Lawrence Taylor, a New York Giants legend and Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker, has been released from the hospital, his attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Taylor, 67, was hospitalized in in Morristown, New Jersey, on April 20 with what Eiglarsh described last month in a statement to The Athletic as a “stomach-related issue” that didn’t “appear to be life-threatening.” Taylor is now reportedly on his way home to Florida.
“He is grateful to now be on the road to recovery and hopes to be back on the golf course soon,” Eiglarsh said in an email to the AP.
“Mr. Taylor would also like to sincerely thank everyone for the outpouring of love, support and prayers. Knowing that so many people were thinking of him and praying for his recovery gave him strength and helped carry him through a very challenging time.”
Taylor is best known for his time with the Giants, with whom he built an NFL résumé worthy of a gold jacket. Over 13 seasons with the team, he more than lived up to the expectations he had coming out of North Carolina as the No. 2 overall pick in the 1981 draft.
Taylor piled up 142 career sacks, recording double-digit sacks in seven different seasons and maxing out with 20.5 during his 1986 campaign. That time around, he won NFL MVP as well as his third NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. He also collected the latter honor in each of his first two seasons in the league.
Taylor, a 10-time All-Pro, helped the Giants win a pair of Super Bowls, the first over the Denver Broncos during the aforementioned 1986 season and the next over the Buffalo Bills to wrap the 1990 campaign.
Still, Taylor ranks ninth all-time in career sacks. The Giants retired his No. 56 jersey, and he was inducted into the Hall in 1999.
Taylor’s legacy has been complicated by off-the-field transgressions and controversy.
In 2011, Taylor was arrested and pleaded guilty in New York to misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct and patronizing an underage prostitute. As a result, he was sentenced to six years of probation. Plus, he was ordered to register as a sex offender.
In both 2021 and 2024, according to the AP, Taylor was charged in Florida with failing to update his residence change on the state’s registry.
Most recently, Taylor was at the White House last year when President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a council on sports, fitness and nutrition.