If Steelers are right, ex-Browns D-lineman Phil Taylor needs third knee surgery in less than a year
By NATE ULRICH Published: September 3, 2015
If the Pittsburgh Steelers are correct, former Browns defensive lineman Phil Taylor needs to undergo a third knee surgery in less than a year.
The Steelers are not interested in signing Taylor because when he visited them as a free agent Wednesday, they determined he wouldn't be able to play anytime soon due to a bad knee that requires surgery, an unnamed source recently told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The Browns reached an injury settlement with Taylor and terminated his contract Tuesday. The move was a surprise partly because the franchise had to pay Taylor his $5.477 million base salary for the coming season. The Browns picked up the fifth-year option on Taylor's rookie contract in May 2014, and the money became guaranteed when he remained on the roster at the start of the league year this past March.
A first-round draft pick in 2011, Taylor had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in October and a more serious operation on the same knee in November. Taylor, 27, and Browns coach Mike Pettine have said the second surgery was more than a standard cleanup, but they have not specified the exact nature of the second procedure. Taylor has said it wasn't microfracture surgery.
The 6-foot-3, 335-pound Taylor had been limited this summer throughout training camp as he tried to bounce back from the knee surgeries. Taylor sat out the first two preseason games but appeared in the third one Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played 11 snaps (20 percent of the defense's plays).
Still, a couple of days after the game, Pettine said he didn't know when Taylor would be able to contribute during the regular season.
“I don’t because that was a pretty serious knee injury and those things take time,” Pettine said Monday. “I just don’t have a good answer for that.”
The next day, Taylor was gone, and the report out of Pittsburgh further explains the move. The Browns could have placed Taylor on season-ending injured reserve, but ProFootballTalk.com reported the big man asked for his release in hopes of playing this year.