It has been more than 11 years since his untimely death, but Sean Taylor still remains on the lips of talent evaluators around the NFL.
On Sunday, those lips belonged to CBS analyst Tony Romo and were directed at Chargers safety Derwin James, who is playing at a sensational level in his rookie season.
He finished the regular season with 105 tackles, three interceptions and 3.5 sacks. On Sunday, he was second on his team with 10 tackles against the Patriots.
“You can’t say enough about him. He is absolutely the real deal. People have been trying to talk about who he reminds them of and it’s hard," Romo said on the broadcast. "I think he’s like Sean Taylor from the Redskins. He does a little bit of everything. "We call him a positionless player. You put him where you think the ball’s going to go most often during the game."
That is very similar to Taylor, and James carries a similar build: 6-foot-2, 216 pounds, compared to Taylor's 6-foot-3, 212 pounds.
But it still feels a bit like taking Sean's name in vain. In many ways, Taylor's playing style has been outlawed in the NFL, in part because of the punishment that he dished out. James might bring a lot of playmaking ability to the table, but there will never be another Sean Taylor in the NFL. He was the last of his kind.
It's worth noting that the Redskins could have drafted James, if they wanted to, with the 13th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. They instead selected Alabama defensive tackle Daron Payne, who helped establish a dominant defensive front not seen in Washington for years.
The Redskins go into this offseason with no long-term answers at safety, having cut ties with Swearinger before the end of the season and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix poised for free agency. It's hard not to wonder what a player like James would do to change that conversation.
Perhaps James will help redefine the Chargers' identity on defense, similar to what Taylor did in the early 2000s. The more important question for the Redskins is whether or Payne can do the same in Washington.
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