NFL Star Sean Taylor Was Just 24 When He Was Killed in His Home. His Teammate Says He Was Misjudged in Death (Exclusive)
NFL Star Sean Taylor Was Just 24 When He Was Killed in His Home. His Teammate Says He Was Misjudged in Death (Exclusive)
Lily BrownMon, August 31, 2026 at 11:19 PM UTC
0
Sean Taylor during the Washington Redskins v. New York Giants match on Oct. 8, 2006.Credit: Joel Richardson/The The Washington Post via Getty -
Sean Taylor was a rising NFL star known for his hard-hitting style who earned two Pro Bowl selections
His former teammate Santana Moss says media narratives unfairly painted Taylor as a “bad guy” after his death
Taylor’s No. 21 jersey was retired by Washington, and he was inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame in 2021
Sean Taylor had the kind of presence that made him impossible to ignore on a football field.
The hard-hitting safety patrolled the middle of the field with a combination of speed, power and instincts that quickly made him one of the NFL’s most promising young defensive stars. But off the field, Taylor’s life was more complicated.
“Football has a way of allowing you to live outside of reality,” says his former Washington Redskins teammate Santana Moss in “Blindsided by Tragedy,” the fifth and final episode of Investigation Discovery’s Game Day Murders docuseries, premiering Aug. 31 at 10 p.m. ET. “When I was in the NFL, no matter what’s going on in my life or in between those white lines, it doesn’t matter.”
For Taylor, in between those white lines had become a place where he was thriving.
Before entering the NFL, he was a football star at South Florida’s Gulliver Preparatory School, where he helped lead the team to a state championship and set a state record for single-season touchdowns. He went on to play college football at the University of Miami, where he was part of the Hurricanes’ 2001 BCS National Championship team and won the Jack Tatum Trophy.
His physical style quickly became his calling card. Taylor was known for delivering punishing hits, patrolling the middle of the field and making plays on the ball. His teammates gave him the nickname “Meast,” a combination of “man” and “beast” and a fitting description for the imposing young safety.
Washington selected Taylor No. 5 overall in the 2004 NFL draft, and he wasted little time establishing himself in the league. In 55 games with the team, he recorded 12 interceptions and earned Pro Bowl selections in 2006 and 2007.
By the time the 2007 season arrived, Taylor was already a major presence in the Redskins franchise. But that season would end in tragedy.
Follow your favorite athletes on and off the field with PEOPLE’s free sports newsletter — sign up now!
In November 2007, Taylor was recovering from a knee injury and was at his Palmetto Bay, Fla., home with his girlfriend and their 18-month-old daughter.
Then, in the early morning hours, intruders broke into the house.
According to the documentary, the men mistakenly believed Taylor was away at a game and were looking for cash. Instead, they encountered the injured football star at home with his family.
When Taylor confronted the intruders, he was shot in the leg and suffered a severed femoral artery that caused massive blood loss. He died the following day at a Miami hospital.
Taylor’s death immediately sent shock waves through the football world. He had spent just four seasons in the NFL and was still developing into the player many believed could become one of the league’s best defensive stars.
Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins runs downfield against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 11, 2006Credit: Rob Tringali/SportsChrome/Getty
But as his family, teammates and friends mourned, another story began to take shape in the media.
Advertisement
Taylor had previously been involved in several off-field incidents, and Moss, 47, says those stories had already influenced the way the public viewed his teammate. After Taylor was killed, that perception became an especially painful part of the conversation.
“When you look at us as athletes, and then you have someone constantly writing about you’re good or you’re bad, you perceive that as that’s who this person is,” Moss says in an exclusive clip shared with PEOPLE.
Taylor had already become a household name in Washington, which meant anything involving the young star was magnified.
“Sean had went through a couple of things off the field and we all heard about it,” Moss says, adding, “So, anything you do is magnified because it was dealing with cops and dealing with guns, all that stuff.”
For Moss, the public image that emerged didn’t reflect the person he knew.
“It was like he was tainted with something that wasn’t real,” he says. “Like a criminal. That’s being real. Let’s just be real. Let’s call it what it is.”
Moss says hearing people speak about Taylor that way was painful, particularly because he knew the man behind the headlines.
He continues, “But a lot of people spoke wrongly about my friend and teammate and brother. It hurt me badly.”
Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 28, 2004.Credit: George Gojkovich/Getty
“The media just automatically painted this narrative like he was this bad guy. This thug, bad guy, you know, when that really wasn’t who Sean was,” Jamal Johnson, Taylor’s brother, says in the clip.
Taylor’s mother, Donna Junor, then offers a touching description of the son she knew.
“He treated me like a queen,” she says. “He was a very good son to me.”
Four men and one minor were ultimately convicted or pleaded guilty in connection with the burglary and murder. Eric Rivera, whom prosecutors said fired the shot that killed Taylor, was sentenced to more than 57 years in state prison in 2014.
In 2021, Washington retired Taylor’s No. 21 and inducted him into the franchise’s Ring of Fame. Taylor was also posthumously selected to his second Pro Bowl following the 2007 season.
The Sean Taylor episode and docuseries finale, “Blindsided by Tragedy,” premieres Aug. 31 at 10 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery. All episodes of Game Day Murders are also available to stream on HBO Max.
on People
Source: “AOL Sports”
