Ike Taylor: Steelers free agents would follow Dick LeBeau to Tennessee

By Cory Buck | Feb 25, 2015

Dec 29, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau on the sidelines against the Cleveland Browns during the third quarter at Heinz Field. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 20-7. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback and soon-to-be free agent Ike Taylor said he and other defensive players set to hit free agency would follow coordinator Dick LeBeau.

As free agency approaches in the NFL, teams and players are paring their short lists in preparation for the annual frenzy set to take place this year on March 10. One such player is cornerback Ike Taylor, who is preparing to find out who has him on their short list. One team he’s hoping will show some interest holds his former defensive coordinator from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dick LeBeau. It’s for that reason and that reason alone that Taylor says he considers the Tennessee Titans a strong option.

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“I would come to Tennessee, but only because of Coach LeBeau,” Taylor said, per Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean.

“Coach LeBeau recruits himself. He is like Coach K; you know what you are getting yourself into,’’ Taylor said. “You don’t have to ask the veteran guys who have played under him. Just say Coach LeBeau wants you to come, and they’d say: “What time? That’s the way people feel about him.”

Those people could include veteran linebacker James Harrison and emerging star Jason Worilds, both of whom have yet to be re-signed by the Steelers. Harrison may not be a fit for the Steelers going forward, given his age, but the team would be loathe to lose Worilds to another team within the AFC as the 26-year-old is just entering his prime.

Taylor insists that’s what could happen though simply because of the power of one of the oldest coordinators in the NFL.

“If the money is right in Tennessee, yeah, I could see it,’’ Taylor said. “The money doesn’t have to be spectacular, but if the money is right, I can tell you they are willing to go where Coach LeBeau is. There is just a genuine, mutual respect that I have for that man, and other guys have it, too.”

Of course, Steelers fans might not be as dismayed to see Ike Taylor leave through free agency. Taylor was often a target of fan ire in an atypical Steelers season in which the offense carried the team despite a shoddy, aging defense that pulled it together late in the season, only to collapse in the Wild Card Round against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Titans are on a different plane of expectation from the Steelers though and now that they have Dick LeBeau in tow, perhaps gaining the veterans who swear by him will be a boon to an otherwise young, raw club in search of a new identity.

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