SeanTaylor: LEGENDARY Career Tragically Cut Short | A Football Life

[Applause] he was like wow that's why he can be known as one of the best safeties to play the game Sean Michael Taylor was born - Donna Junor and Pete Taylor who parted ways before his birth for the first 10 years of his life he lived in the Miami area with his mother great-grandmother and half-siblings mo nica Jamal and Sasha that really should be able my mother can't compare with anyone else I think he was more so a protector and that started from being younger he felt like he was the man of the house all the time I think when he had to go stay with his dad that that really hurt him because he would be away from her Taylor still felt responsible to be the man of the house for his mother he planned to reunite and protect her children he was like uncie I'm gonna play football and I'm gonna make money he really wanted everyone to be together he wanted his mom and his sisters and brothers me back together and I think that was his focus that drove him Taylor started running back and safety for Miami's Gulliver prep his desire and gifts were honed by his father who put him through a rigorous daily training regimen workouts could happen anytime anywhere [Music] let's remember stories of Shawn telling me about holidays a run on the highways like with cars going by okay just like yeah they're running my time horn before school after school a is running [Music] relaxation did not come easy for Taylor he bristled at the idea of someone out working him he was competitive in everything in fishing he was competitive in the state championship game the running back on the opposing team was mr. football for to a for our classification really really and you know you can give it to Shaun Player of the Year and Shaun was trying to rip that guy's head off every single time tailor made three trips to the end zone to Dudley's one and set a state record with his 44th touchdown of the season Taylor ended his high school career a state champion one step closer to his dream of using football stardom to reunite his mother's side of the family I don't know he was 14 or 15 playing basketball on the park somehow it got into some sort of an altercation and a guy pulled a gun on him put it to his head and it jammed he should have been he told me he should have been going and when it jammed he knocked it out and ran but Taylor never considered escaping the area entirely Miami was his home it would also be his college and the position he would play for the Hurricanes was of great interest to junior running back Clinton Portis I hadn't heard of Sean Taylor and all of a sudden they they fixing the incoming recruit highlight film and I'm later slit one in because it's highlights we're all running back he's jumping over people hey I'm like who is this and I remember calling coach solids of light who was he he was like he's coming to play safety he'll want to play running back I'm like what I remember my first visit that watch down practice we got to the cave be say blue you get to see and we say it sha Taylor and he just called come on in come on in you know that we're gonna be on first make first rain stop I first saw him I was like wow you know beasts you didn't have to touch that kid he knew how to play the game he's a man amongst boys he's won two interceptions bet he's running punch back he was doing so much why in the country definitely one of my favorite place was against Florida State he Key's have caught a pass he just like knocked him flat on his ass made him do like a 360 at Miami Taylor also started dating Jackie Garcia who he had a crush on since high school we had like science or something together so I guess he went home that night I met this girl at school I like her but I need to learn Spanish because she's Cuban least I don't wanna learn Spanish she started coming home speaking in Spanish one of them talked to him in Spanish so he can be to communicate his junior season Taylor intercepted ten passes to lead the nation he returned three four touchdowns it's just like tackle after tackle interception afternoon reception they just went from Mike here like you just blew up after just three years at Miami Taylor declared for the draft drawing the attention of a former teammate now in Washington I remember you know telling coach Gibbs and Greg Williams like we need to draft so Haley and he would call on the phone and he'd go Shyne he'd go like that that's what he didn't hang up I'm sorry Taylor University of Miami the hardest hit in a drive the hardest hitter in the draft chose not to attend it Taylor stayed in Florida to celebrate with his family he was actually living his dream he sucks his entire life on an NFL pillow until the day he got drafted and I still have it I was like wow he really did this he was sitting there he would talk to us and say you know life is gonna change and you know things are gonna be better and you know just just it was never about herself it was always about everybody else which was which made it even more [Music] with the fifth pick in the 2004 NFL Draft the Washington Redskins select John Taylor safety University of Miami he was very proud he was proud day he was gonna be able to take care of there was only four of us drafted in 2004 from the Redskins Sean and I and then two offensive linemen we went to the rookie symposium together and I remember Sean asking me in the room what what is this he said well it's three days they teach how to be an NFL football player you go through all kinds of stuff and he said I'm not I'm not doing this what are you talking about he said I'm going back to Miami he kind of charted his own path in life you were gonna have to earn your way with him he wasn't going to be somebody that just came in and immediately would be friends with you or as a coach you know have a close relationship with you and be willing to do whatever you want him to do he was his own man Sean