I have to give Bryan credit for not taking the recurring option. If he had, he would be relegated to beyond the back burner. He would have become another Roman, who is seen as needed, but usually doesn't appear much.
However, I don't see it as having that much to do with "rape mance", because Rafe actually is the one who replaced Lucas. Instead of having a Lucas/Sami/EJ triangle, it looks like they want a Rafe/Sami/EJ triangle. EJ and Sami are the constants in the triangle, but Lucas and Rafe are the ones who were interchanged.