Taylor Rapp |Taylor Rapp Biography
Taylor Rapp is an American football safety for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League.
He played college football at Washington. Rapp, who the Rams selected at the end of round two at pick number 61 after multiple trades down. He was a three-year starter at Washington playing 13 games every season.
He had a combined 168 tackles, 8.5 tackles-for-loss, six sacks, seven interceptions, six pass deflections, and three forced fumbles. Rapp is an absolutely vicious hitter who plays every snap like it’s his last. Very physical.
Capable Blitzer who was often used to bring pressure. He is not dynamic in coverage and is a limited athlete when running in a straight line “forty-yard dash”. So good in run and chase situations because of his lateral agility.
Taylor Rapp Age
Taylor Rapp is an American football safety for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League. He was born on December 22. 1997 in Atlanta, GA. He is 21 years old as of 2018.
Taylor Rapp Parents
Rapp was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to a Chinese mother Chiyan Rapp and a Caucasian Canadian father Chris Rapp. He was raised primarily in Bellingham, Washington, where he attended Sehome High School. He grew close to Chiyan’s parents, who moved with the Rapp family to Atlanta, then Bellingham.
They helped raise Taylor and Austin while Chris and Chiyan worked. He picked up enough Mandarin that he could hold conversations in it, although complete fluency was challenged by his grandparents’ wish to learn English.
In both languages, they told Taylor and Austin the stories of their experience during the Cultural Revolution in China and the Communist takeover of the ’60s and ’70s. “Times were so hard for them,” he said.
It was a blossoming relationship between grandparents and grandchildren that was built on cultural pride, an eagerness by the brothers to embrace their Chinese lineage with full immersion. But it wasn’t always that way for Taylor.
Taylor Rapp Injury
Taylor Rapp to an apparent ankle injury in Week 4. He has carted off the field late in the third quarter after going down with an injury and is questionable to return. He was unable to put any weight on his left leg as he was carried off the field by trainers.
Taylor Rapp Highlights
Rapp’s rapid rise to one of the country’s fiercest, hardest-hitting defensive backs, following in the backpedals of former Washington greats Marcus Peters, Budda Baker, Sidney Jones, and Kevin King, is remarkable.
The American native is 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.
“It’s beyond making history to me,” Rapp said. “To me, it’s about gaining a platform that will help inspire a generation of Chinese- and Asian-American kids. I don’t want to be just an answer to a trivia question; I want to inspire and have a real impact.”
Times: Safety Brandon McKinney will start versus Arizona
The Seattle Times’ Mike Vorel reported Saturday morning that junior safety Brandon McKinney will start Saturday night at Arizona over true freshman Cameron Williams, who has started every game this season for the Huskies except against Calfornia. Vorel cites a source close to Williams.
McKinney played in all 14 games for the Huskies last year and started the Rose Bowl for Taylor Rapp, who was ruled out with an injury. McKinney finished the 2018 season with 17 tackles, including one tackle for loss.
He was considered Rapp’s understudy until Rapp turned pro, then it was assumed he would take over one of the starting safety positions this fall. But the 6-foot, 191-pound Williams was a revelation during spring camp and fall ball, earning the starting spot over McKinney. He has 17 tackles so far through six games and leads the team in interceptions with three. But the last couple of games he’s been involved in two long touchdowns where he appeared late to react over the top.
McKinney has also played in all six games this season for the Huskies, racking up four total tackles.
Because of Arizona’s spread offense, expect both McKinney and Williams to both plays a lot on Saturday night as they hope to try and stop a hot Khalil Tate, who threw for a career-high 404 yards at Colorado last weekend.
Taylor Rapp Seahawks
Huskies’ Taylor Rapp selected in the second round of NFL draft by Los Angeles Rams
The Washington safety has been selected in the second round “61st overall pick” in the NFL draft, following Byron Murphy as the second defensive back from UW selected in this draft.
Since 2013, the Huskies have now had seven defensive backs selected in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. With Kaleb McGary, Byron Murphy, Drew Sample and now Rapp going in the first two rounds, the Huskies matched the program’s record for players taken in the first two rounds of any draft “from 2015 and 2017”.