had great instincts of people and that Sean did not have the ability and to really turn the cheek much in his life on anything and that he wanted you to be honest with him at all times and one one dishonest comment one thing from body language he was great with that too would turn him off Sean Taylor soured quickly on the media thanks to a teammates prank I remember Lavar Arrington coming from behind and hitting him with a shaving cream pie [Music] [Music] the menthol shaving cream pie burned Taylor's eyes as well as bridges with the local press I really felt like that was it Oh he's like who are you guys to laugh at me from that moment the media could only be a detriment they would never get to know the real me so why put up this fake facade and give you some BS quotes when you know I don't want to talk to you and I know I don't want to talk to you and now what you get out of me isn't really I'm gonna help you do your job so f it tailor kept his time in front of cameras two game days and his preseason debut he ended his first series with an interception first game NFL keep his best player on the field and you could see [Applause] sorry we got ourselves a Hall of Fame pro ballplayer here in two and a quarter games for the Redskins everybody could see even though I list a top-flight athletes it was something different about it and it separated him from the rest of them we're playing against Cincinnati we talked about this play all week and we were like you know Sean you're gonna go out there under Chad Johnson make him throw it high and I also get to like come over the top and like be the hero he jumps up and picks it off [Applause] you drew it up to be a good play he made it a great flip he made an eternal he made a some mere mortals can't do God made certain people to play football for sure he was one of them but Taylor was not made to be away from home for long he would always want to win because I think they had the day off on Monday and if you win you'd get Tuesday off so he knew Sunday night or whatever out of there and tried to catch a flight back Tuesday night so he'd go home even if it was for a date you never know that you know he'll be gone anything like me he would be at 8 o'clock workout group and lead to work our group like now I know he he didn't get no sleep and not you back in time for 8 o'clock workouts and you know he's the first one across the line and then you know you will find out later that day while he worked out at 9:00 and he worked out with a sin o'clock group so you're like what is he doing and he probably get three workouts in when I couldn't serve hot water but on a Thursday in October Taylor missed Team workouts he had been arrested the night before after a teammates birthday party on suspicion of drunk driving he's only had one glass of champagne he was to take a breathalyzer so the officer administers several sobriety tests Taylor is quizzed about the date and time and told to touch the tip of a pencil Taylor was released from custody in time to attend practice but he chose to remain home I get on the phone son hey what you doing they come to the facility he was like man not coming over there you know like the media I deal with tomorrow instead it comes to the facility he'd go home cook a steak it you know want to play Madden and I'm just ahead like man is dude crazy the judge dismissed the drunk driving charge Taylor who rarely talks to the media broke his silence Brinkley that whole first year I think was pretty traumatic really and I was kind of looking at it as a coach going man we got a great player this guy he's gonna be hard to handle in the spring of 2005 the Redskins held voluntary workouts Sean Taylor remained in Miami Redskins OTAs are a big deal and it was just like where is he where is he but I never got the sense that Gregg was freaked out about it we had little bitty safeguards going on where we were checking in with each other no one else knew I could trust him he could trust me he was spending time with his grandmother while in Miami news broke that Taylor was involved in an assault concerning two ATVs that were stolen from him while Taylor was charged with assault no one else involved in the incident was ever arrested at training camp Taylor declined to give his version of events to reporters he was never one of those guys to be like what you reporting about me other stories you hear all wrong here's what really happened and so from the outside world you hear those things you perceived them as the truth and then the misconception people have is that okay we hear these things about him living recklessly off the field and we believe them because we watch him play football and when he plays football he's reckless and so people thought that was who he was but it wasn't even for his teammates knowing what stories to believe about Taylor could be difficult unless witnessed in person when I first got here in o-5 I used to see this BMW sitting the parking lot all the time and I'm a maxim port like who cars dead he loved that shots and he'd give what about it and somebody watched his car here every day and he liked old Shawn he normally runs home so you know I'm sitting here like what I mean one day I caught him I'm leaving out late and I see him just running down the street those are things that now you look back at when we played the game never got tired that's why because he put in the work behind closed doors they a lot of guys don't do we'd be up there in the office and to go look at and I'd be shot before practice running hundred yards Striders on the field now the coaches tell him to do that just in his mind that was something he felt like he should do [Music] 2005 season we had so much fun before the Eagle came I was just like I'm so pumped up you know I wanna do something different you are the national stage numbs it's like man come on Shawn like let's do something yeah we're getting ready play a game Sean and Clinton