Can Rugby Players Survive in the NFL? | Rugby Pod Reacts to Louis Rees-Zammit joining NFL IPP
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Shock news coming, apparently out of the blue last week, Louis Rees-Zammit announced his immediate retirement from rugby to pursue a career in the NFL and thus making himself unavailable for the upcoming Six Nations.
Jim and Goodey discuss what this means for rugby, what they think his chances are of being picked up by an NFL team proper and Goodey's own American Football offer...
Listen to the full Podcast on Spotify 🎧 spoti.fi/3UcoKrI
His earning potential if he makes a 53 man roster without playing a single NFL game dwarfs whatever he's going to earn in rugby, and if he doesn't make it, he can always come back to rugby before the next Lions Tour! Surprised more kickers in rugby don't go to the NFL like Harry Mallinder!
P-squad and the roster are 2 entirely separate things, mate.
Practice squad wave does notbswarf he salary at all!
no practice squad earnings will be around 200,000 a year so not exactly an upgrade on what he could have earned in France or Japan .
Footballers from England, Mexico , Germany, Scandinavia have been kicking in the NFL for 50 odd years.
It aint about the money for him
He’s a Kansas City Chief!!!!!!!!! Back to back Super Bowl champs baby!!!!!!! Can’t wait to see this guy doing kick returns with the new rules in place.
As a South African, good luck to the bloke for trying it out and I hope he makes it.
Years ago in the 80s, Naas Botha tried his luck as kicker with the Dallas Cowboys.He was around for a while but never made it unfortunately.
Nobody cares about South Africa
Naas Botha didn't make it but another South African you probably never heard of, Gary Anderson, who also went there in the 80's did make it and spent 23 seasons in the NFL as a kicker and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
@@user-nk9cw5md8l I have, not much. But I think he went over at a much younger age.I think he might have started at Varsity level also in U S
@markwillies7666 yes he went there after school in SA with the intention of pursuing a career in soccer not rugby or American football and had no rugby background, only a soccer background yet ended up a superstar kicker in NFL for 23 seasons. This is why South Africans always refer to Naas Botha as their big name guy who tried NFL forgetting others who went. If you research South Africans who ended up playing in the NFL, or at least getting a foot in the door, there are 5 or 6 other names, none of whom made it because none of them were kickers and the other positions are so hard to crack. Anderson was amongst the best kickers the NFL have ever produced, hence his induction into the hall of fame.
@@user-nk9cw5md8l This is very interesting. I never knew about this guy and the funny thing is he we born in Parys. Its about 30 to 35 min drive from where i live.
The NFL is a whole different animal.. More mental..more brutal..a playbook that must be learned.. deeper talent pool..every team has countless world class athletes..Very little difference from the best team and the worst team.. Vicious hits.. He has never caught a pass from a NFL QB..
I admire him for trying, but he needs to bring more than some speed to the table..
From watching him move he is like a mixture of a RB,WR and TE. Could see him catching on as special teams, and then couple years of development to be a WR.
The level of competition for NFL spots dwarfs most sports. If he makes even to the practice squad that’s a huge achievement.
I agree, but they might keep him on a roster as a publicity stunt.. To get some European interest..
He won't be able to take linebacker hits .. imo.
As a Wales supporter I'm sad to see him go but I wish him luck.
You are from New Zealand . Wales don't want you .
Fingers crossed 🤞🏾 he makes it. Can’t wait to see him in the NFL in the near future.. 💯🙌🏾🙏🏾
Crossover from other similar sports is indeed possible. Our NFL punter is a former Aussie Rules football player, and he's doing great! (Cam Johnson, Houston Texans). Good luck to all in the IPP!
Everyone complains about rugby players and the wider community not doing enough to promote the game and then a young lad comes along who's willing to put himself out there and he gets shat on by everyone
Gonna be such a massive fan of whatever NFL teams picks up LRZ
He won't make it..He has never been hit by an NFL linebacker..It's a whole different animal !
@@michaelb.3982 😑
Welcome to chiefs kingdom!
Welcome to CHIEFS Kingdom friend !!!!
@@michaelb.3982 Get ready to be shown wrong and eat your words !!!!
