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*Mountain Fresh - 37thchamber - 01-20-2021
"Look, I'm not in the business of trashing anyone," Raphael Delacour stresses. "There was no personal issue, it was all business. I just needed to move."
After what may generously be described as an "underwhelming" rookie ISFL season with the Chicago Butchers, the player some consider to be the best receiver in last year's draft class, moved to Colorado in hopes of proving his worth. A meagre 120 yards from five catches, despite featuring in all but one game in the regular season last year speaks volumes about a difficult twelve months in the windy city.
"I understand that the coaching staff have to put out the team they feel has the best shot at winning football games," Delacour says, "but it's hard to stay focused on the long term plan when you're not getting any looks, no matter what you do in training." As the son of an ISFL Hall of Famer, it is inevitable that Raphael would garner an increased level of attention from some around the league, but this is offset by the connections formed via his father's sports management agency (Wu Tang Sports Management; currently on hiatus), and he is eager to stress that he doesn't think less of his former coaches. "They're good guys," he says, matter-of-factly. "We had a good talk when I was drafted, and there was a reasonable expectation set, it was all good. Things don't always work out the way you plan, though." He pauses at this point, before adding. "Maybe if last season hadn't gone so badly, I would have stayed, but I just didn't feel like [me staying] was a good decision for anyone."
When it is pointed out that everything was in place for him to have succeeded in Chicago this coming year, he is resolute. "We thought that last year, too," he says. "Football games aren't played on paper, and I have to accept that. Sometimes you just don't click with your teammates."
Was it a locker room issue, then? "Nah, I mean on the field," he clarifies. "I know it's maybe not easy to tell from the limited plays you saw in the regular season, but I felt like maybe George [O'Donnell] was used to throwing to the other guys. Maybe it's the height, and throwing to me messed with his usual mechanics, or maybe I'm used to a different role, a different game plan where I can find holes... whatever it was, I just don't think we really managed to form that connection on the field. That's not a criticism of George, he's a great guy, great quarterback. Right in his prime at the moment. It's just that we, as a partnership, didn't manage to make it work."
Of course, this is the risk a player takes when moving in free agency, too, surely? "It is," he admits. "And time will tell if it pays off, but so far I feel a different vibe. Cally [Mattathias Caliban] is a quiet dude, but I think it'll be okay. I'm getting more looks in training, maybe because we only have three rostered receivers in Colorado as opposed to five in Chicago, so there's less information to parse out, I don't know. I'm not a quarterback so I can't really speak to the mental processing, you know, the mental load, beyond the little bits and pieces I hear. All I know is, it's not as easy as these guys make it look."
The natural follow up here is to question whether Raphael is merely running from a challenge. He admits it himself, he has less competition in Colorado; was his move just to position himself on a team where he has fewer roadblocks on the path to an expanded role?
"I'd be lying if I said no," he says, honestly. "But that's only a part of it. Pops always stressed the importance of thinking long term, and like I said earlier, it was getting really hard to do that in Chicago. I could have gone to Orange County, for example, where I'd have to worry about certain players with contractual obligations sitting ahead of me in the depth chart. This was something I discussed at length with the coaching staff over there, because it matters. I seriously considered Philly too, even though they're kinda still rebuilding. At the end of the day, I have to do what's best for me. If I can't make concrete decisions based on the long term, maybe I'm not in the best position."
So it was the long term vision that sold him on Colorado?
"Partly. I worked out with a few of the players, got to talking. They got me to join them for a team dinner, and I never really felt out of place. The vibe was right." He explains. "It's all good getting monster numbers, but it's not good for your mental health if you don't also have bonds off the field, and I felt like I could fit in pretty well with these guys off the field too."
The topic of mental health is still something of a taboo in many aspects of society, especially when it comes to men. Raphael's willingness to openly discuss this is refreshing, and it's genuinely surprising that it factored into his decision so prominently. "You know, being around professional athletes basically your entire life, you start to frame things differently," he says. "I've seen changes in people's behaviour when they hit a rough patch in their career for whatever reason. Friends of Pops who turned their backs on the game because the mental strain was too much, families breaking up, things like that. Even though I was still a kid, I could tell something was up, and sometimes I'd ask. Adults tell you a lot when they think you won't understand, heh."
But surely, moving to Colorado, even further from home, and family -- Denver is more than twice the distance from Baltimore when compared to Chicago -- would impact mental health? "Sure it will," Raphael shrugs. "My oldest sister, who I'm pretty close to, is all the way over there in France. Pops travels a lot for business reasons, and has for years. I'm sort of used to maintaining family connections through FaceTime now. But this is why I talk about the connection with the team, the vibe, you know? They're right here, so if I want to make sure I'm not isolated, I need to connect with them."
So how does Raphael Delacour fit into the Colorado Yeti offensive scheme? This is a guy who has played two seasons of professional ball, and is yet to score a single touchdown. The "good hands" scouts noted while he was in high school have been questioned multiple times over those two years, and the "crisp routes" are clearly not crisp enough when faced with professional opposition, otherwise, he'd be making more catches, surely. "I don't wanna get too deep into this, give away the playbook," he laughs. "But I think it's safe to expect a dramatic change in my production. I'll be in my preferred role most of the time, playing out of the slot, and the two guys ahead of me on the depth chart are the kind of guys who draw double coverage. I'm pretty confident you'll all get to see who the real Raphael Delacour is this season."