land they got striped socks on [Music] it did quite frankly pissed me off I confronted him about it and he goes out the next week and took 40 50 pieces of tape and just taped up his face mask which he can't do I told the equipment manager take the face mask off get it off before he goes out there it gets another fine and so they put it in my locker and I'll be damned if he didn't go ahead and tape up the one they put on anyway and he still went ahead and got fine big guy from safe [Applause] I think he loved that part of it but it was more than just a big head he had unusual in his face for where the ball was gonna be I remember at Philadelphia we had to win the game to get in the playoffs and all of a sudden late in the game there goes the ball flying around he comes up with it Shawn [Applause] we had a knack for just big play every game he do some to let you know that he wasn't from this planet and all of us were [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that was probably one of the best games that used to play maker in and you see the nastiness head Sean Taylor and Michael Pittman squaring off and your God I remember are you in you know we in the rat-faced he he didn't do it you know and we go back and watch film and you just see big as day the spit glob come out the word we got is he spit in Pitman's face he did it what I mean what does she want me to say [Applause] Tayler let his emotions get the better of him on the field and in the delivery room Shawn yes I want everybody out everybody out so are you talking about I want everybody out so he pushes everybody at the door like was really shy he was very very protective of her didn't want you to touch a kiss there he had to have blankets on I use a tongue boy I have about two children get off my face here we go come on a nice nice print for daddy or mommy yeah I told me that he's gonna put the frit prints of the baby on his shirt come on why so I say did you put the flippers of the baby I'm sure he lifts up his shirt and there's a two-front prints on his chest nose problem because he was happy and he was able to walk away and say I have something to do not have to take care of this kid and I have a reason that dude was right after day he grew up a lot of things that he did in his younger years he cut out by going out you know hanging with certain people and doing certain things after that event he just took the his family his daughter and in football it changed that that thing clicked and the little thing that he and I had from a family standpoint his grandmother standpoint and now all of a sudden being a father those things kind of clicked into him and you we all started to see a little bit calmer Shawn outside the white lines between the white lines Taylor was thriving [Music] in 2006 he earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl and delivered the hip heard round the world [Music] [Applause] pretty much translates in every language doesn't answer does he wanted to buy a house that everyone can kind of come together you know all her siblings our friend from high school was his realtor and when he walked into the house he stood in the kitchen he's like I can just picture myself and like all my family in front of me and me cooking for them so it was like the family house everybody can come there and feel comfortable whenever I was around all of them it just made me feel whole by 2007 Sean Taylor had accomplished his goal of using football to reunite his mother's side of the family after the birth of baby Jackie he considered moving to Virginia full time with his fiance and daughter Taylor's coaches also had a move in mind for him from strong to free safety it took a while for me to convince him to lineup that deep but the time and distance that he could cover was amazing he was everywhere like it didn't matter short long medium run and pass he was that you would think it was 11 summit a single zone you know what he intercepted Breton farmer had to that day he dropped three other ones he should have had five that day Brett was looking them off to the last moment and slinging it to the next sideline Sean would turn around and one shot [Music] we went even halfway through the year yeah five interceptions already but the best stretch of Taylor's career would come to an abrupt end [Music] John Taylor limping off the field he's got something going on he's not healthy at this stage of the season the same day as his injury Taylor's mother reported an attempted burglary at the family's Miami home I was in a training room he was in the China room he's like hey somebody tried to break into my house I'm like dang you know and he's like man hey lucky I wasn't there and he's like man my kid my you know my girl be that man you know I don't want them you know somebody's doing this to me Sean Taylor's home has been broken into someone pried open a window rifled through his drawers and tried to get into his safe in his bedroom we weren't allowed to go back to the house I mean it was somebody breaks into houses you don't know what happened it's almost like your privacy has been invaded so I think the best thing to do is not go back while his teammates traveled to Tampa an injured Taylor flew to Miami to check on his home and family we woke up that day and we went on a bike ride and then that night we all went back and I cooked and we spoke about like that we were gonna you know move to Virginia we were gonna start our you called it our niche there and you know he just it was like the sense of like peace inside of him you know I don't it was just like I it was I remember like going to sleep at night and being like like if you could just be like this everyday like wow you know like my life is gonna be amazing some jolting news off the field on Monday Redskins safety Sean Taylor in critical condition after he was shot in his Florida home early Monday morning police officers were dispatched to Taylor's Miami