Growing up, Tyler Starr's grandfather must have seemed 10 feet tall to him. It had nothing to do with physical stature. It was much more about what he had accomplished.

A Vietnam veteran and career military man, Starr's grandfather, James D. Starr, served in the Marines and Air Force, eventually becoming intelligence personnel before he passed away on Nov. 11, 2001.

Tyler Starr found a way to memorialize the grandfather who was so important to him growing up by tattooing his own version of a military medal on his right arm.

"It's different from the congressional medal of honor because it's got a different amount of stars on it. The engraving — I switched it up a little bit so that way it's not exactly like a medal of honor," the Falcons rookie defensive end said. "I didn't want to copy an exact medal from the military. I just kind of tweaked it. ... It's what I wanted to do remember him by."

The tattoo serves as motivation for the Falcons' seventh-round pick. As someone who holds the military in high esteem, Starr draws plenty of inspiration from the artwork on his right arm.

It also helps him recall special childhood memories of his grandfather, like Christmases when his family would pull out old movies of his grandfather from his visits to Air Force bases around the world.

Years after getting the tattoo, Starr is finding that the ink symbolizes and honors much more than just his grandfather.

Starr's brother, Ben Starr, who turns 20 years old next month, will be leaving for Marine Corps boot camp in December.

"I have a lot of respect for the military," Tyler Starr said. "My brother's going in and I have some other friends in the military, so now I show my support for them (through the tattoo) because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing today."