The Browns used their first-round pick in 2015 on defensive tackle Danny Shelton, who, upon landing in Berea, quickly earned first-team repetitions and a starting spot in this past Saturday’s “dress rehearsal” preseason contest.
“It’s the NFL—they’re always trying to get someone to replace you,” Taylor said. If anything, it’ll make me work even harder.”
Joining Taylor as players no longer employed by the Browns are defensive lineman Ishmaa’ily Kitchen, fullback Luke Luncy, and kicker Carey Spear.
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