Sometimes all you need is an opportunity and a dream.
After years of telling women he was a member of the San Francisco 49ers despite the San Francisco 49ers absolutely not employing him, wide receiver Daejon Love’s dream has finally come true.
The 49ers signed Love to their 53-man roster Monday morning.
What a country.
The stunning move comes after videos allegedly sent by Love to women while posing as a 49ers player began circulating online. While most viewers saw a man allegedly constructing an elaborate fake identity as part of a massive fraud scheme, San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan saw something else.
Separation.
“Obviously there are some off-the-field concerns,” Shanahan said Monday. “But you turn on the tape and the first thing you notice is the hips.”
It’s why they now pay him the big bucks.
Love, 27, had reportedly spent years telling women he was an NFL wide receiver despite having never played in the NFL.
Until now.
That’s perseverance.
Most undrafted free agents give up eventually. They get cut in August. They go to Canada. Maybe the UFL. They get a normal job.
Not Daejon.
He simply continued telling people he played professional football until an NFL team had no choice but to make it true.
Manifestation works.
According to federal prosecutors, Love allegedly used dating apps and social media to meet women while portraying himself as a wealthy professional athlete and investor. He reportedly posted photos in 49ers gear, claimed relationships with NFL players and even listed “NFL Wide Receiver @49ers” in his Instagram bio.
Some people might call that impersonating an NFL player.
John Lynch calls it wanting it more.
“You can’t teach that kind of commitment,” Lynch said. “We have guys in this building who don’t even put 49ers in their Instagram bios.”
Good point.
But according to sources, it wasn’t Love’s commitment that ultimately earned him the roster spot.
It was the film.
Several videos reportedly showed Love running routes and catching footballs while presenting himself as a professional wide receiver.
This caught Shanahan’s attention immediately.
The 31-year-old reportedly demonstrated fluid hips, strong hands and an impressive ability to maintain a fictional identity through contact.
Scouts were particularly impressed by his release.
“Watch the feet here,” Shanahan told reporters while pointing at an iPad containing evidence in an active federal criminal case. “That’s NFL stuff.”
The room reportedly went silent.
He was right.
One scout immediately asked investigators to rewind.
Another started taking notes.
By the third clip, San Francisco had seen enough.
Daejon Love was a 49er.
For real this time.
The signing represents the culmination of an unconventional journey for the 24-year-old rookie.
Love didn’t play at Alabama.
He didn’t play at Ohio State.
He didn’t even play at UMass.
As far as I can tell, he didn’t play anywhere.
There are no college highlights. No combine measurements. No Relative Athletic Score.
But there are videos.
And sometimes that’s all Kyle Shanahan needs.
The 49ers reportedly clocked one of Love’s routes by counting “Mississippi” on a video obtained from the FBI through a Freedom of Information Act request and believed he possesses “roughly 4.4 speed.”
That’s scouting.
Love will now join a San Francisco receiver room that suddenly finds itself with an intriguing new weapon.
There are questions, of course.
For one, he’s 35.
For another, he’s facing federal charges.
The second one could prove slightly more complicated.
The NFL is reportedly reviewing whether Love should be placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, the mysterious administrative realm the league occasionally discovers when an alleged crime becomes inconvenient to a depth chart.
For those unfamiliar with the Commissioner’s Exempt List, it essentially allows the NFL to say:
This is extremely serious.
Anyway, we’ll figure out the football part.
The league has spent decades developing an impressive vocabulary for discussing deeply troubling allegations without ever allowing a sentence to drift too far away from the question of whether someone can play Sunday.
Suspended.
Exempt.
Inactive.
Personal Conduct Policy.
Eligible to return Week 7.
It’s practically its own dialect.
League officials did not indicate Monday whether allegations of a massive romance and investment fraud scheme would qualify Love for the list, particularly because the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy may not have anticipated a player allegedly committing crimes while pretending to already be covered by the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
Legal scholars are calling it a “procedural fucking nightmare.”
There is also the question of Love’s contract.
After allegedly telling people he was a millionaire for years, the now-29-year-old will finally have an NFL salary.
Huge moment.
Sources say negotiations were unusually easy.
“Honestly we thought he’d ask for more,” Lynch did not say. “He’s been telling people he’s rich for years.”
Love’s representatives declined to comment, possibly because I don’t believe they exist.
Still, football people around the league are fascinated by San Francisco’s newest weapon.
The 26-year-old is raw.
He’s inexperienced.
He’s facing what scouts sometimes refer to as “significant character concerns” and federal prosecutors sometimes refer to as “charges.”
But the talent is undeniable.
At least according to the videos.
And isn’t that what sports are all about?
For years Daejon Love told people he was an NFL player.
People laughed.
People doubted.
People checked the 49ers roster and noticed he wasn’t on it.
Even the San Francisco 49ers themselves are adamant that Daejon Love was not a San Francisco 49er. Until now.
He never stopped believing.
Now look at him.
An inspiration to every undrafted player in America.
An inspiration to every late bloomer.
An inspiration to anyone who has ever been told no.
Sometimes the difference between delusion and perseverance is simply refusing to acknowledge publicly available information.
There will be challenges ahead.
Learning the playbook.
Adjusting to NFL game speed.
Federal court.
Potential incarceration.
Press coverage.
But I’m betting on the kid.
The 33-year-old has spent his entire life preparing for this opportunity.
Daejon Love told the world he was a San Francisco 49er.
And today, finally, he is.
Speak things into existence.
Dream big.
Never quit.
And apparently always film your routes.
Must Be Sunday 