“I’ve heard from a lot of guys, and it has all been positive stuff,” Taylor says. “They’ve been getting on the judges a little bit. They don’t like some of the things the judges say. They’ve had my back on that. But I know there will come a time when they will get me back.”

He has also regularly received words of encouragement from the Dolphins’ new coach, Tony Sparano. But Taylor’s unhappy about the silent treatment from new football czar Bill Parcells and new general manager Jeff Ireland, who are displeased that “Dancing” kept Taylor from offseason workouts with his teammates.

There has been speculation Taylor will be traded, and he says he doesn’t know where he stands with management.

“I’ve talked to Parcells and Jeff Ireland probably less than a minute each,” Taylor says. “If you’re working in an organization, you want to have respect and communication throughout. I think that’s important for everybody. So we’ll see.”

First, there’s one more round of ballroom dancing to worry about.

Taylor says he was surprised to reach the finals and attributes his success to the coaching and choreography of his partner, Edyta Sliwinska. He still doesn’t consider himself a dancer, and at social gatherings he won’t be any more inclined to take the floor than before.

“For me to walk into somebody’s wedding or go to a nightclub and start doing a foxtrot or quick step, it doesn’t work that way,” he says.

Still, Taylor has a newfound appreciation for how music can make you move. The tune most likely to get him dancing: “The Dirty Boogie” by the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

Sliwinska introduced Taylor to the song, and they performed the quick step to it on the show.

“I loved it,” he says. “It’s one of those songs where when it comes on, it just makes you want to go.”

Perhaps it’s potential material for the soundtrack when Taylor films his first musical, costarring Denzel Washington and Al Pacino. Only in Hollywood.

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