Fair play to Zammit that he's giving it a crack. The chances of him making it are extremely slim. NFL skill positions are just insanely complex. Christian Wade showed he had incredible running ability, but trying to master the pass blocking, and learning to instinctively read the defensive schemes is something that takes years.
I think Mallinder maybe has a more of a shot going for a kicking position. Apart from a few elite kickers, there is much more of a revolving door of kickers being cut, which maybe gives an opening. I would also imagine his background playing an elite skill position in rugby could give him an x-factor for special teams play - positional coverage and tackling is not really most NFL punters' strong point. Maybe also trick plays like fake punts could be in his arsenal.
You guys are great and the audio is fantastic quality, just sort out a green screen for the background and it would elevate the production of the show so much.
Some rugby players in the US were talking about it. It will be an uphill battle. He needs to relearn a sport, get adjusted in pads, etc. His first year will be spent in a classroom training facility of an NFL team, earning a week-to-week paycheck.
Yip good luck follow your dreams,really hope you're a great success.
3 Gaelic footballers are gone over from Ireland to the exact same training program if one of them makes it it won't put Gaelic football on the map in the US, it'll be the same for rugby
Kansas City resident here actually rugby is a pretty fast growing sport in high school and other places already here in the US so I think this does Boost it. Is it going to overcome the other sports probably not but it is growing.
easier to make it big as a kicker over there than any other position. Look at the south African Gary Anderson who went over there in the 1980' straight out of school in South Africa to an American college initially with the aim of playing soccer not even NFL. He was spotted kicking an American football, given a rare opportunity to try out as a kicker in the NFL and the rest is history. He ended up playing 23 seasons in the NFL and was so successful he was inducted into the NFL Hall of fame.
True that it is the most repetitive position and easier to learn, but also very high pressure in games.
NFL teams take on more risk when adding rugby players to their rosters, rather than players who have been playing college and highschool american football their entire lives
Good luck to him - but can’t ignore that he’s up against the cream of the college football crop who just have an intuitive understanding of the game in the heat of battle that LRZ simply doesn’t have.
He’s swimming upstream compared to his American competitors
I think at 22 years old it’s TIME for him to try the NFL dream. I played rugby for 2 decades and began playing American Football in 1984 at 22. I played in the OLine and DLine. Zammit has the media coverage, the stadium experience of playing in full +40.000 stadiums…numerous times. He’s fast, quick (different from just speed) … fast reactions, good hands, sense of space, athletic, pro athlete… minimum a Practice squad, and if a quick learner… a roster spot as a Wide Receiver or lighter Tight End, maybe even a Defensive Back as he knows what tackling means, and he can cover man to man defense. Learning the game, a helmet, pads, a huge physicality (O Line and DLine make pro rugby forwards look small and thin). If, he can stay in the NFL for 2-3 years, he will get a serious contract, a starter on a 3 year deal = 8 million a year
Those are all big ifs lol. He’s not as athletic or as strong as any NFL players in those positions.
Compare him to Juju or Tyreek Hill at WR and there’s a massive gulf in difference
That’s the issue. I know he may transform physically, but he’s quite undersized as a TE (especially when you consider the blocking part of the job), he probably doesn’t have the freakish WR1 explosiveness and track and field qualities required. Perhaps a slot guy at WR2/3, a safety?
Malaita is a very different case, as he physically already fit the picture completely, and rugby helped with the feet quickness required at OL. Rugby at his position doesn’t really teach separation or blocking moving vehicles.
Defense is basically going to be out of the question. Especially something like a Defensive Back (Cornerback or Safety) which are some of the tougher positions to play. It requires not only athleticism, but a higher innate understanding of the game. The flow of American Football is that offensive players know where they're running , and know where the ball is going too. The defense does not. Naturally on defense you're always reactionary, and sort of playing 1 step behind. The offensive coordinators are like Mad scientists. They're very good at disguising the different looks and fooling the defense about their intentions, and this is against players who have played the game since they were very young.
I’m speaking from my 12 seasons of football. Tyreek Hill wouldn’t last a full international rugby match. He would get hurt. He’s very fast but also very small. USA in rugby answers that question. The USA was beaten by Portugal and didn’t make the world cup. The reason is “i’m okay Jack, keep your hands off my stack of dollars NFL”
History shows that most rugby players who switch to NFL manage a couple years of NFL, Kickers tend to do better than the speed men/tacklers......
