Ike Taylor signed a new contract the other day that puts him, on average, among the highest-paid cornerbacks in the National Football League. He doesn't have to wait long to prove he is worth the investment.

Ike Taylor, Steelers
Chris Chambers, Dolphins

When the Steelers begin defense of their Super Bowl championship tonight against the Miami Dolphins, Taylor will be one of the players -- if not the only player -- responsible for stopping wide receiver Chris Chambers, who made his first Pro Bowl in 2005 after five consecutive years as the Dolphins' leading receiver.

Chambers was virtually unstoppable in the final six games in 2005, catching 43 passes for 620 yards and six touchdowns. What's more, he now has a quarterback -- Daunte Culpepper -- who threatens to re-invent the deep passing game in Miami for the first time since Dan Marino.

"He's up there with the top receivers," Taylor said. "He doesn't drop anything that comes in his area code. He catches balls over the middle, outside, no matter where the ball is thrown."

"The thing I like about him is how he goes up and attacks the ball, how he catches the ball in traffic," said cornerback Deshea Townsend. "He makes it very tough. You see him making big plays every time he's out there."

Chambers is only 5-foot-11, but he has long arms and can catch the ball over defensive backs. That, though, is one of Taylor's strengths, and one of the reasons the Steelers used him last season to shadow some of the top receivers in the league, including Cincinnati's Chad Johnson and Chicago's Muhsin Muhammad. Taylor finished second in the NFL last season with 25 passes defensed.

"He gets his hands on a lot of balls," said Dolphins coach Nick Saban. "He has a lot of knockdowns."

Which makes Saban certain Taylor will be assigned to follow Chambers, who finished with 82 catches, 1,118 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. It was the fifth consecutive season Chambers had led the team in receiving, a Dolphins record,

"I think there's a good possibility that could happen," Saban said. "Matchups are important on special teams and matchups are important with skilled players. When you have a guy that understands and plays smart for you, it's a little bit easier to do. I think Pittsburgh's done a really good job of that."

When defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau used Taylor to shadow Johnson in last year's 27-13 regular-season victory in Cincinnati, it marked the first time he had employed such a tactic since Rod Woodson was a cornerback with the Steelers.

Taylor was matched against Johnson in all three meetings with the Bengals, and held him to 13 catches and 202 yards with no touchdowns in those games. After Johnson had four catches for 94 yards in the first meeting, including a meaningless 47-yarder in the final two minutes, he called Taylor "one of the best young corners in the league."

"Coach LeBeau and coach Cowher, they got a sense, they've been around for a while, they know exactly what they want to do," said Taylor, who signed a five-year, $22.5 million contract Monday that included a $6.4 million signing bonus. "They've been game-planning since before I was born, so I just listen to them. Whatever they want me to do, I do."