Know My Name: Ryan Becker
March 23, 2023 - XFL (XFL)
Orlando Guardians News Release
Orlando Guardians tight end Ryan Becker is known as a great teammate.
"He's a gentle giant," fellow tight end Cody Latimer said. "He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet."
The 6-foot-5 pass catcher has had many great teammates of his own over the years, too. But there is one that currently stands out in terms of bond and longevity.
His horse Moose.
Moose is a palomino, which is a golden blonde horse with a white mane. Becker has had Moose for about 10 years, riding him through most of high school, all of college and now during his offseasons from football.
Becker and Moose have even won their fair share of prize money at rodeos.
"He's my baby," Becker said. "I've had offers from people to buy him but man, there's no way I can get rid of him. That's my partner in crime."
The Texas native has been roping as long as he can remember. His father started participating in rodeos right before his son was born. Soon enough, Becker was obsessed.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, the family would go to the stables. Before Becker was allowed to start roping himself, he was helping out in any way possible.
Becker was good enough at Marble Falls High School, about 50 miles northwest of Austin, to earn an offer to be a two-sport athlete at Texas Tech in football and rodeo. But doing both sports plus going to school would have been too much, he said.
Instead, he went to school three hours away from his horses in Dallas at Southern Methodist University. His rodeoing was on hold for much of his time in college but when he got home he would hop back on a horse.
But he really returned to the sport after he was cut from the Arizona Cardinals in 2020. Becker went back home to Texas and started competing in competitions on the side.
It wasn't his only source of income; Becker worked other jobs. But it was nice extra money in his wallet.
Especially because he has been pretty successful, too.
Becker's event is team roping, which is when two ropers - a header and a heeler - attempt to take down a steer. The header ropes the front of the steer while the heeler ropes the legs.
He participated in the World Series of Team Roping Finals in Las Vegas this past December. He had been part of regional World Series of Team Roping events the past few years.
"I didn't hit the big money," Becker said. "But I won some of the outside ropings, which are smaller jackpots. Won some good money doing those and then turned around and came home."
He had to start getting ready for the XFL season.
Moose, obviously, is not rooming with Becker in the XFL Hub. But Becker did bring a play rope with him. He's used it to try and teach some of his teammates like Latimer the fine art of roping in the hotel.
"I still ain't good at it," Latimer said. "But he's shown me a few things."
In addition to playing tight end on the Guardians, Becker is also the team's long snapper. He hadn't played the position since high school except for a one-off emergency in college.
But as he progressed up the ranks of football, Becker always had his long snapping ability in his back pocket. In fact, he has jokingly called it his retirement plan over the years.
"Retirement plan just started a little earlier," Becker said.
When he went to a workout in Orlando, Becker told head coach Terrell Buckley about his old skills and said he would love to do both for the team.
He's happy with how his progression is going as a long snapper. He said in high school he didn't have to worry about blocking anyone. He would just snap and go. He has worked a lot on his snapping and then blocking.
"What I've gotten from it is just the game experience and knowing that I can definitely do it," Becker said. "It's been great. I've trained and worked on it a lot and I think that's all that kind of came into fruition in the first five games."
Becker doesn't compete in rodeos when under contract as it would violate the "no unnecessary risk" clause. But he does return to it whenever he is not under contract.
That will be the case going forward. Other than family and friends, football and rodeo have been the two constants in his life.
He knows at some point his football career will end. But rodeo can be a lifetime pursuit.
And, hopefully, one day his kids could ride Moose, too.
"I think I'll always have horses and always rodeo and do that kind of stuff," Becker said. "I think I want my kids to get into it - if they want to. If they get into it, I would be more than happy to run them around, go do things that my dad did for me as far as just drive 'em all over."
The Guardians play Saturday at 1 p.m. ET in Orlando against the Seattle Dragons on ABC.
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