area home in 1:45 a.m. and Taylor was later airlifted to a local hospital the first thing I was thinking is where is he why would he be shot he's not even supposed to be here like I didn't even know he was in town cuz he really didn't tell too much of us that he was coming that weekend he was home with his girlfriend Jackie Garcia and their 18 month-old daughter they heard noise in the living room were awakened got up Sean locked the bedroom door went under his bed for a small machete that he keeps under there by the time he got to the bedroom door was burst open and two shots were fired one hit him in the upper leg and one hit the wall he was bleeding profusely from the leg apparently his femoral artery was hit and he was bleeding out away inside the room he was laying there yes the machines hooked up I was holding his hand I was talking to him and just hey he's gonna be ok just you got a fight I say because of what you understand it's gonna be a struggle you have to fight you know you remember hard work you know you gotta push through this after a day-long stream of grave news a glimmer of hope came Monday night from the bedside vigil for Sean Taylor I've got the ax in the move his eyes he responded and he also asks him to squeeze his hands and he responded although you know they were reports saying that you know he was doing better it didn't look good at all they were giving him a blood transfusion and and around the bed they had like sheets and as as the arm as the blood you know they put it in it was just coming coming out I mean one of its in the wrong man thinking about if we make it through tonight that everything gonna be okay and I dozed off and I woke up to banging on the door boom boom boom boom boom I remember opening my eyes and I looked at the window knowing I lived at the window it was still a dark out and I hang on the door and I could hear him start crying immediately and I was he opened the door I was and tears and and it was terrible could sleep I was hoping that that [ __ ] call would be he's alright and they scoff [Music] dates calls worse caller probably had in life today [Music] who's the doctor P&I [Music] he said if the bullet would have went in I hate the van inch up down left or right [Music] there'll be no more flush and then he said Sean was dead when he got here and he said that he never seen a man fighting for his life as hard as he did [Music] in the days after Sean Taylor's death his team grappled with how to spend a season and a lifetime without him I was asleep in bed I looked up in the corner heard his voice I saw him and he said coach that plays over let's get on the next one before we got ready to play that Sunday game we said hey nobody in this room will ever be able to substitute or replace him as a player we need to play one play for him [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I think we gave up 50 are on it and didn't matter this is for son [Music] there were assumptions made about how he brought this on himself just weeks before there had been a birthday party at Taylor's house for his sister and it was her friends from Fort Myers who had come to clean the pool deck Sean Taylor had paid one of the guys who ended up being involved in this $300 other guys had got access to the house they saw how generous he was with his money he gave bags of money to his sister and brother in front of his friends and it was that generosity that ended up inviting these scoundrels from Fort Myers to come and do what they did I was upset I found a lot of things even to the day it hurts really bad it hurts and I was like I never trust anybody before but I was like it's really hard to trust like anybody [Music] what should Sean Taylor's legacies of luck in life he never gave the outside world a full picture of the man he was is it even possible to capture his memory in one image there's not a day I take that Jersey off of a hanger and I don't think about people ask me why am i wearing number 20 million practice every day I wear they sparks up a conversation about him for as long as I play that's what I care about it's not a single day to go by that you can't come up with a memory or Sun and puts you in a better pool Sean's always with me he's looking over my shoulder at all times to make sure everything is right so I put that crystal monument behind me that he has my back I'm coaching my tenure over answer I put him play at corner and he goes I don't want to play corner and I were tied us is what he won't play and he goes I were a place safety I'm Sean Taylor one day I was at the they kind of used her down to Miami and his little kid walked by me and my friend but we looked like a mouse drop it was Shawn who comes 10 feet behind Pedro or they a - our brother [Music] and there's a greatness in every one of us it's always good to see Gabriel looking up to someone that did the work that you can follow to me and tonight his daughter like he was a living hero he left himself in her he was such an amazing person outside of his career and a lot of people didn't get to see he would have been an amazing father [Music] you you

Channel: NFL Films

Views: 3,393,347

Rating: 4.9178338 out of 5

Keywords: NFL, Football, NFL Films, American Football, a football life, sean taylor, sean taylor a football life, sean taylor highlights, washington redskins, tragedy, a football life full episode, a football life show, sean taylor death, safety, big hits, pro bowl, miami, the u

Id: Yk1wgjla0Jo

Length: 33min 39sec (2019 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 10 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/WoodenEstablishment3]

As bad as this team may get, as much as I may hate Dan Snyder, I can always remember Sean Taylor with fond memories. My favorite Redskin of all time. Rest in Power

[u/[deleted]]

The would be GOAT.

[u/NotARealPenguinToday]

Still my favorite two players alongside Kobe and I don't think it'll ever change.