HONOLULU – There's one player missing from the Pro Bowl everyone keeps mentioning.
Sean Taylor.
The slain Washington Redskins safety, voted an NFC starter for today's all-star game, will have a presence at Aloha Stadium.
All three Redskins on hand – tackle Chris Samuels, tight end Chris Cooley and long snapper Ethan Albright – will wear Taylor's No. 21. Those jerseys will be auctioned after the game on nfl.com, with proceeds going to the Sean Taylor Memorial Trust Fund, which was set up to benefit his daughter Jackie.
The league also paid for many of Taylor's family members, including father Pedro, to come to Hawaii. In all, Pedro Taylor said, there will be “12 or 13” on hand.
“It's all about respect,” Pedro Taylor said. “You come here, you just enjoy what you do and you ensure that you're going to recognize your teammate. The guys are doing that. It's an honor.”
Taylor died Nov. 27 after being shot at his home during a botched robbery attempt. Teams have worn a No. 21 decal on their helmets ever since, which Pedro Taylor called “a special honor. It's great that the Redskins organization and the NFL allowed them to do this.”
Teammates and opponents have paid tribute to the free safety throughout the week.
“He's always close to my heart,” Samuels said. “I think about Sean every day. He's definitely supposed to be here with us. It's going to be big on Sunday for us to honor Sean.”
Added Browns tight end Kellen Winslow II, who played at the University of Miami with Taylor: “It's just great they're wearing 21, and that Sean's family is coming. It's awesome who Sean was and what he stood for. It's such a shame he is gone. I keep him right here (pointing to his heart).”
Dallas' Ken Hamlin will start at free safety; there was no word if the NFC would open the game with 10 defenders as the Redskins did in their first game after Taylor's death.
Overall, there are 41 first-timers in the Pro Bowl, the most since 44 were selected in 2000, which was the most since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, according to STATS LLC.
Among those newcomers are a few award winners: both rookies of the year (Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson and San Francisco linebacker Patrick Willis); and comeback player Greg Ellis, an outside linebacker with the Cowboys.
For Ellis, a Pro Bowl spot is particularly noteworthy because the 10-year veteran tore his left Achilles' tendon in the 2006 season, struggled in his return and didn't become a regular again for Dallas until the seventh game of 2007.
