Miami legend Sean Taylor gets rare honor with jersey retired by Washington Football Team
The Washington Football Team has only formally retired two jersey numbers in its franchise’s storied history. On Sunday, Sean Taylor will become the third.
Washington will retire Taylor’s No. 21 nearly 15 years after the late, great safety’s death, the team announced Thursday. Taylor, who starred for the Miami Hurricanes and led Miami’s Gulliver Preparatory School to its only state championship, will join Pro Football Hall of Famers Sammy Baugh and Bobby Mitchell as the only Washington players to have their jerseys retired by the team.
Taylor’s brief-but-brilliant NFL career lasted only four seasons, but consisted of two Pro Bowl selections and a posthumous second-team All-Pro nod in 2007 after he was murdered in a home invasion at his Palmetto Bay home in the fall. He was named the hardest-hitting player in the league by Sports Illustrated prior to his final season and led the league in interceptions at the time of his death.
Taylor was only 24 when he died at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital in 2007.
His legend began in South Florida and he still remains one of the most influential players in the region. At Gulliver Prep, he played defense and running back, twice set a Florida High School Athletic Association record with 44 rushing touchdown and won the Class 2A championship in 2000. Taylor was named to the FHSAA’s all-century team in 2007 and Gulliver named its stadium after him in 2009. Students at the school hold up a single finger — in honor of his No. 1 — before kickoff of every game.
In 2019, Gabe Taylor, his younger brother, played for the Raiders and was a first-team all-county selection by the Miami Herald. Jackie Taylor, his daughter, now plays volleyball at Gulliver.
Taylor blossomed into a national star with the Hurricanes. He was an immediate contributor as a freshman, starring on special teams and playing off the bench on defense as Miami won its most recent national title in 2001. He joined the starting lineup as a sophomore in 2002 and was a second-team all-Big East Conference pick, then was a unanimous All-American as a junior in 2003, winning Big East Defensive Player of the Year and getting named a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. He was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft and was part of the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie Team in his debut season.
The Hurricanes have still not retired Taylor’s No. 26 and have not announced any plans to do so. They did, however, induct him in to their Ring of Honor in 2017 ahead of the 10-year anniversary of his death.
This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 11:05 AM.
