No Dolphin safe from the Tuna

Dancing with the Stars finalist Jason Taylor, who also happens to have made six Pro Bowls as a Miami Dolphin, got his wish Sunday when he was traded to the Washington Redskins for a second-round pick in 2009 and a sixth-rounder in 2010.

The trade came only hours after two Redskins defensive ends, starter Philip Daniels and local product Alex Buzbee, were felled by season-ending injuries in the morning and afternoon practices respectively.

Fans and media alike had criticized the ’Skins for failing to address the defensive line adequately in the offseason. The team added former Viking Erasmus James, who will miss several more weeks as he continues to rehab a knee injury from last season, and Rob Jackson, a rookie defensive end from Kansas State. But a lack of depth across the line has plagued the team in recent years, and on Sunday afternoon it looked like they would suffer the same fate this year.

That was before Redskins V.P. of Football Operations and de facto G.M. (and Dan Snyder puppet) Vinny Cerrato pulled off a coup. Now, I’ve blasted Cerrato in the past for poor personnel moves. But to pull off a deal like this for a player of Jason Taylor’s caliber is unheard of. The ‘Skins nabbed Taylor at the price than Miami was asking all summer, but they did it from a point of disadvantage where Miami knew they needed a defensive end and should have, by all rights, jacked up their asking price. But Dolphins execs Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland were apparently eager to unload Taylor after a contentious offseason.

In the end, it will take some time to decide who wins in this trade. If Taylor plays up to his historical standard—and plays out his contract as he has promised Cerrato—the Redskins have a chance at coming out on top.

But if he retires at the end of this season, as he has hinted he might, then I’m probably going to call for Cerrato’s head on a platter, as I have pretty much since he was hired in 1999. Because if the team has mortgaged its future by hemorrhaging cash and shipping off draft picks for a player who’s past his prime and won’t contribute more than one lackluster season, this trade will have proved that he and The Danny have learned nothing from their previous failures together (Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Jeff George, Trung Canidate, Warrick Holdman, Adam Arculeta, Brandon Lloyd…)