Taylor Rapp

Taylor Rapp (born December 22, 1997) is an American football free safety for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Washington.

Taylor Rapp
Rapp in 2020
No. 24 – Los Angeles Rams
Position:Free safety
Personal information
Born: (1997-12-22) December 22, 1997
Atlanta, Georgia
Height:6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight:208 lb (94 kg)
Career information
High school:Sehome (Bellingham, Washington)
College:Washington
NFL Draft:2019 / Round: 2 / Pick: 61
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2020
Total tackles:144
Pass deflections:11
Interceptions:3
Forced fumbles:1
Fumble recoveries:1
Defensive touchdowns:1
Player stats at NFL.com
Taylor Rapp
Traditional Chinese遲友駿
Simplified Chinese迟友骏

Early years

Rapp was born in Atlanta, Georgia to a Chinese mother from Shanghai and a Caucasian father from Canada.[2][3] After his birth, his parents decided to move to the West Coast. He and his older brother by three years, Austin, were raised primarily in Bellingham, Washington, where they both attended Sehome High School.[4][5] NFL.com described Rapp as a player who has "beaten long odds, undeterred by a city that failed to support prep football, a high school community that openly mocked him, coaches who were unprepared to develop his talents, college recruiters who blatantly overlooked him and kids who racially taunted him for his Chinese ethnicity."[2]

Rapp played safety and running back in football and also ran track. In high school, Rapp played football for the U-16 and U-17 USA national teams.[6][7] He committed to Washington in the spring of his junior year, choosing the Huskies over several FBS programs including Oregon, Stanford, Nebraska, and Notre Dame. Rapp was ranked as the #1 safety prospect in the state of Washington and the 9th best safety on the West Coast by Scout.com.[8] He received an invitation to play in the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl game, but elected not to attend as it interfered with his schedule after enrolling early at the University of Washington.[9]

College career

Freshman

Rapp enrolled early at UW in January 2016 and participated in winter workouts and spring practices. He saw playing time in all 14 games of his freshman season, starting 10 of them. He started to emerge as a play maker in the secondary late in the season after nabbing a pair of interceptions against USC. In the 2016 Pac-12 Football Championship Game, Rapp intercepted back-to-back passes from Colorado QB Sefo Liufau, returning one of them for a touchdown. For his outstanding performance, he was named the Pac-12 Championship Game MVP. Following the regular season, Rapp was named to the USA Today Freshman All-America team.[10] Rapp was recognized by the Pac-12 as the conference's Freshman Defensive Player of the Year.[11] On December 12, Rapp was named to the ESPN True Freshman All-America team.[12] On December 19, he was named to the Pro Football Focus Freshman All-American team.[13] On January 9, Rapp was named to the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-America team.[14]

Sophomore

Prior to the 2017 season, Rapp was named one of the 100 best players in college football by Sports Illustrated, coming in at number 39 on the list.[15] Earning first-team All-Pac-12 honors for the 2017 season, he was also named to the Academic All-Pac-12 first team. He was also named a CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 player. Rapp gained acceptance into the University of Washington's prestigious Foster School of Business late in 2017.

Junior

Prior to his junior season, Rapp was named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press[16] and Sports Illustrated.[17] On January 2, 2019, Rapp announced that he would forgo his final year of eligibility and declare for the 2019 NFL Draft.[18]

Professional career
Pre-draft measurables
HeightWeightArm lengthHand size20-yard shuttleThree-cone drillVertical jumpBroad jumpBench press
5 ft 11 3⁄4 in
(1.82 m)		 208 lb
(94 kg)		 30 3⁄4 in
(0.78 m)		 9 in
(0.23 m)		3.99 s6.82 s35.0 in
(0.89 m)		9 ft 7 in
(2.92 m)		17 reps
All values from NFL Combine[19]

The Los Angeles Rams selected Rapp in the second round (61st overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft. He was the fifth safety drafted in 2019.[20]

2019

On June 7, 2019, the Los Angeles Rams signed Rapp to a four-year, $4.67 million contract that includes $2.12 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $1.41 million.[21]

In Week 13 against the Arizona Cardinals, Rapp recorded an interception off fellow rookie Kyler Murray and returned it for a 31 yard touchdown in the 34–7 win. This was Rapp's first career interception and touchdown in the NFL.[22] In Week 16 against the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday Night Football, Rapp recorded 5 tackles during the 34–31 loss. With 58 seconds left in the game on third and 16, Rapp and cornerback Jalen Ramsey made an error in coverage which resulted in a 46 yard completion to wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, eventually leading to a game winning field goal which knocked the Rams out of playoff contention.[23] In Week 17 against the Arizona Cardinals, Rapp recovered a fumble lost by Kyler Murray and intercepted another pass thrown by Murray during the 31–24 win.[24]

2020

In Week 7 against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football, Rapp recorded his first interception of the season off a pass thrown by Nick Foles during the 24–10 win.[25] In Week 8 against the Miami Dolphins, Rapp forced a fumble on running back Myles Gaskin which was recovered by the Rams during the 28–17 loss.[26] He suffered a knee injury in Week 10 and was placed on injured reserve on November 17, 2020.[27]

References
  1. Pac-12 Football Awards and All-Conference Team Announced
  2. 'Cultural issue: How UW safety Taylor Rapp is changing football'. NFL.com.
  3. "Taylor Rapp Full Story | Rolling with the Rookies | Hyundai".
  4. A freshman in name only, Washington's Taylor Rapp is key to the Huskies' defense
  5. https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/taylor-rapp-uws-emerging-star-safety-hardened-by-big-brothers-love-in-small-town-bellingham/
  6. USA Football Selects Coaching Staff and Roster for U.S. Under-16 National Team
  7. USA FOOTBALL ROSTERS ANNOUNCED FOR 2014 INTERNATIONAL BOWL
  8. Taylor Rapp. "Taylor Rapp, Washington DB". Scout. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  9. Taylor Rapp. "Taylor Rapp – 2016 Football Roster – GoHuskies.com | University of Washington Athletics". GoHuskies.com. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  10. USA TODAY Sports' freshman All-America teams
  11. Pac-12 Football Awards And All-Conference Team Announced
  12. Alabama QB Jalen Hurts leads true freshman All-America team
  13. PFF’S FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN TEAM
  14. FWAA NAMES 2016 SOUND MIND SOUND BODY FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA TEAM
  15. College football's top 100 players of 2017
  16. AP 2018 Preseason All-America Team, List
  17. SI's 2018 Preseason All-America Teams
  18. "Washington safety Taylor Rapp declares for NFL draft". AP. January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  19. "Taylor Rapp Combine Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  20. "2019 NFL Draft Results: Los Angeles Rams select Washington Huskies S Taylor Rapp". Turf Show Times. April 26, 2019.
  21. "Spotrac.com: Taylor Rapp contract". Spotrac.com. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  22. "Goff throws for 424 yards, Rams roll past Cardinals 34-7". www.espn.com. December 1, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  23. "49ers eliminate Rams from playoff contention with 34-31 win". www.espn.com. Associated Press. December 21, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  24. "Rams say goodbye to Coliseum with 31-24 win over Cardinals". www.espn.com. Associated Press. December 29, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  25. "Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams - October 26th, 2020". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  26. "Los Angeles Rams at Miami Dolphins – November 1st, 2020". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  27. "Rams sign kicker Matt Gay, place three players on IR". TheRams.com. November 17, 2020.
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