Whenever you see the dateline in a Peter King tweet, you know bad news is coming. It's like the twig snapping under the foot of an expendable character trying to hide from a killer: things will not end well. And so it goes for Nate Boyer, a former green beret turned hopeful NFL long-snapper. This was a long con of sorts, though, because it took a day before "Happy As Can Be" Boyer had his hopes dashed and got cut to make room for backup QB Tarvaris Jackson's replacement, which Seattle officials generously described as a "skill position."(I would like to pause here and note how crazy Peter King is, in what will likely turn into a unnecessarily long parenthetical. Nate Boyer is "happy as a man can be" after football practice. Specifically, an NFL football practice. Sure, he does look happy—football is fun! And getting to play football as a job would be pretty cool! So, yes, maybe Peter King is just using flowery language, but I think, given P.K.'s general perspective—which is wide-eyed fanboy to all things NFL—he means that Boyer is actually as happy as a man can be. To Peter King, men are like dogs, and football is Man. In this scenario, there is no better outcome for a man than to happily trot along with his best friend the Shield, running around and chasing after balls. These less skilled, unknown players are like shelter dogs taken in for a better life by the benevolent NFL. Annnyway…)RENTON, Wash.-Nate Boyer, ex-Green Beret/current Seahawk long-snapper hopeful, post-practice. Happy as a man can be. pic.twitter.com/1tnZ0n3Qex
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) August 17, 2015
There's that bad news we were talking about, the self-fulfilling prophecy of the Peter King Curse. "Just saw him yesterday." Now he's gone. Wiped off the face of the roster. Happiest man outside the building. Also, did you get the sense that he would be cut, Peter? Did you not want to tell us last night when he was happy as can be? Maybe you knew what was coming, and couldn't bear to tell us, so you just told us he was the happiest man on a roster up in the country, running free with all the other former Green Berets turned pro football players?It's not all doom and gloom, though. Nate Boyer is now a name on every NFL team's radar, and the Seahawks, a team that has gone to two straight Super Bowls, unequivocally said he can play in the league. Maybe he will again be the happiest man in the building—just someone else's.Just saw him yesterday in Renton. Happiest man in the building. Too bad, though you got the sense this was coming. https://t.co/rQm6vc7PAK
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) August 18, 2015