The Sports Xchange

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor is walking away from the NFL after 12 seasons with the franchise.

Taylor’s retirement became official Tuesday, five days after safety Troy Polamalu announced his playing career was coming to an end. Both defensive backs spent their entire professional career with the Steelers.

“Other than having my son, playing for the Steelers has been the best experience in my entire lifetime,” Taylor said Tuesday.

Taylor customarily checked the opponents’ top wide receiver aligned at left cornerback in the hyper-aggressive 3-4 defense of the Steelers. He began to show signs of diminishing skills in 2013, and then-coordinator Dick LeBeau moved Taylor off of the “shutdown” role in Pittsburgh’s defense.

Taylor, who turns 35 in May, returned to the team in 2014 after taking a pay cut to remain on the roster.

–Free agent offensive lineman Eben Britton was suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season by the NFL. The league did not specify the policy Britton violated.

Britton is unsigned following the 2014 season in which the six-year veteran played in 10 games with the Chicago Bears.

—Former first-round pick Hakeem Nicks was scheduled to visit the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday.

Nicks, an unrestricted free agent wide receiver who played for the Indianapolis Colts in 2014 after five seasons with the New York Giants, caught 38 passes for 405 yards and a touchdown last season.

Nicks visited the San Francisco 49ers in March but was not offered a contract.

–Quarterback Jameis Winston is scheduled for a pre-draft visit with the Chicago Bears on Wednesday. Chicago, which owns the seventh pick in the NFL Draft, previously met with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.

The Bears would need to move up the draft to get either player.

The San Diego Chargers took a close-up inspection of Mariota on Tuesday. Mariota is not expected to be on the board at No. 17, where the Chargers are scheduled to draft. But Philip Rivers, 33, is reportedly icy on the idea of playing in Los Angeles should the franchise relocate next season due to stadium strife.