A Long Road Already for the Rookie
Gary Cope, SkinsGridiron.com, Aug. 6, 2004

Sean Taylor has fired three agents, hired the first one back, announced his displeasure with his first contract, refuses to speak to the media and hasn't cracked the first team offense. All that and he still hasn't played a down for the burgundy and gold.

Taylor, the Washington Redskins first-round pick (No. 5 overall), has done little in his brief career to give Redskins fans a reason to celebrate. The promise of a hall-of-fame career is there, without a doubt, but he's off to a rocky start. And the fans are beginning to grow weary of his antics.

Some, on the other hand, don't care what he does off the field, as long as he "brings the lumber" on it, as one SkinsGridiron.com poster commented. The most peculiar aspect of Taylor's quirkiness is the fact he doesn't care much for the media-local, national, it doesn't matter, he hates them all.

He's not the first Redskin to shun the press; you may remember that Art Monk despised the media. The only difference being, Monk went out of his way to avoid the media. Taylor goes out of his way to glare, stare and try to intimidate the press corps. If looks could kill, D.C.'s sports reporters would easily qualify for endangered species status.

No one seems to know what's caused his contempt for the media, but it most likely stems from the often negative coverage he received for firing his first agent and then getting fined by the NFL for missing the mandatory rookie symposium. What Taylor doesn't seem to realize is that the more he ignores the media, the more attention he brings on himself. If he would just break the silence and get it over with, we can all go on with life. Until then, he will continue to receive all the media attention he doesn't want. Hey, no one ever said Miami produced "smart" football players.

Redskins cornerback and self-appointed team mouthpiece Fred Smoot jokes every day that he's working on the rookie, trying to make him more media friendly. But so far, even smooth-talking Smooty isn't cracking Taylor's shell.

Speaking of cracking, Taylor has been in camp for more than a week and still hasn't practiced with the first team. Andre Lott has a hold on the position and doesn't appear to want to give it up. In fact, Lott is expected to start in Monday's preseason game against the Denver Broncos (see schedule for time and channel). If Taylor keeps his shenanigans up, I'm going to quickly become a Lott fan.

Like all Redskins fans, I want to see our top pick do well and become an all pro. But, being a member of this team is about having solid character and so far, Taylor hasn't shown much of that. I will give him credit for staying for a couple hours after practice to sign autographs, but that's not enough.

So Sean, if you happen to read this, listen to Smooty and remember, you've already traveled a long, long road to get where you are today. If you don't get your head screwed on straight and soon, the road is going to get longer and take you nowhere.