The Washington Football Team mishandled the legendary Sean Taylor’s jersey retirement earlier this season. Team president Jason Wright admitted as much and apologized to Taylor’s family.
Now, the team plans to honor Taylor again, this time announcing it in advance, unlike the jersey retirement.
The team released a statement on Saturday, which was the 14th anniversary of Taylor’s tragic death, that on April 1 — Taylor’s birthday — that it would launch the Sean Taylor Memorial Project. This project is a partnership with Taylor’s family.
And, later in 2022, Washington would honor Taylor with a physical memorial outside of FedEx Field. In the earlier ceremony, Washington renamed the road leading into FedEx Field “Sean Taylor Road.”
Like the heart he showed on the field each and every day, Sean Taylor left a large and enduring imprint on our franchise. To celebrate Sean’s legacy, we are excited to announce that we are partnering with the Taylor family to honor Sean with a physical memorial at FedEx Field, to be unveiled with a ceremony during the 2022 season…..but, we need you, too.
Please mark your calendars for April 1, 2022 — Sean’s birthday. On this day, we will officially launch the Sean Taylor Memorial Project and share the many ways you can get involved in the project and in the dedication ceremony.
We look forward to partnering with you to forever cement Sean’s legacy.
— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) November 27, 2021
Kudos to Washington and Wright for keeping Taylor’s family involved in the process — and announcing plans in advance. For this generation of Washington fans, Taylor is a legendary figure as many were too young to remember — or not even born — in the franchise’s glory years of the 1980s and 90s.
It was only fitting that Taylor’s young brother, Gabe, honored his older brother on Saturday, too.