I reckon he'll have a couple of seasons on the bench, then go into business, make millions then retire to Hawaii, hump loads of hot beaches surf and piss in the Pacific Ocean!
And I truly wish him the all the Best.......
Haha what no, you can’t just walk onto a Hawaii beach and live there. Like Christian Wade he’ll be back playing rugby
"History shows that most rugby players who switch to NFL manage a couple years of NFL"?
Name one - name one rugby player who has 'managed a couple of years of NFL'. And before you run off to Google, that Aussie guy who switched before he even played a pro rugby match and will go his whole career without touching the ball in a NFL match? Let's say he's not a relevant example.
If a rugby player has the special attributes needed to play NFL then they have a good chance of making the playing roster keeping his place in the roster is also another challenge Jordan Mailata ex rugby league has a contract with the Phillidelphia Eagles
Right. Here goes. [takes a deep breath] I agree with Goodey.
Im not a big Gaelic Football fan but I still get a kick out of GAA players making it in Aussie Rules ... fingers crossed for LRZ
Fair play to him and all the best. A good looking and talented lad like that could easily rest on his laurels and take the easy route to making money. Plenty of examples of wasted potential from the round ball game. 👏🏻
Good luck LRZ it’ll be interesting to see if Netflix are involved
I used to play for a US airbase in England.....I now take my kids to play rugby in wales.....the coaching is years behind how US football is coached......in my humble.....
That’s because rugby is England’s 3rd sport behind football and cricket. Football dominates sport in the uk and thus all coaches and resources go into that
If my man thinks 13 hours in Florida is easier than 3 hours anywhere in England, then my man doesn't know what hot + high humidity feels like. Trust me, you'd rather train for 13 hours in Leicester than 3 hours in Florida.
He should be good enough to get on the 53 roster (but there are different rules of extra spots for play pathway players) as a kick/punt returner to start with, and work up from there, that but they are big steps. but good luck
LRZ is the best athlete the NFL ever saw! He will kill it! He will become the best sportsman ever.
I was about to say something derogatory, but them realised you must be being ironic....
Not saying he's isn't an athletic freak but NFL has plenty of athletes that are Freaks of Nature's
ok bot
that aged well...
The athletes at wide receiver in the nfl are a different level of freak compared to rugby so it’s going to be tough for him. Wish him luck tho.
Good luck to you lad. Hope he makes it
Well said Goodey!
This isn't about money because he has a massive uphill battle to make a 53 man roster.
I am gutted he has left Gloucester, but will follow his new career avidly, and I truly hope he makes it.
His best chance is by making it as a kick returner, but he will also need to impress sufficiently at a position like wide receiver so he will be the 5th of 6th player at that position on the roster.
He's getting 170k for the next 3 or 4 months.
Yep great to see people following their dreams
He’s young enough this may not be a catastrophic mistake, but to be blunt he brings nothing skill wise to the nfl that doesn’t exist in the US in spades, the US college sport system is unlike anything else in the world. There’s so, so many guys there who are fast and agile who have played football their whole life and do not require any international vetting. Best of luck to him, but I expect him to be back before the next World Cup
True that NFL players are some of the most athletic sportsmen in the world in short bursts, not endurance like rugby.
LET'S GO LRZ AKA CMC 2.0 or at the very least Adam Thielen! I think either of those are a great study for him, maybe the smaller tight ends a well (Likely - Ravens or Laporta - Detroit come to mind). So excited for him, tell him we are all rooting for him!
He's absolutely nothing like Christian mcCaffery though?
@@billbobby461 the key word here is 'study'. And i believe he entered the pathway program as a RB/WR combo. So should i have said Derrick Henry?
@@F_E_A_Rise no because hes not really like anyone in the NFL, hes too slight for running back, also doesnt have the quickness, hes fast but not quick.
truth is he doesnt have a hope of making it.
its more to do with how many elite athletes are already there to take the positions in the USA. some of them run 40s almost as fast as Bolt!
@@billbobby461 So you are saying he's a tight-end? Like Laporta? Why so quick to dismiss someone trying to live out their dream? Are we just jealous of him? I can't understand the negative perspective on this except from professional players on both sides.
