Antonio Pierce spent one year in Washington as a teammate of Sean Taylor, the 24-year old Redskins safety who died early Tuesday of a gunshot wound from an apparent intruder. Pierce spoke with Taylor three weeks ago, commiserating after Taylor injured his knee.
“He thought he was going to play that week,” Pierce said yesterday. “That’s how that guy is, he’ll play through anything, he’ll run through anything. There weren’t too many things that could stop him on the field.”
Pierce does not like the characterization of Taylor as a troubled athlete based on his past, when Taylor was accused of pointing a gun during a 2005 fight in Miami. On the night he was killed, when Taylor and his fiancee were awakened by loud noises in his home, he grabbed a machete he kept in his bedroom for protection.
“I think it’s just a sad case in general where I feel athletes in general are being put in a more vulnerable situation,” Pierce said. “You’re talking about athletes; any time they get accused of having a gun it’s for negative reasons. I hope the league does something about it to protect athletes.”
When asked what the NFL can do, Pierce said: “Something different than all these worries about guys having guns and stuff like that. I’m not saying you need to have a gun or own a gun. I’m just saying we need protection, too. We’re vulnerable. We’re the guys most people are coming after. You don’t see athletes going out there trying to rob people. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but it’s not common.
“Don’t just always look at the bad side when you hear an athlete’s got a gun. Sometimes it’s for a good reason, it’s for protection. We got family. Sean Taylor, he had a daughter, he had a fiancee at home. When a guy’s got to use a machete instead of other things I think it’s silly, especially when he knows something’s going on.”