Fred Taylor, running back of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Deuce McAllister, running back for the New Orleans Saints, have both been cut by their respective teams in salary cap moves. It was reported that Taylor offered to take a paycut to stay with the Jaguars. He has teamed up with young running back Maurice Jones-Drew to form a great running combination. That combination helped them get to the playoffs in the 2007 season with a 12-4 record, where they lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Round.
McAllister has also formed a combination with himself and Reggie Bush to bolster the Saints offense, in addition to quarterback Drew Brees and wide receiver Marques Colston. McAllister, earlier in the 2008 season, was one of eight players who tested positive for a banned substance. McAllister also has only rushed for a little over 500 yards in the past two seasons combined after having at least 1,000 yards in four of the previous five seasons. Now both of them are on the free agent market looking to join a team at an age where they may not be effective.
Both running backs are in their 30s so it'll be tough to find a place where they'll get the carries they want. However, Taylor has shown that he can be productive in the past couple of seasons. McAllister hasn't been productive at all the past two seasons so I think his demand will be much lower than Taylor's. I also believe Taylor is just a better running back period. He has the speed and the shiftiness to elude defenders, while McAllister's big frame doesn't break tackles that often. A good destination for either of the two will probably be the Patriots, since Laurence Maroney is a little injury prone and Kevin Faulk is only a good third down back.
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