Louis Rees-Zammit is a premier rugby star, and he nearly made the NFL roster as a running back.
The NFL’s International Player Pathway Program (IPPP) brings some fascinating would-be players into the game, and Louis Rees-Zammit is at or near the top of the charts in that category. He’s a rugby star who took a run at the IPPP path to try and make the rosters of the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, and Cleveland Browns, and he had a couple of moments where it looked possible, according to Greg O’Keeffe of The Athletic.
He was cut from the Chiefs before the 2024 campaign, per the writer, and he also gave it a shot with the Jacksonville Jaguars before being cut and heading back to rugby.
Rees-Zammit is now in the English Premiership league, and he reflected on why his experience didn’t work out as he noted that rugby is “more me.”
Part of the problem is about the participation level. The NFL game is so structured that players can go the whole game without touching the ball, and there’s nothing they can do about it. In rugby, Rees-Zammit noted, the scrum is always available — think mobile tush push without rules, right? — and that’s when athletic instincts kick in.
As a player trying out to make it as a running back or a wide receiver, that was when instincts kick in.
There’s also the body type issue. Rees-Zammit had to bulk up to make the transition to the NFL, and now that he’s back to rugby he’s still trying to regain his agility. The upper-body weight is necessary to block linebackers, he noted, and without that weight it’s a rough way to make a living.
Rees-Zammit also talked about the hits, which he said were “definitely” worse in rugby due to the absence of pads. He also threw some shade at the NFL, saying there’s “not much technique” to the way NFL players throw their bodies around to make many of the big hits that are a staple of their game.
To each their own, and Rees-Zammit is also readjusting to rules of rugby, which he compared to an NFL playbook, although the intricacies are very different. He has no regrets about the experience, and the rugby star says he still has friends in the NFL.
He also had some intriguing comments about NFL facilities as he threw some shade at the Chiefs. He insists the rugby ones are better, especially when the Chiefs’ facilities were among the worst in the league, and Rees-Zammit knows he’s on the right side of the pond going forward.
