Louis Rees-Zammit encountered intimidating issue | NFL News

Several former NFL converts have already explained why Louis Rees-Zammit failed to break into the game before returning to rugby. Last 12 months, the Welshman announced that he was retiring in order to pursue his NFL dream through the International Player Pathway Programme (IPPP). However, the transfer fell flat and he’s now getting ready to resume his rugby profession.

Rees-Zammit was initially snapped up by the Kansas City Chiefs but didn’t play a single minute after failing to impress in pre-season. He went on to be part of the Jacksonville Jaguars but spent the complete 2024 marketing campaign as a member of their observe squad. Last week, the 24-year-old revealed that he was giving up on his NFL dream and heading back to rugby.

He is way from the only participant to have tried the change in the past, with a number of others also making an attempt their luck and falling by the wayside.

Christian Wade, the previous England worldwide who spent three seasons in the Buffalo Bills’ observe squad, beforehand said that studying the playbook was the toughest half of his NFL expertise.

“It is quite intimidating but there’s a method to it,” he told BBC Sport. “You have to learn the terminology and how to dissect it so that you can retain the information, then in a few hours put that into practice. Then do the same in the afternoon and the next day.”

Another NFL convert, Christian Scotland-Williamson, has since given up on his sporting profession to turn out to be a barrister. Incredibly, he bought along better with his legal coaching than he did studying the ins and outs of an NFL playbook.

“Learning both of these [law books] was easier than learning an NFL playbook, which is absolutely absurd,” he explained.

“Doing all that [legal training], I still wasn’t working as hard as I had to when I went to the NFL. It recalibrates what you think is hard.”

Even after studying a playbook, there are still a lot of major obstacles for rugby gamers to overcome. Those who have progressed through the American college system have spent years getting to grips with the intricacies of the game.

NFL groups also have a big pool of school gamers to select from, leaving crossover athletes like Rees-Zammit at an speedy drawback.

Osi Umenyiora, a two-time Super Bowl winner, explained: “I think Rees-Zammit is a fantastic athlete but in terms of pace and athleticism, there’s maybe 500 of those guys in Florida alone.

“It’s often a lot more troublesome for gamers like that. You have to be unparalleled. You have to be superior athletically to have the option to study the sport and then break through.”

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