ASHBURN, Va. -- There are tangible reminders of Sean Taylor at Redskins Park.
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The wooden plaque near new head coach Jim Zorn's office, for example. Or the Pro Bowl safety's locker room stall, still arranged precisely as it was the day he died.
And then there are the reminders no one can touch or see, the vivid memories of Taylor that allowed him to make his way into his former teammates' thoughts Sunday, when the Washington Redskins opened their first training camp without him.
"You know how it is when you lose somebody -- it's just personal experiences," said safety Reed Doughty, who moved into Taylor's spot in the starting lineup last season. "It might be a drill that we're doing that Sean used to do so perfectly and I can't quite get right. Or ... he might get that extra rep in when everybody's tired."
Taylor, 24, died of massive blood loss after he was shot at his Miami-area home during a botched robbery in November. The Redskins lost the first game they played after Taylor's death, then immediately went on a four-game winning streak to reach the playoffs -- and his was a constant presence along the way.
It still is.
"You can't put it behind you," said cornerback Fred Smoot, who left Sunday's second practice with a sprained ankle.
"We put it in front of us, actually. I mean, here's how we look at it: If you want a role model out there, a player that was relentless, never stopped, a true athlete, the best I ever played with at that position -- he's a good guy to set that example for us. So we're going to try to live up to Sean Taylor. That's what we tried to do at the end of the year, and that's what we're going to try to do this whole year."
Taylor's uniform number, 21, was on patches stitched onto the Redskins' jerseys and on stickers affixed to their helmets last season. Zorn said the NFL won't allow Washington to continue those tributes, but the team is working on other ways of honoring Taylor.
And there already is the 2-foot-long wooden carving that hangs on the wall across from Zorn's office door, with "21" carved at each end to flank the word "Redskins."
Zorn, who replaced the retired Joe Gibbs, didn't coach Taylor, but he understands the lasting legacy.
"I would never say, 'Let's move on from this,"' Zorn said. "It's really a devastating occurrence. Lives never are the same when a death happens or a tragedy like that happens. Sean has been a tremendous force here in D.C. and with the Redskins. We'll just remember him continually as we go on."
His locker at the team's training facility is intact, its contents undisturbed.
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