The Washington Football Team announced Thursday morning the franchise is honoring and retiring the No. 21 of Sean Taylor this Sunday. Washington will be hosting the Kansas City Chiefs at FedEx Field. The game will also be Washington’s annual homecoming game.
Initially the news was amazing. Fans and former teammates have long campaigned to immortalize arguably the most popular player in franchise history.
However, the timing of the announcement rubbed many people wrong. The team announced the honoring a mere three days ahead. There was blowback from fans who would have made plans to attend the game had there been an earlier notice.
Aware of the negative feedback, the Washington Football Team released a statement, apologizing to fans about the late announcement.
“We apologize to fans who would have liked more notice and will continue to share with fans ways we will be celebrating Sean Taylor’s legacy over the next month.”
Washington’s team president Jason Wright also apologized to fans.
Former Washington safety Ryan Clark said he was notified by the homecoming committee back on Sept. 22 about the Sean Taylor ceremony.
Yet, the public was not notified sooner than Thursday.
The timing and short notice is peculiar considering the series of negative PR surrounding the organization. Disparaging emails of former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden to former Washington executive Bruce Allen shined a new light on the year-long investigation into the Washington Football Team’s toxic workplace culture that concluded in July.
Findings of the investigation of Beth Wilkinson have not been revealed. There has not been much fallout either, except, a head coach of a team on the opposite side of the nation, who never worked for the organization, resigned for his unacceptable actions.
The NFLPA and attorneys of 40 former female employees have urged the NFL to reveal all of the more than 650,000 emails from the investigation. The league has insisted they won’t.
Additionally, a Washington Post report surfaced late Wednesday saying attorneys of the Washington Football Team offered a financial settlement to the former female employees for their silence in February.
That’s not to mention, the team’s head athletic Ryan Vermillion being the subject of an DEA investigation into distribution of prescription drugs. Federal agents raided Washington’s practice facility injunction with the case. Vermillion has been placed on administrative leave. A second trainer, Doug Quon has also been placed on leave.
All of this has had a trickle-down effect on a fanbase that is beyond frustrated with the direction and culture of the team. Washington has the lowest attendance in the league through the first five weeks of the season.
Advertising Sean Taylor’s jersey retirement ahead of time would have been beneficial for the franchise. Taylor’s No. 21 will join Sammy Baugh (33) and Bobby Mitchell (49) as the only jerseys retired in the franchise. Unfortunately, by the looks of things a great portion of diehard fans, who also admired Taylor, will miss the ceremony thanks to the mismanagement of the organization.
