You can't get any more Jersey than the Jets' new cornerback Ja'Sir Taylor, who was born and raised in Asbury Park on the Jersey Shore. Taylor, 26, was the team's final acquisition on a frenzied Tuesday as the NFL trading deadline approached late in the afternoon.
"First and foremost, I'm happy to be here, happy to be a Jet," Taylor said on Wednesday, his first full day at 1 Jets Drive. "I mean, my family's ecstatic. I get to come back home and be closer to them. They get to come up here and watch me more often, and that's been going through my mind. Just being excited to be here, excited to get with my new teammates, make an impact. I haven't really got time to really let it all hit me that I was on one team yesterday, now I'm here, so I'm just embracing this."
On Tuesday, Taylor was in a team meeting with his Los Angeles Chargers teammates, watching tape to prepare for their game Sunday against the Steelers.
In short order, he got the news that he was coming back east, packed a few bags "called my family, called everybody," and high-tailed it to the airport for a red eye flight that landed at John F. Kennedy Airport at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
"Took an hour drive from JFK to here [Florham Park], some physicals all the way up to my first meeting," he said with two blue suitcases stationed in front of his new locker. "Meeting and practice, then I finally got to sit down. It's been amazing to this point."