Steelers' Great Ike Taylor Laughs At So-Called 'Shut Down Corners'; Believes Shutting Down #1 Receivers Is What Counts

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a long history of fielding excellent teams, both on offense and defense. While the Steelers rank among the top teams with the most players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there are players that the fans believe should be inducted, but aren't. One of those players is Ike Taylor. 

Taylor spent his entire 12-year career playing for the Steelers in the early 2000s. He was a fourth-round draft pick out of the University of Louisiana in 2003. A gifted athlete, with lots of speed, he originally played tailback and as a special teams kick returner. However, his senior year, he was moved to cornerback where he excelled and caught the attention of NFL scouts. 

There were concerns that Taylor did not have enough experience as a cornerback and his success his senior year was a fluke, but the Steelers believed in him. He was so incredibly fast, there were even reports that he ran a 4.18 40-yard dash on his pro day. There are some things that just aren't necessarily coachable in a player. Taylor had the raw talent, the coachability, and a little bit of a chip on his shoulder, just enough to make him hungry. 

The Steelers invested in Taylor and Taylor invested in the Steelers. He stayed with the Steelers his entire career, winning two Super Bowls. Taylor never made a Pro Bowl, despite having 151 starts with 14 interceptions, 636 combined tackles, and five fumble recoveries. Taylor now works for the Steelers as a scout and is helping to build the next Super Bowl-worthy team. 

Steelers' Ike Taylor Believes He Is Hall Of Fame Worthy

Recently, Taylor appeared on the Three Point Stance podcast and talked with host Kaleb Everhart, about not being in the Hall of Fame. Taylor has always been very open with the fact that he couldn't, "catch a cold" and that his hands are what prevented him from getting Pro Bowl and Hall of Fame nods. He told Everhart he left a lot of picks on the field. 

Taylor says that everyone always points to his lack of interceptions as some kind of proof that he was lacking as a cornerback. According to Taylor, what really matters isn't some numbers in a column, but rather the respect and appreciation from your coaches. From his perspective, he feels it was a greater honor to have his coaches, Bill Cowher and Dick LeBeau, come to him before games and tell him which wide receiver to cover. He loved that they had so much faith in him. 

"When it comes down to statistical categories, wasn't nobody doing it like me. As far as my stats, other than interceptions, I did everything you can ask somebody to do as a corner. I don't know how many corners can say they played on both sides and checked the team's best receiver. I don't think people know how hard that is."

Taylor said that he was proud to consider himself a "lockdown corner." He said it fueled him to know that the other teams' offensive coordinators were planning on how to deal with him on the field. While it is impossible to stop every play from getting through, Taylor mentioned that these receivers and quarterbacks are also elite-level athletes, being the defender that they worried about drove him.

"To have the trust in your coaching staff and teammates to be like, 'I can't wait to play so and so, I know Ike is gonna light his a** up.' To me, saying a shutdown corner, meant giving me the other team's best receiver so I can lock him up. That's all I want to do."

Taylor did go up against some of the very best in the business. He cited playing against Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson, Tom Brady, and Randy Moss. Most corners are not able to do what he did, playing both sides. Taylor said that corners develop learning to work one side of their brain and their body and that is what they are used to. But when you play both sides, like he did, everything - from your eyes to your hands and feet - has to be equally strong. 

While he did not get those Pro Bowl accolades, nor is Canton calling, Taylor said he knows in his mind how much he brought to the team. He said he is able to look at the other great corners of his time and they were not able to do all that he was, yet they call themselves "shut down corners."

"You gonna talk about being a lockdown corner... So if your team ain't asking you to play the number one receiver for a span of five or six years, why? If you think you that guy (shrugs) ...that's how I always looked at it."

While Taylor acknowledged he would like the appreciation, he said the trust and respect he had from his teammates and his coaches meant far more to him than any other kind of league recognition.