ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — We saw Taylor Rapp last season, but this one is where we really started to get to know him.
"I’m not the most vocal," Rapp said earlier this week. "I’m more the leader by example. Let my play do the talking.”
“On game day, even throughout the week in practice and stuff, it’s more like leave me alone. Let me get to it, my mind is racing and stuff like that. I’ve got a million thoughts going on.”
The true definition of action speaks louder than words.
“Just a very consistent player that you know what you’re going to get out of game in and game out, all year long,” Rapp said.
Rapp saw the field in 16 games last season for the Bills, including four starts.
After re-signing this offseason with a three-year deal, Rapp is ready to be the starter at safety.
He needed all of last year to be ready for this opportunity, using all that time to learn a system that Rapp said asks more from their safeties than nearly any other team in the NFL.
“It’s crazy how much a year can change," Rapp said. "I think even going into late last year, late into the season, even playoffs, there was still a little bit of things where I was trying to pick up things on the defense and still learning and taking my comfortability to another level … so just the comfort level has been a whirlwind difference. When you’re comfortable out there, you can play fast, you make plays, and you play really well.”
And Rapp is playing for something bigger than himself.
His mother is from China, making Rapp one of just four Asian players currently active in the NFL, according to the Bills.
“Got to take it back to when I was younger and I didn’t have a lot of role models who looked like me growing up," Rapp said. "Just me being able to be that beacon and be that role model for younger Asian American kids who are playing sports. They have someone that they can relate to who looks like them to give them that hope that it doesn’t really matter who you look like or where you come from, anything like that. If you work hard, you got a dream, that you can achieve anything and you just put in a lot of work. So just me being able to be that inspiration and beacon, it means a lot to me.”
A cause anything but quiet to Taylor Rapp.