Henry Jamaar Taylor (born February 25, 1981) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). The Giants selected Taylor in the sixth round of the

2004 NFL draft The 2004 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held from April 24–25, 2004, at the Theate ...

out of

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. Jamaar was a promising prospect until he suffered a knee injury in college that drastically hurt his draft status. Some experts considered him a second round pick before his injury. During his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

season, Jamaar had a 100-yard game against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

where he played against fellow Mission High School alumni Koy Detmer who is now the head coach there. On the year he caught four passes for 146 yards. Jamaar spent most of his time in the NFL on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in t ...

, but showed some promise during the preseason and his 100-yard game against the Eagles. Ultimately his knee problems lingered and cut his career short as his retirement was announced on June 2, 2006. During a game against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

, Taylor was pushed into the sidelines on a punt and crashed into Vikings

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Mike Tice Michael Peter Tice (born February 2, 1959) is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played in the NFL as a tight end. Tice played college football for the Maryland Terrapins and play ...

. Tice needed knee surgery as a result of the collision which he had after the conclusion of the season.

Early life

Taylor attended Mission High School (

Mission, Texas Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, in the US state of Texas, United States. The population was 85,778 at the 2020 census and an estimated 86,635 in 2022. Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan ...

) and was a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. In football, he was a three-year letterman, twice named the teams' Most Valuable Player, and as a senior, was an All-State selection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Jamaar 1981 births Living people German players of American football American football wide receivers Texas A&M Aggies football players New York Giants players Sportspeople from Giessen Players of American football from Texas 21st-century American sportsmen