Parcells: Taylor welcome with Dolphins; rift 'a fabrication'

MIAMI -- For weeks, Bill Parcells has been hearing plenty about his feud with Jason Taylor.

Parcells says it doesn't exist.

Finally ending his silence about the much-ballyhooed topic, the Miami Dolphins' football operations czar not only said Thursday that he wants the six-time Pro Bowl defensive end on his team this fall, but also tried to eliminate the perception that he deliberately snubbed Taylor during a chance encounter at the team's headquarters earlier this spring.

"Why wouldn't you want one of the very best players?" Parcells said in an interview with the Associated Press. "This thing has kind of taken on a life of its own and a large measure of this 'rift' is fabrication. I don't really know what the genesis was, other than there was some talk about a trade and people naturally thinking that when I come in it's going to be confrontational. And that's not necessarily true."

This was clear: Barring a change of plans, Parcells wants No. 99 on the field for Miami in 2008.

"Of course I want him here," Parcells said.

Parcells looked tanned and relaxed, wearing a black shirt and gray slacks at a promotional appearance for Gatorade Tiger, the sports drink endorsed by world No. 1 golfer Tiger Woods. Seated on a tan leather couch, not far from where people were in a long-drive contest inside a lunar simulator and sipping free bottles of the drink, Parcells couldn't have seemed more at ease during a 30-minute interview in which he seemed absolutely genuine.

When the conversation turned to Taylor, Parcells didn't hesitate to share his side the story.

Parcells had been silent -- publicly, anyway -- since Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga hired him in December to run the team's football side. While evading the public eye, Parcells rebuilt the coaching staff, helped make roster decisions and looked at piles of film, all in an effort to change Miami's fortunes. The Dolphins were an NFL-worst 1-15 last season and haven't made the playoffs in six years.

But Parcells' relationship with Taylor, one incident in particular, has been dominant more than any aspect of his tenure so far.

Earlier this spring, when Taylor stopped by the Dolphins' facility during a quick trip back to South Florida from his work on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, Parcells reportedly ignored the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year when he popped into the same room as Parcells and new Dolphins coach Tony Sparano.

As the story went, Taylor said something to Parcells, and Parcells silently turned away.

Parcells remembers it a bit differently.