Taylor Rapp Combine
Washington prospect Taylor Rapp on slow 40-yard time: ‘I’m not an underwear Olympics specialist’
NFL teams tend to prefer that their safeties are fast, as in a 4.5-second maximum clocking in the 40-yard dash.
That was what made the 4.76 that Taylor Rapp ran at the University of Washington’s recent pro day raise more than a few eyebrows with analysts that had projected him as a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.
‘I’m a completely different person once you put the pads and helmet on’
Rapp doesn’t believe there should be any concern about his NFL worthiness because of a time that caught many off-guard, including him.
“I’m not a 40-yard dash specialist, I’m a football player,” Rapp told Bruce Murray and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz. “… I’m not an underwear Olympics specialist. … I’m a completely different person once you put the pads and helmet on.”
‘I was more surprised, confused than anything’
Nevertheless, Rapp did acknowledge that the pro day 40 time was a source of frustration. “I was more surprised, confused than anything because I don’t think I’ve run a 4.7 since I was in high school,” he said.
“I’m never one to make an excuse, but I’ll just say turn on the tape and the tape speaks for itself. I play fast, I’m never out of position.”
Rapp said that during the training he has done in the past three months at the EXOS Athletes’ Performance Institute in Phoenix – including preparation for the NFL Scouting Combine – he was “tracking 4.5, slowest 4.6, even on a laser time, not even hand time like at the pro day.”
‘Even after the combine, pre-pro day, I was tracking 4.5, the slowest was low 4.6s’
“Anybody can go talk to the trainers out there, and they’ll tell you the same thing,” Rapp said. “And then even after the combine, pre-pro day, I was tracking 4.5, the slowest was low 4.6s. I don’t know. It is what it is, I ran what I ran. There’s nothing I can do about it now.
“I’m never one to make an excuse, but I’ll just say turn on the tape and the tape speaks for itself. I play fast, I’m never out of position. I’m always making tackles, never missing a tackle, never getting beat, never out of position. So I would just say look at the tape … I think that’s all that matters.”
‘I have no expectations at all going into the draft’
Rapp insisted he has no expectations on where he’ll be selected.
“It’s all out of my control,” he said. “I’m doing what I can do right now in the whole pre-draft process, and I’m really just controlling what I can control and then letting the football gods or the teams, obviously, do what they need to do. But I have no expectations at all going into the draft.
‘There can be a lot of surprises on Draft Day’
“I’ve heard many stories of people who think they’re going to go or supposed to go early first round, and then don’t end up going until late first round or early second round. I mean, there can be a lot of surprises on Draft Day, so I have no expectations at all.”
Taylor Rapp Twitter
Tweets by trapp07
Taylor Rapp Safety Washington
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. He committed to Washington in the spring of his junior year, choosing the Huskies over several FBS programs such as Oregon, Stanford, Nebraska, and Notre Dame.
He was ranked as the number one safety prospect in the state of Washington and the 9th best safety on the West Coast by Scout.com. 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.
Taylor Rapp Sophomore
Before the 2017 season, he was named one of the 100 best players in college football by Sports Illustrated, coming in at number 39 on the list. He earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors for the 2017 season, as well as being named to the Academic All-Pac-12 first team. He was also named a CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 player. Late in 2017, he gained acceptance into the University of Washington’s prestigious Foster School of Business.
Taylor Rapp Scouting Report
Rapp would fit best as a strong safety in the NFL and looks like he could be a starting strong safety early in his pro career. While he is not a thumper, Rapp has good instincts that turn him into a solid defender. His best attribute could be his blitzing, as he is very good at chasing down the quarterback. He is a quality tackler and run defender who plays well near the line of scrimmage. As a pro, Rapp should be a solid run defender and eighth man in the box.
Sources say that Rapp has some limitations in pass coverage. While he is not a throwaway in coverage, he does not have a good range of downfield and should not play deep consistently.