@@F_E_A_Rise here's why I seem negative, I'm actually being realistic and truthful. The NFL are using this to advertise their league over here in Europe, that's it, the whole purpose of this program is really advertisement and its very very cheap advertising at that.
Listen to Mailata himself speak on it on the Kelce podcast here on youtube, its purpose was advertising.
Answer : NO !!!! He won't be able to take linebacker hits for four quarters..If he ever did make it on the field in a REAL game.
He is 22, I hope he doesn't waste more than 2 years. Because the chances of making it are very slim
Less than 2% of college kids playing NCAA football trying to make the pro ranks in NFL make it. So that's a 98% failure rate and that's a statistic from the NFL themselves .
Well you just need to look at a stat that the NFL themselves put out regarding what percentage of college footballers in the NCAA over there actually make it onto a paid professional team roster. It is less than 2 % so 98% of NCAA footballers all wanting a pro career don't make it. Thats pretty brutal and telling right there regarding his chances.
Even if he earns 750,000 dollars it’s not dwarfing what he could earn in rugby with sponsorship and playing abroad etc
Chiefs Fans comments incoming…😁
where was the christian wade comparision?
Good luck to the pair of them. Love the podcast fellas.
Goodbye American accent is legend, but try not to do it again 😉
We see this every couple of years.. some good player goes there and fails..
In regards to LRZ making a practice squad, the NFL have given every team an extra spot on their practice squads providing its given to an international player... to previously there were only 8ish (i think) teams that had the option... now its literally a free punt for all 32 teams to have someone like him in the squad as it doesn't take the place of an American with experience playing the game...
Having said that I cannot see him getting out of a practice squad, hope im wrong but I just dont think he's got the right kind of speed for the game... he's very straight line and the NFL has ALOT of lunatics who cut people running straight lines in half
Shame Netflix can’t follow his journey
This is all very well and positive, but he's got virtually no chance.
Hes getting 170k for a few weeks training and more for the practice squad.
The NFL gets all this advertising for under 1 million.
I’d be very surprised if Reese Zammit makes it onto a NFL roster. Christian Wade was a better prospect, as he had the build and running style maybe to play as a Running Back. Wade was a bit small though
Reese Zammit doesn’t really have the build or athleticism to play in the NFL. He only has the pace which you could maybe argue will be good for Wide Receiver position. Though again you have to be strong and know the routes to make WR plays while playing off the Defensive Backs, Corner Backs etc
Interesting to see what position he plays
You've obviously never met him. He's a big lad
I haven’t, but have you ever met NFL players, they’re pretty massive themselves. I’d say bigger on average than rugby players, require more muscle and don’t job much. More sprints
jog*
@@jakehowie442 Rhys Zammit is bigger than you imagine when you meet him. Not a small guy at all.
@@jakehowie442 he's about six three and has a frame that will easily take 15st. He's probably about 14st before he went there..
Hope he has done his research. 11 minutes of actual ball in play time in a match that lasts 3 hours, interrupted by 100 commercials.
Oh so you watched 1 NFL game
@@jakehowie442 Those are averages as you probably know well.
christian wade did fine
A number of irish GAA players are also on this years listing alongside lrz...i think they are kickers so better chance than him of making it..
Yes kickers have it easier. There was a south African named Gary Anderson who wasn't even a rugby player, he preferred soccer, who ended up in the NFL after school in SA, went to university in the states initially with a dream of playing pro soccer but got spotted kicking an American football and long story short ended up playing 23 seasons as a kicker in the NFL. One of the best they ever had.
He best get on the gear
I wish him nothing but success. However, I just don‘t see how having a top-tier player leaving the sport is going to be helpful to Rugby.
If Rugby wants to promote itself, things like making the game easier to understand by simplifying the rules or reducing the number of players to create a more free-flowing style of play would be better ways to go about it (imo).
Should LRZ make it in the NFL, it will be a story of course but I doubt that Americans will flock to their TV to check out that other sport he left in order to become an NFL player.
..... how is Christian Wade (Wasps/England) doing these days 🙄
What, so that means that nobody else should give it a go? Jeez.
