Gabe Taylor wants to wear 21

[Mrshadow008]

https://www.si.com/.amp/nfl/2022/09/02/sean-gabriel-taylor-daily-cover
 

Kinda surprised this wasn’t posted yet. Really good article about Gabe and what it’s like trying to fill his brother’s shoes. 
 

One Sunday morning when Gabriel was almost 7, the bleary-eyed boy appeared in the door frame of his mother’s bedroom with a coloring book and a heavy heart.

This was the summer of 2008, nine months after Sean died from gunshot wounds suffered during a late-night burglary attempt at his home in the Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay, where he was visiting his fiancé, Jackie García, and his baby daughter, Jackie. 

“I wish Sean was here,” Simone recalls Gabriel saying as he climbed into her bed and began to draw. “Because if he was here, I could’ve been the artist and he could’ve been the baller.”

“You can still be an artist,” Simone countered. “Sean would’ve wanted you to be whatever you wanted.”

“No, Mommy; you don’t understand,” Gabriel replied. “When I’m running, I feel him running with me. When I hit, I feel him in my chest. When I catch, I feel him in my arms. Sean wants me to be great.”

 

True to Sean’s style, Gabriel doesn’t plan to stop short of his target: In addition to helping the Owls secure their first winning record and reach their first bowl game since 2014 this season, the safety’s sights are set on even bigger prizes downfield. “Jim Thorpe [Award], that’s my main goal,” he says. “[And] I want to wear 21 for the Commanders. That would be the cherry on top of the cake.”

 

 

[petey hodge]

Hypothetical question... if Gabriel is signed by the Commanders, will he be allowed to wear #21?

[Mrshadow008]

12 minutes ago, petey hodge said:

Hypothetical question... if Gabriel is signed by the Commanders, will he be allowed to wear #21?

I think he should be and I think he’d probably be the only person to be given the okay to do so. 

[NoCalMike]

Is he a verified NFL caliber talent or is this for something else, like a ceremony?

[Voice_of_Reason]

18 hours ago, petey hodge said:

Hypothetical question... if Gabriel is signed by the Commanders, will he be allowed to wear #21?

I dunno.  I actually don’t think so.  I think 21 is Sean Taylor and that’s that.  He could wear 36, which ST wore his rookie year.  
 

I think some things are just best left alone and this is one of them. 

[Conn]

29 minutes ago, NoCalMike said:

Is he a verified NFL caliber talent or is this for something else, like a ceremony?

Yeah I get why people like stuff like this but it always makes me feel uncomfortable. Lot of pressure for a kid to put on himself. I wish him well obviously and he can still blossom into a great prospect. He hasn’t really played a lot. 3-star recruit with no big school offers, 5’10 190lbs. I get that it’s a feel-good story rather than a scouting report or anything, but it’s just a lot to be talking about for a kid who wouldn’t be on the national radar at all without the relation to his brother. It’s cool enough that he followed his passion after Sean died and ended up a 3-star recruit with a college career—very few people who play football as a kid can ever say that! But the talk of taking on ST’s mantle and making it to the NFL, that’s a lot. I hope he lives up to his own dreams, everyone should be so lucky. He just chose a really tough dream. Would be an amazing story. 

[Mrshadow008]

6 hours ago, Conn said:

Yeah I get why people like stuff like this but it always makes me feel uncomfortable. Lot of pressure for a kid to put on himself. I wish him well obviously and he can still blossom into a great prospect. He hasn’t really played a lot. 3-star recruit with no big school offers, 5’10 190lbs. I get that it’s a feel-good story rather than a scouting report or anything, but it’s just a lot to be talking about for a kid who wouldn’t be on the national radar at all without the relation to his brother. It’s cool enough that he followed his passion after Sean died and ended up a 3-star recruit with a college career—very few people who play football as a kid can ever say that! But the talk of taking on ST’s mantle and making it to the NFL, that’s a lot. I hope he lives up to his own dreams, everyone should be so lucky. He just chose a really tough dream. Would be an amazing story. 

The lack of offers and being a 3 star recruit likely stems from the fact that he only played 1 year of Hs ball because he wanted to focus on basketball. In that one year of hs ball he had 10 picks of which 5 were returned for touchdowns. Would he have been a higher rated recruit if he played longer who knows. But I don’t think lack of offers or his rating as a recruit should be a knock on his potential. Last season as a sophomore and 1st year starter at Rice he had 56 tackles 1 FF and 3 picks. Now can he get to the level of Nfl talent who knows but I wouldn’t write him off either 

[Conn]

1 hour ago, Mrshadow008 said:

The lack of offers and being a 3 star recruit likely stems from the fact that he only played 1 year of Hs ball because he wanted to focus on basketball. In that one year of hs ball he had 10 picks of which 5 were returned for touchdowns. Would he have been a higher rated recruit if he played longer who knows. But I don’t think lack of offers or his rating as a recruit should be a knock on his potential. Last season as a sophomore and 1st year starter at Rice he had 56 tackles 1 FF and 3 picks. Now can he get to the level of Nfl talent who knows but I wouldn’t write him off either 

He’s like 19-20, I’m not here to put a ceiling on him or try to judge his HS tape or something like that. Wasn’t really the meat of my point other than to say that he’s starting from a different point than his brother, and it’s a tiny percentage of even great prospects who make it to that level at all. Was merely a part of my larger point about the legacy he’s interested in taking on, it would be a lot for anybody. 

[CobraCommander]

He can start with 36 and see how things pan out. 

[Mrshadow008]

17 hours ago, Conn said:

He’s like 19-20, I’m not here to put a ceiling on him or try to judge his HS tape or something like that. Wasn’t really the meat of my point other than to say that he’s starting from a different point than his brother, and it’s a tiny percentage of even great prospects who make it to that level at all. Was merely a part of my larger point about the legacy he’s interested in taking on, it would be a lot for anybody. 

Nah I hear you. It’s impossible to know what his ceiling is right now nor to know whether he’s an nfl caliber player. Odds are he’s not as the odds are always low. Was just pointing out that low hs rating and lack of offers doesn’t necessarily accurately reflect the talent level due to only playing football his senior year

[sebestian]

On 9/3/2022 at 11:22 PM, petey hodge said:

Hypothetical question... if Gabriel is signed by the Commanders, will he be allowed to wear #21?

 

NEVER!!!  

 

Great story, would never happen under my watch.

 

Edit.  I did not realize this was his brother.  Now I am torn.

On 9/4/2022 at 5:27 PM, Voice_of_Reason said:

I dunno.  I actually don’t think so.  I think 21 is Sean Taylor and that’s that.  He could wear 36, which ST wore his rookie year.  
 

I think some things are just best left alone and this is one of them. 

 

Thank you!!

Edited September 6, 2022 by sebestian

[Renegade7]

Exceptions are always inconsistent at best.

 

In a hypothetical where he's playing for us, 21 is retired, and it's retired for a reason.

 

No, he shouldn't get the number, no one should now.

Edited September 6, 2022 by Renegade7

[Warhead36]

No. But I mean the kid won't even make the NFL so who cares.