Ike Taylor - Professional Career

Professional Career

Despite his inexperience and lack of consistent play in college, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Taylor in the fourth round (125th overall) in the 2003 NFL Draft. The selection was made based primarily on Taylor's rare combination of size and speed — leading up to the draft, he was timed as fast as 4.18 seconds in the 40-yard dash. However, most NFL coaches and general managers still failed to see his potential.

In his first two years in the league, Taylor was used primarily on special teams, though he saw spot duty at defensive back. In his third season (2005) Taylor moved into the starting lineup at left cornerback. He started 15 regular season games and all four of the team's playoff games, including the Super Bowl. During the 2005 NFL playoffs he had a key interception in the second quarter of the 2005 AFC Championship. The turnover led to a touchdown which opened a 24–3 lead en route to a 34–17 win over the Denver Broncos. In the Super Bowl, Taylor recorded a team high seven tackles and also had two passes defensed and a crucial interception at the Steelers five-yard line which helped the Steelers to secure a 21–10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

Taylor was rewarded for his performance prior to the 2006 season with a contract extension valued at $22.5 million over four years (with $6.4 million guaranteed). The contract made Taylor the highest paid cornerback in franchise history and would tie him to the Steelers through 2010.

Taylor's play regressed in 2006 and he was stripped of his starting role after game 10; he was not re-inserted into the starting lineup until the final game of the season, and then only due to an injury to Deshea Townsend. He re-committed himself in the off-season and regained his spot at left cornerback for 2007 under the new regime of head coach Mike Tomlin, who replaced Bill Cowher. In a first round loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2007 playoffs, Taylor recorded his third consecutive post-season game with an interception, which set a team record.

Taylor won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Week award for his performance against the Seahawks in the fifth week of 2008. In the game he had six solo tackles, three passes defensed and a goal-line interception to halt a Seahawks drive at the end of the first half. He started all 16 regular season games that season, along with three more playoff games including a win in Super Bowl XLIII to earn his second Super Bowl ring.

In the final week of the 2009 season, Taylor made a helmet-to-helmet tackle on Miami Dolphins quarterback Pat White which rendered White temporarily unable to move. White had to be carted off the field, but he did not appear to sustain any long-term damage from the hit.

The primary knock against Taylor's skill-set is that does not catch enough interceptions — he's never recorded more than three in a season. He's worked with the team's receivers to address this deficiency since at least the team's 2008 training camp. However, he's yet to show much improvement, recording only a single interception in each of the 2008 and 2009 seasons.