Sunday marked 15 years since Sean Taylor was tragically killed when he was shot in the leg by intruders at his Miami home in 2007. At the time Taylor was in his fourth season in Washington, a young star safety who had made the Pro Bowl a year prior.
Prior to hosting the Falcons on Sunday, the Commanders unveiled a new memorial to Taylor at FedEx Field, with much of Taylor’s family on hand for the unveiling, and what was revealed left many fans upset by what felt like a hastily thrown together tribute to Taylor, with his uniform on a wire mannequin.
Washington’s new Sean Taylor memorial pic.twitter.com/Lh3K0BbJXc
— Sam Fortier (@Sam4TR) November 27, 2022
Considering the various issues facing the franchise currently, headlined by Dan Snyder selling the team amid a number of legal probes into allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment, as well as financial improprieties, there were plenty who called out the Taylor memorial’s unveiling as a PR stunt aimed at deflecting from that negative news. On top of that, it wasn’t even a well put together memorial, as there was an opportunity to honor a beloved player who was tragically killed and the best they could seemingly do was put his uniform on a mannequin in a glass case.
Both Commanders fans and fans from around the NFL in general lambasted the organization for the memorial that could’ve been something so much more, as the best part was a mural created by his fiancee’s uncle, Vic Garcia, that he worked on all the weekend while the team came up with a uniform on some wire.
This is actually insulting. Why bother? https://t.co/D9ozBl8qdB
— AT (@primediscussion) November 27, 2022
This looks like a mannequin display in the window at a Foot Locker in a mall, very touching “memorial” JFC https://t.co/ZcIJieWWaK
— Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) November 27, 2022
*Even* by Washington Football Team standards…this is pathetic. https://t.co/S8gSHOw1EG
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) November 27, 2022
what in the name of dicks sporting goods is this nonsense https://t.co/vh1PcxcQe8
— Nora Princiotti (@NoraPrinciotti) November 27, 2022
Jeez this is poorly executed https://t.co/9TTichUnmA
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) November 27, 2022
This is shamefully embarrassing https://t.co/NIc8iWiFYA
— Eli Lederman (@ByEliLederman) November 27, 2022
You don’t need another reason to hate this franchise but they keep giving us more https://t.co/zpqg69JZUl
— Jeremy Schneider (@J_Schneider) November 27, 2022
Everyone in charge of this should be fired. Goodness gracious @Commanders https://t.co/D6QHvHdi6c
— Drake Hills (@LiveLifeDrake) November 27, 2022
That’s embarrassing. https://t.co/Slb4OQOBxl
— Jasmine Styles (@JasmineStylesTV) November 27, 2022
Less than zero effort put into this by the fighting Dan Snyders. What an embarrassment.
Sean Taylor deserved better. https://t.co/SaRlDxXzOk
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) November 27, 2022
They got Sean Taylor looking like an anonymous kicker from the 80s, everybody involved should be ashamed of themselves https://t.co/ZaDQWyWXjT
— Aaron West (@oeste) November 27, 2022
Man this is so disgusting. Can’t claim them https://t.co/qsAWV1odj6
— Melaninaire (@hanpolan) November 27, 2022
Coming off Twitter vacation briefly to say this is remarkably embarrassing. They put a uniform on a wire mannequin and called it a memorial.
Just awful. https://t.co/kglWrSgihV— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) November 27, 2022