Getting a foothold in the NFL is almost impossible – even if you’re a professional athlete
By Thomas Schlachter, CNN
(CNN) — Making it to the pinnacle of any profession is tough. Switching your career when you’ve made it to the top is even tougher. And switching from one professional sport to the other, especially when you’re transitioning to the cut-throat industry of the NFL, is bordering on mission impossible.
Louis Rees-Zammit is one of rugby union’s best and brightest prospects and, at just 22 years old, he has already starred at the highest level of the sport.
Yet, despite an almost guaranteed future among rugby’s elite, Rees-Zammit is planning to try his hand at making it in the National Football League.
‘Big NFL fan’
Rees-Zammit is a Welsh international rugby union player and one of the sport’s biggest talents. Known for his blistering speed – in the past he has run 100 meters in 10.44 seconds – he plays as a winger for Wales and his club side Gloucester.
While playing for Wales, the 22-year-old has scored an impressive 14 tries in 32 appearances and his performances earned him a call-up to the British & Irish Lions team in 2021.
The Lions select the best talent from Britain and Ireland and Rees-Zammit became the youngest Lion since 1959 when he was called up at just 20 years and 93 days old.
But despite achieving so much at such a young age, Rees-Zammit said it has always been his dream to play in the NFL.
“As a little boy, my dad has always brought me up to be a big NFL fan. Growing up, he used to play American football, so it’s to continue his legacy and, hopefully, go beyond and make him proud,” said Rees-Zammit, explaining his decision on the Gloucester Rugby website.
“It’s the sport he grew up loving. I want to do that and make him as proud as I can.”
But despite his childhood fandom, it was still a decision that has shocked the rugby community.
“This is the poster boy of the Six Nations,” former England rugby international and TNT Sports commentator Ben Kay told CNN’s Don Riddell this week.
“Netflix are just releasing rugby’s version of Drive to Survive – Full Contact – and I believe that Louis Rees-Zammit is a big part of that. The Welsh fans in particular, his home nation, are up in arms I think.”
The process
To give himself the best chance of getting into the league, Rees-Zammit has signed up to the International Player Pathway (IPP) program. This scheme was set up in 2017 with the aim of giving elite overseas athletes a chance to make it to the NFL.
“As we focus on the global growth of the game, expanding international talent within the NFL is critical,” Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s international executive vice president said in a statement issued Thursday.
“The 2024 program participants are an elite, diverse group of athletes and we look forward to following their journeys in the months ahead.”
The players on the IPP head to Bradenton, Florida, in January to take part in a 10-week “intensive training camp” at the IMG Academy. In March, the players are then given a chance to demonstrate their skills to a variety of NFL scouts before the 2024 draft.
Rees-Zammit, who is six-foot-three and weighs 192 pounds, will then hope he has done enough to make it onto an NFL roster ahead of the 2024 season.
A whole new world
American football and rugby might both use oval balls, but Richie Gray – a longtime coach in both professions – says the two sports are worlds apart.
“Rugby is rugby, football is football,” Gray bluntly tells CNN Sport as he says the only similarity between the two sports is when it comes to tackling.
Gray has worked behind the scenes in professional sport for decades and is currently the contact and collision skills coach with Toulon – a rugby team in the French Top 14. He also works in the NFL and has been with a variety of teams, including the Miami Dolphins and, most recently, the Philadelphia Eagles.
According to the NFL, “only 1.6% of all NCAA football players ever make it to the professional level,” and Scottish coach Gray recounts seeing players of “real quality” not being able to make the cut while he was working with the Dolphins.
“Every single NFL team has got eight or nine of these guys on the roster,” says Gray, referring to Rees-Zammit’s physique and speed. “Although he might stick out in rugby union, there’s 50 Louis Rees-Zammits in the NFL that can move quick and at speed.”
Even if he gets picked by an NFL team, “Rees-Lightning” will have to stand out among what Gray describes as “freakish athletes,” players who have years of knowledge and experience over the Welshman.
Gray recalls being amazed when he first learned of the off-field work NFL players and coaches were doing. He imitates holding a chunky playbook – staggered by the sheer number of plays that NFL players need to become fluent in.
“Football is human chess played at 100 miles an hour,” outlines Gray, suggesting that Rees-Zammit might have his work cut out for him if he is to become an NFL grandmaster. Gray adds that Rees-Zammit will likely need to spend hours upon hours in the film room if he is to get up to speed with his new desired profession.
Rees-Zammit’s Wales coach Warren Gatland puts it more brutally, recently telling reporters: “There aren’t a lot of people who make it in the NFL who haven’t been brought up with the game and played it at a young age.”
The Welshman will also have to quickly adapt to the sharp bursts of action that take place in American football.
“He’ll have to get used to being pressured before he even gets a catch because you can’t do that in rugby,” adds Gray. “In football, you’ve got guys pushing and climbing all over the top of you, and you’ve got to work your way through that to get that ball.”
While Gray maintains how challenging it’ll be for Rees-Zammit, the Scot applauds the “brave decision” he has made and says that, in the right environment, anything can happen.
“You can’t die wondering and I think he’s the right age to do it. If it doesn’t work out for him, hey, he’s given it a shot, he’s tried and he will learn a huge amount regardless, positive or negative.”
Can it be done?
Rees-Zammit isn’t the first rugby player to try and make it in America’s biggest sports league.
According to the NFL, 37 international players have joined teams – allocated, drafted or signed as a free agent – since the IPP’s inception.
Currently, 18 IPP athletes are on NFL rosters. Notably, Jordan Mailata, Jakob Johnson, Efe Obada, Sammis Reyes and David Bada have been on active rosters with the Philadelphia Eagles, Las Vegas Raiders and Washington Commanders since 2017.
Mailata was an up-and-comer in rugby league when he was invited to take part in the IPP program.
Coming from Australia, where he played rugby league, Mailata was drafted in the seventh round of the 2018 draft with the 233rd pick. He has since exceeded expectations and is now a key cog in the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line.
In 2021, after a string of impressive performances, Mailata signed a four-year contract extension with the Eagles worth $64 million with $40.85 million guaranteed – considerably more than he would have earned outside of football.
Gray has seen Mailata’s skillset first-hand when working with the Eagles and says that the offensive lineman ended up in the perfect environment in Philadelphia. Gray adds that being coached by Jeff Stoutland – one of the league’s finest offensive line coaches – has hugely helped the 26-year-old Australian’s development.
“A guy that came from rugby league and then did what he did and where he is now and what he’s doing, well done,” said Gray. “He’s done a phenomenal job.”
Christian Wade was another rugby union player to try his hand at cracking the NFL code.
“I just felt I needed a new challenge,” Wade told CNN Sport in 2018. “I felt like I had come to a point where something like the NFL was a great opportunity and something I believe I can do well in.”
However, Wade did not set the world alight while in the NFL and he was not able to progress past the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad between 2019 and 2022.
The speedy English winger is now back playing rugby for Racing 92 in France following his NFL sabbatical. Will Rees-Zammit’s career follow the same fate?
“There’s an element from lots of quarters saying: good on him,” said Kay.
“He’s a big NFL fan, he’s young … he’s right at the beginning of his journey. And if it doesn’t quite work out – which, let’s be honest, the odds are stacked against him – he can always come back to rugby and he’ll be welcomed with open arms.
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