Playing in France
Scored a try in the heineken Cup the weekend. Doing fine I reckon
oh yeah, and he'll be a nobody here.....and America doesn't deserve the RWC
Hope the lad does well , there is no way they train 13 hrs a day for NFL! The training must be how to stand around for ages before the next play !! Never heard of NFL player having ago at rugby
ruclips.net/video/Vk4wMnKKYw8/видео.html
Guarantee they do train for that long even doing 2 and 3 a days. Even high school football players train that much. Nfl players have no incentive to go to rugby when they’re already making millions.
A couple of things here ...... !
His Dad played amateur beer league level american football for fun , this has 0 relevance whatsoever .
He is NOT a global sporting super star of rugby , you could go to many places outside of England and Wales and people wouldn't have a clue who he was , if you asked a random Aussie or Argentine or Englishman to name a Rugby player they wouldn't pick him .
How is it a good look for Rugby when one of the most exciting players decides to leave that sport and go to a completely other sport ?
Would he have gone if Gloucester were pushing for playoffs ?
Expecting him to make the full roster in NFL is highly unrealistic , even after 2 or 3 years , its not his physicality or athleticism which is an issue , its a different sport entirely , asking him to understand the intricacies of the offensive plays in under 2-3 years is again not realistic , guys over there play it all their lives and spend thousands going through Football scholarships and don't make it ..... are we that snobbish in Rugby that we think our players can go over and make it ?
This ultimately says far more about the state of Rugby currently , clubs going out of business , poor sub standard levels of competition or massively one sided competition . Absurd governing bodies more concerned with PR image and wokeism than managing a financially viable sport .
Harry Mallinder however makes perfect sense for him at his stage in his career and his skill sets to have a go and see .
Apart from that good points lads ... good podcast ... lol
Turned his back on the Welsh national team for some commercialised, american plastic nonsense.
I like the NFL but the players are largely irrelevant outside of the quarterbacks. Running backs are disposable now.
He was no good at rugby - lazy, overrated diva. Let’s see how he does in NFL.
these guys are cluesless half the NFL is made up of togans and samoans! so Rugby has a decent rep in it!
'Survive' what? Running a few yards every couple of minutes?
Nfl is heavily a mental game. Rugby is definitely the more physically demanding sport but football is much more strategically complex. If u don't watch football then u probably don't know what I'm talking about. I'd love to see how he does in the nfl tho
You are quite ignorant. There’s no room for mistakes. You mess up you lose your spot.
He’s going to find out he’s not such a special athlete after all. Every high school has at least a few kids with equal ability. I know; I was a scholarship college athlete in California.
He’s got to get the times and reps in the combine workouts, then a team has to take a big gamble on giving him a P-squad spot.
Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble. I don’t expect him to be gone too long.
Especially with his size and underdeveloped upper body, compared to college football players his age. It’s nice to dream when you’re a youngster, but it’s not much more than that.
Rugby is a far better sport. American football is a far better business.
Rugby is actually quite boring other the major international tournaments. NFL playoffs are worth a watch
Your opinion not fact. So easy to say am football is much better sport and better business
Rugby is a much better game and thankfully different game. Nothing to worry about. Let the Americans stick to their thing - and don’t bring their vile and evil oligarchs into rugby.
Both are different sports at the end of the day. Americans are starting to play rugby but not the best American athletes tho.
Your opinion is rugby is a much better game doesn’t make that a fact. You can cry all you want but if it were a guarantee that rugby players could make the nfl and be decent to good players and get 4 year contracts worth 50+ million then you’d be seeing many more rugby players making the jump. You’re lucky that’s not the case or you’d be crying even more.
NFL is too boring for any rugby player.
U probably never watched or understood American football
Wrong. Plenty rugby players have tried and failed only a couple have succeeded.
Saying that its good for the game is a load of nonsense. Top international players from any other sport, don't leave and go to another sport.
Good luck to him personally if that's what he wants to do, but trying to paint it as a good thing for the game is delusional.
He’s not the only good player to do this
Doesnt matter how mich money they pay you, its still a gay sport that men in this country dont play. Doesn't surprise me that louis rees zammit was the one who did this, he's always been a bit fruity.
Are you like 12 or something?
@@truthbetold8233 no, are you?
@@d.jparer5184 that's unfortunate, man. If you were 12 you'd at least have a somewhat valid excuse for posting infantile nonsense on the Internet.
The worst sports take I've seen in awhile 😂 saying American football is a gay sport, dare u to say that to Larry Allen
My god you people are insufferable