Former Buffalo Bills safety Taylor Rapp has found a new NFL home. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday that Rapp signed with the Denver Broncos.
Rapp Played Three Seasons With the Bills
The Rams drafted Rapp with the 61st overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He played four seasons in Los Angeles before signing a one-year deal with the Bills in 2023. Rapp then turned that one-year deal into a three-year, $14.5 million extension in March 2024. However, Buffalo released him this spring.
Rapp appeared in 36 games for the Bills, recording 24 starts, 158 combined tackles and three interceptions. The 28-year-old cornerback thought signing with the Bills was one of the best opportunities for him.
“I think everyone in the free agency process is trying to find the right fit and right opportunity,” Rapp said in 2023, via NFL.com’s Christian Gonzales. “This is a very special team, very special defense, very special back end, back seven, especially the guys that I will be joining in the room in Micah (Hyde) and Jordan (Poyer). They are obviously two great players, two former All-Pros and have had great careers. So, just a great opportunity to come in there and contribute in any way I can, just pick them apart and learn and soak up as much about the game as I can from those guys.”
Rapp now will get a chance to face the Bills on Christmas Day. Buffalo will travel to Denver in Week 16 to see if it can avenge its 2025 Divisional Round playoff loss.
Buffalo Added Gardner-Johnson This Offseason
Although the Bills lost Rapp, they brought in veteran safety C. J. Gardner-Johnson to upgrade the room. Gardner-Johnson has been in the NFL for seven seasons, spending three years with the New Orleans Saints, two with the Philadelphia Eagles, and one with the Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and Chicago Bears.
The Bills are now Gardner-Johnson’s sixth team in eight seasons, which could be a little alarming, but he wants to be in Buffalo.
“A chance to win with a good quarterback. Josh (Allen) is phenomenal,” Gardner-Johnson said in March of why he chose Buffalo, via the Team’s Website. “[Be] a part of a team that has a fighting chance every Sunday, and I just have to [rebuild] and [find] my identity again … go out there [and] just be you playing football with guys that [have] been playing at a high caliber. Surrounding myself with superstars.”
Gardner-Johnson also has some ties to Bills head coach Joe Brady. Although Brady never coached Gardner-Johnson, he did work for the Saints from 2017 to 2018 under head coach Sean Payton. Payton then drafted Gardner-Johnson in the 2019 NFL Draft, and Payton could’ve given Brady some insight on Gardner-Johnson.
“They know me, since Sean Payton when he drafted me. So a lot of us, [head coach Joe Brady] was familiar with my face and my game, and he watched my tape,” Gardner-Johnson added. “Going to Buffalo and getting a formal meeting with everybody, introducing themselves face to face, was something that hit it off.”
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