The Washington Football Team will retire late safety Sean Taylor’s No. 21 jersey, making him only the third player in franchise history to receive such an honor.
Taylor’s jersey number will be retired during a ceremony before Sunday’s home game against the Kansas City Chiefs. The team also announced Thursday that a road leading to the stadium will be renamed “Sean Taylor Road.”
Washington’s players also will wear a No. 21 decal on their helmets Sunday.
Taylor will join Sammy Baugh (No. 33) and Bobby Mitchell (No. 49) as the only Washington players to have their jersey numbers retired. Other numbers such as Darrell Green’s No. 28, Art Monk’s No. 81 and John Riggins’ No. 44 have not been worn since those players retired. All three are in the Hall of Fame.
“I came into the NFL the same year as Sean Taylor and immediately his athletic ability, resilience, grit, and relentless work ethic set him apart. I and many others looked to him as a role model,” Washington Football Team president Jason Wright said in a statement. “The fact that he was tragically taken so early hurt our player community, but also our fans, coaches, and staff. We will continue to remember him and hold him up as an example of professionalism and excellence, and we will all strive to mirror his excellence in our own ways.”
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The jersey retirement comes amid new attention paid to the investigation into the Washington franchise — after multiple emails emerged from when Bruce Allen was the team president, leading to Jon Gruden’s resignation from the Las Vegas Raiders. Those emails were part of court documents filed in June.
The NFL Players Association has announced it will ask the league to release the 650,000 emails collected from the franchise as part of the investigation. The NFL said it did not leak any emails and that it won’t reopen the investigation or release any of the emails.
Amid skepticism Thursday morning over the timing of the Taylor announcement, a team spokesperson said in a statement that the organization started planning the ceremony before the season started and wanted it to be part of the franchise’s alumni weekend. Another former player, ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, said he was contacted in September about attending.
The team’s statement read, in part: “We have been planning this weekend’s tribute to Sean Taylor since before the start of the season in partnership with Sean Taylor’s family and as part of our Alumni weekend activities. … We apologize to fans who would have liked more notice and will continue to share with fans ways we will be celebrating Sean Taylor’s legacy over the next month.”
Taylor was shot Nov. 27, 2007, during a burglary attempt at his Florida home and later died. According to teammates and coaches, he was in the midst of his best NFL season at the time of his death, despite being out with an injury at the time, and he was named as a second-team All-Pro in 2007.
Washington drafted Taylor with the No. 5 pick in 2004. He wore No. 36 during his rookie season, then switched to No. 21 the next year.
Taylor’s combination of size and physical skills made him a unique talent in Washington’s secondary, and his popularity led to a number of safeties later wearing No. 21. Washington’s current safety Landon Collins, who wore No. 21 when he was with the New York Giants, said he hoped Washington would draft him because that’s where Taylor had played.
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