Versatile Taylor Rapp and the Buffalo Bills could be a perfect marriage

Taylor Rapp had a lot going through his head in the final minute of Super Bowl 56 at SoFi Stadium, way more than just the obvious for the former Los Angeles Rams safety.

Rapp, who last spring signed a one-year free agent contract to join the Buffalo Bills, was on the field trying to prevent Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow from driving the Bengals to a tying field goal in the dying seconds.

If that wasn’t enough pressure, there was also the post-game task that he was going to perform if the Rams did indeed hold on to win the championship: Asking his girlfriend, Dani Johnson, to marry him. Right there amidst the blizzard of confetti in the football palace that is SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

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“In that fourth quarter when it got close, I was a little nervous obviously for us winning the Super Bowl, but I was also nervous about not being able to propose, too,” Rapp said the other day following practice at St. John Fisher University.

Had the Rams lost, the marriage proposal was going to have to wait until the couple’s pre-planned vacation to Hawaii, but obviously he wanted to have it happen during the celebration of the Rams’ second Super Bowl title.

“I was gonna propose (in Hawaii) but then in the few weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, I had a thought in the back of my head,” said Rapp, who was fortunate to be playing in the title game after he missed the first three postseason games due to a concussion suffered in the Rams’ final regular season game against the 49ers.

“It was going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity, like I’m never gonna have this opportunity again. So I got the ring done and had a backup plan if we lost, but was happy that we won and got it done.”

Rapp said he entrusted the safety of the ring on the sideline to one of the Rams’ employees, and as soon as Burrow’s fourth-down pass from midfield fluttered incomplete, Rapp hustled off the field and got ready for his second big moment of that magnificent night.

“It was a little bit after (the final gun), before we went up on the podium,” he said. “I didn’t want to take away from the Super Bowl win and the Super Bowl MVP and all the podium stuff, so I made sure to get that out of the way before.”

Dani – who had been dating Rapp since high school in Bellingham, Washington – said yes, Rapp slid the ring on her finger, and the couple was married in July 2022

That’s a tough two-act play to follow, but by signing with the Bills, Rapp is hoping to re-enact half of it by helping lead Buffalo to its first Super Bowl championship this year.

When he did his research on which teams would be the right fit, Buffalo leaped to the forefront of his mind even though two weeks earlier, the Bills re-signed Jordan Poyer in free agency. With Micah Hyde also returning from his neck injury, it meant there wouldn’t be a starting position available for Rapp, but he could see how his ability to play both safety positions, slot corner, and even as a sixth defensive back in dime defense was going to get him on the field a bunch.

“I think during free agency you’re always trying to find a good fit, not only for yourself as a player but as a team culture fit, too,” he said. “I knew coach (Sean) McDermott, Brandon Beane, they’re just building something great here and I always had respect for how this team plays. They’ve got the right guys in the locker room, right guys around the facility.

“I saw myself being a versatile piece in this defense, coming in and learning from Jordan and Micah; they’re friggin’ all-pros. And they’ve been amazing, both taking me under their wing and trying to help me out as much as possible.”

There has been some speculation that the Bills might use Rapp as a quasi-linebacker on obvious passing situations, simply because he would be one of the best 11 players available to be on the field. Every-down outside linebacker Matt Milano will always be out there, and for the previous five years, so was Tremaine Edmunds.

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But Edmunds is gone and the players fighting to win his middle linebacker job – Tyrel Dodson, Terrell Bernard, A.J. Klein and Baylon Spector – cannot match Rapp’s full package of coverage and tackling ability. If you watched that last possession of Super Bowl 56, Rapp was lined up in the middle of the field, in essence guarding the zone where the middle linebacker normally would be.

Last year for the Rams he played 976 defensive snaps and 524 were as the free safety (Hyde’s spot), but he also played 257 as a down in the box safety (Poyer), and another 168 as slot corner. So far in training camp, Rapp has moved around the defense in a similar manner.

“I think the word versatile comes to mind, the word experience comes to mind,” defensive backs coach John Butler said. “We value secondary players that can do multiple things, and then also play multiple positions. To see him continue to grow in that role will give us more flexibility scheme-wise, give us more flexibility roster wise.”

Quarterback Josh Allen has taken notice of Rapp as he tries to complete balls into his coverage area.

“He’s kind of playing that rover type position where he’s kind of got free range to move around back there and he’s a smart ballplayer,” Allen said. “That’s one of the reasons why we brought him here and we’re just happy that he’s on our team. He flies around, he’s instinctive, he sees things coming around. You just got to be very careful where he’s at throwing these inside slants because sometimes he’s on his horse coming downhill and you don’t want to throw any ‘hospital balls’ as we call them.”

Rapp, who was the Rams’ second-round draft pick out of the University of Washington in 2019, is just 25 years old. If he plays well this season, he could parlay that into a long-term contract with Buffalo. Remember, Hyde’s contract expires after this year, and Poyer will be 33 next year with a contract that the Bills can get out of for only a $2 million dead cap hit.

“All I can do is control what I can control and just put my best foot forward and showing that I can play multiple positions, that I can do multiple things, that I could be one of the 11 on the football field,” Rapp said. “At the end of the day it’s about getting to the Super Bowl and winning. However I fit into that puzzle, I’m just happy to do whatever I’ve got to do.”

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on Threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which will come out every Friday during training camp, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Taylor Rapp and the Buffalo Bills could be a perfect marriage