Miami Dolphins G.M. Jeff Ireland, speaking at a post-draft press conference on Sunday, admitted that there were trade discussions last week regarding veteran defensive end Jason Taylor.

But Ireland denied that any such discussions were started by the Dolphins, contradicting published reports that the Dolphins were calling other teams to talk about a Taylor trade.

“No,” Ireland said regarding whether the Dolphins initiated any talks.  “We took some calls earlier in the week, but really nothing has changed on that.  You can put an end to it.  Nothing’s changed.  Our stance is nothing’s changed.”

Ireland specifically named the Jaguars as a team with whom the Fins discussed a Taylor trade.  Putting two and two together, Ireland is basically saying that the Jags called the Fins about a Taylor trade.

According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio acknowledged the discussions.  “We talked, they had a certain price in mind and nobody in the league was interested in that price,” Del Rio said.

Despite a Saturday report in the St. Petersburg Times that a trade of Taylor to Tampa was in the works, Bucs G.M. Bruce Allen said on Sunday that “[t]here were no conversations about that.”

But even though the Dolphins weren’t able to get what they wanted on draft day for Taylor (which, as many believe, was as much as a first-round draft pick), it doesn’t mean that he won’t be traded, either for a veteran player or for one or more picks in the 2009 draft.  The co-owner of the team, Wayne Huizenga, said on Saturday that Taylor “deserves” a chance to play for a team that will provide him with a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

(So much for the possibility in the modern NFL of a bad team having a stunning turnaround.  We wonder whether the Tuna appreciates the confidence that his boss is demonstrating in the program.)

Meanwhile, we can’t help but also wonder why the Jaguars didn’t send their first-round pick to Jacksonville for Taylor, given that they used their first-round pick and two third-round picks and a fourth-round pick to get in position to land Florida defensive end Derrick Harvey.  If the goal is to win a Super Bowl in the short term, Taylor gives them much better odds than an unproven rookie.

Then again, the other factor in all of this would be Taylor’s contractual expectations.  Though he is signed through 2009 (at salaries of $7.5 million this year and $8 million next year), Taylor likely would want an extension, along with a guaranteed payment in excess of $20 million.  And it would be very prudent to have that deal in place before any trade goes through.  Otherwise, Taylor and his agent, Gary Wichard, would have the ultimate leverage after a team gives up a first-day draft pick or a veteran player; they could take the position that if the new team doesn’t make Jason happy, he’ll just retire.

So if the process of working out a trade began in earnest just last week, there simply wasn’t enough time to take care of both fronts that the Jags or any other team would have to address in order to make the trade happen.

The South Florida soap opera is getting good.

Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald (via Sports By Brooks) reports that Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor recently was visiting with teammates at the facility, where they have been working out in preparation for the 2008 season without Taylor, who is participating in ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

Taylor thereafter decided to drop in on V.P. of football operations Bill Parcells.  Writes Salguero:  “Taylor walked into a room where Parcells was watching tape, and Parcells ignored him.  He looked at Taylor and went back to his work without saying a word.”

Ouch.

Taylor was reportedly “incensed” by the gesture.  But probably not nearly as incensed as Parcells was when he learned that Taylor was trying to revise Parcells’ signature “This is why you lift all those weights” line into something more like, “This is why you do all those splits.”

Without question, Parcells hates the fact that Taylor isn’t working out with the team.  The fact that Taylor’s distraction is a freaking dancing contest surely makes it even worse for the old-school Parcells.

To date, this saga has been publicly tame.  It soon will be getting ugly, we think.