The Washington Redskins' marquee free-agent signing, Landon Collins, has spent his entire career trying to emulate the late Sean Taylor, admiring the Redskins legend so much that he admitted to crying when he received a game-worn, autographed jersey from owner Dan Snyder after inking his $84-million deal.

Collins has said he's open to the idea of wearing Taylor's No. 21 in Washington if his family agrees, but no one has worn that number for the Redskins since Taylor died in 2007. Clinton Portis, Taylor's former teammate, thinks it should stay that way.

"F--- no," Portis told Rhiannon Walker of The Athletic. "F--- no. I don't ever want to see nobody else in it. When the situation came up for me with 26 (Portis' number with the Redskins), I don't care. But 21, that's sacred. Why even play with people? Why even spark people's memories? Retire that jersey. For an organization that don't retire jerseys or don't officially retire jerseys, you put that motherf---er in the rafters, you retire it, and you make sure everybody knows, this is irreplaceable.

"That was huge in my career because the moment they moved Sean's locker, and you can go back and find all the interviews, I never got over that. It was Sean, myself, and Santana (Moss), and those three lockers were together. And the moment they moved Sean's locker, I never recovered."

Collins wore No. 21 with the New York Giants, his former team. He grew up a Redskins fans idolizing Taylor, who was killed during a home invasion in November 2007.