He could function for a play or two, but he could be a liability downfield in deep coverage due to his range limitations if he is asked to play there a lot. He has some tightness in the lower leg and is not a safety who can contribute in man coverage. Thus, Rapp is more of a strong safety although some evaluators debate that.
In speaking to sources at five teams, they thought that Rapp would at worst be a second-round pick. A couple of teams had him graded as a late first-round, an early second-round pick. Rapp has impressed evaluators with not only his play but also his makeup.
“I think(Rapp will) go higher second, and possibly late one because he is so clean and a top-character guy,” said one NFC general manager. “He is one of the hardest working and smart players in the draft. Yes, he has some limited tools, but some team teams prefer safe picks in that range.”
Another attribute that teams like about Rapp is the development he received under former NFL defensive backs coach and current Washington defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake. Evaluators like how Rapp was prepared by Lake and can do a variety of things on the field. One college director said going back to older tape before his junior year Rapp did more free safety work and they like his ability to be interchangeable.
In the 2019 NFL Draft, Rapp looks like a first- or second-round pick.
Player Comparison: Mike Brown. Rapp reminds me of Mike Brown, who had a good career playing for the Chicago Bears. For a comparison to players currently playing in the NFL, Rapp could be a lesser version of Landon Collins or D.J. Swearinger.
NFL Matches: Indianapolis, Los Angeles Rams, New England, Arizona, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Tennessee
Late in Round 1, Rapp has a few options. Indianapolis could use more talent at safety, and Rapp’s intangibles would fit in well with the culture the Colts are building. The Patriots have some old safeties and could stand to get younger. Rapp could make sense for New England with the 32nd pick.
The Rams could consider Rapp late in the first round after losing LaMarcus Joyner in free agency. Staying in the NFC West, Arizona, and San Francisco could be options for Rapp at the top of the second round. The Cardinals have to replace some veterans they lost in free agency, while San Francisco needs more talent at safety.
Tampa Bay made a mistake passing on Derwin James in the 2018 NFL Draft, and the Buccaneers need safety to go with Justin Evans. Staying in the NFC South, Carolina needs a safety to pair with Eric Reid, and I would be surprised if the Panthers pass on Rapp if he gets to their second-round pick.
Taylor Rapp is Projected to Be the #188 DB the Rest of the 2019 Season… Keep on the Waiver Wire
Rest Of Season Outlook And Position Rank
Taylor Rapp is not projected to be worth a roster spot based on total fantasy points for the rest of the season. His 33 projected fantasy points put him at #188 behind Deandre Baker and ahead of Kemal Ishmael. He has averaged 3.75 fantasy points in his past 4 games, which is more than our projected per game average.
His projected per game average is 3 fantasy points. His rank based on avg Proj (#192) is worse than his rank based on total fantasy points. Taylor Rapp is expected to come up short of this season-to-date’s #140 fantasy position rank.
Taylor Rapp Week 6 And 7 Fantasy Outlook
Taylor Rapp is projected for 3.3 fantasy points in week 6 which only ranks him as the #135 projected defensive back and not a fantasy-relevant player for the week.
This is projected to be slightly better than an average week with more fantasy points than he is projected to average the rest of the season. He is ranked above Darian Thompson but behind D.J. Reed. Week 7 will not be as good based on projected rank (#161). He is projected for 2.9 fantasy points.
Fantasy Projections And Actual Stats
The tables below show projected stats (totals and averages) for the rest of the season and upcoming weeks. Also included are actual stats from the current and last season.
Taylor Rapp Contarct
He signed a 4 year, $4,673,694 contract with the Los Angeles Rams, including a $1,419,048 signing bonus, $2,126,489 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $1,168,424. In 2019, Rapp will earn a base salary of $495,000 and a signing bonus of $1,419,048, while carrying a cap hit of $849,762 and a dead cap value of $2,126,489.
Taylor Rapp Full go Friday
Rapp (ankle) was a full participant at Friday’s practice.
Rapp looks on track to play Sunday against the 49ers, barring a setback. Expect him to resume his normal role as a situational defensive player and back up to starting strong safety John Johnson.