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Skins, League Coping With Taylor's Death

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A Tribune wire report

Published: November 28, 2007

Updated: 11/28/2007 12:15 am

It was a little past 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday when Clinton Portis picked up a phone in a Florida hotel room and began calling other Washington Redskins players one by one, steeling himself for the worst sort of conversation.

Portis was delivering the news that Sean Taylor - the Redskins' Pro Bowl safety, their teammate, their friend - was dead, one day after he was shot at his home by an apparent intruder.

"I just wish that everyone had the opportunity to get a chance to know him," quarterback Jason Campbell said, "because if you just sit down and talk to Sean one-on-one, he was a special person."

Campbell was among those players who talked about Taylor at Washington's practice facility Tuesday, normally an off-day for the team. Like other Redskins, Campbell spoke not so much about Taylor's talent on the football field, but rather his personal growth away from the game, particularly since the birth of his 1-year-old daughter.

"He will truly be missed by all of us," Campbell continued. "I'll hold him close to our hearts. It's just a tough situation right now, and ..."

That's when Campbell's voice drifted off.

His eyes welled up.

He could say no more.

A day earlier, Taylor and his girlfriend were awakened by loud noises, according to family friend Richard Sharpstein, who learned the details from Taylor's girlfriend, Jackie Garcia. He said Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection. Someone then broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor, Sharpstein said. Neither Taylor's daughter, Jackie, nor Taylor's girlfriend were injured in the attack.

The bullet damaged the femoral artery in Taylor's leg, causing significant blood loss. Taylor never regained consciousness, Sharpstein said, and the news that he had squeezed a nurse's hand late Monday only proved to give false hope.

Taylor's loss was felt among the Redskins, of course, but also across the NFL and in the football community of the University of Miami, where he was an All-American.

"Sean and I had a special bond. We came into college together, we left for the NFL the same year and were drafted right next to each other," said Miami teammate and Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. "Sean's future was taken away from him by a senseless act of violence."

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